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We thought we’d beat the rush for breakfast this morning … but everyone else seemed to have the same idea too. We had stopped briefly in Kristiansund at 02.45 for 15 minutes but both Jon and I slept through.
Breakfast then up on deck for the sail in.
There was a “point of information” up on Deck 7 at 9.15am as we sailed into Trondheim – this means there is something interesting to see off the side of the ship so wrap up warm and bring your cameras! Just off Trondheim is Munkholmen – the islet has served as a place of execution, a monestry, a fortress, a prison and a World War II anti-aircraft gun station. Today, Munkholmen is a popular tourist attraction and recreation area.
Just as we were approaching, the captain sounded the ships whistle and made every jump! We were passing another Hurtigruten ship, Midnatsol, that had just left Trondheim. They replied and all the passengers were up on deck waving their Norwegian flags at us. Just hand waving back from us – as the expedition team needed to be down on the pier as soon as we docked to sort the excursions out, they wouldn’t have time to collect them all back in. Likely we’ll pass one ship each day as they all leave a day apart.
We were only stopping in Trondheim for three hours so no delaying getting off the ship. With the morning temperatures a rather cool -6C , we wrapped up warm. The excursions team said it was a 20 mins walk to the cathedral (more like 30!). The roads were completely ice free but the pavements and walkways were still very icy in places.
We left the Hurtigruten terminal and walked by the harbour – this was half frozen over. Towards the middle of the harbour was a small pier with what looked like saunas sited along. No dip in the icy waters unless you broke the ice first!
We followed everyone else walking to the Cathedral – it was a fairly straight forward walk.
There was a service being held in the Cathedral whilst we were stood outside. Visitors couldn’t go inside until the afternoon, but our ship would have sailed by then.
At the top of the left most spire was an angel, added fairly recently in 1963. The artist (apparently!) was a big fan on Bob Dylan so the angels face was modelled on him – no-one knew what an angels face looked like so why not!!
The Nidaros Cathedral is huge and very impressive. Nidaros is the old name for Trondheim – the city changed it’s name but the cathedral kept the name Nidaros. The are immediately in front of the cathedral was an ice rink – not intentionally! A few near slip-ups but just about survived intact.
From the Cathedral, we headed to Gamle Bybro – The Old Town Bridge heading into the old town area. The River Nidelva was so still, it was near perfect conditions to capture the reflections of the buildings in the water. Whilst cold, the sun was shining brightly. From here, it was hot-footing it back to the ship. If we missed the ship it would be a very expensive taxi ride to Rørvik- the next port of call.
We managed to grab a bite to eat in the buffet before we sailed out of Trondheim. We needed to sail out the way we came so were heading back past Munkholmen and up the Trondheim fjord. Remnants of World War 2 Munkholmen was still evident. Guns were visible at the back of the islet and what looked like tank (probably a gun bunker) was visible once you’s past the island.
No window seats available in the lounge but managed to find a settee just behind so could still admire the view leaving Trondheim and the sail back up the Trondheimfjord. Around 3.15pm we were going to sail past one of Norwegian’s iconic lighthouses – Kjeungskjær Lighthouse, also known at The Red Sailor. Everyone on the ship seemed to be on Deck Seven. Here the expedition team were giving a talk about the lighthouse. It’s the only Octagonal Lighthouse in Norway. Built in 1880, it was only automated in 1987. Until then, the lighthouse keeper and his family lived in the lighthouse.
As deck 7 was packed and no chance of getting any photos, we dropped down to Deck 5 (the prom deck). A couple of others came down, but loads of space for everyone.
The lighthouse is pretty stunning, with the backdrop of sporadic smooth rocks just jutting out the sea. You’re passed it all too quickly.
THe one massive plus point about this cruise is that you hug the coast line of Norway and most of the time, sailing between the islands (there are 237,000 of them in Norway!). To be classed as an island, it needs to be larger than 10m² and have something growing on it. Otherwise it’s called a rock.
We headed down to the Gathering later in the afternoon. A really busy day tomorrow – even though we are just stopping in Bodo for just 2 hours. Lots of other short stops and the all important crossing of the Arctic Circle early in the morning. For anyone sending postcards, any posted tomorrow at 11am would have a special postmark (Mum – keep an eye open for yours!)
Dinner this evening was another really nice meal, Jon had Barleygroats soup and I had reindeer cheese with grilled lettuce. We both went for Salmon for mains and the cheesecake for pudding.
After dinner we headed down to the photo tips workshop then chilled in our cabin for a bit. We headed out on deck to see our arrival in Rørvik at 21.40pm. Our timing was spot on as we were on deck in time to see Havila Pollax head out and pass us by.
Nordnorge was only scheduled to be in port at Rørvik for 20 minutes, but doubt she stopped for more then 10 minutes. No-one getting on or off, just the forklift taking a couple of pallets of what we think was mail. Some were normal size pallets, but the last one was teeny weeny – barely larger than the width of one of the forklift truck prongs.
Temperatures had really dropped from the afternoon. There were even a couple of flakes of snow floating in the air.. My rechargeable handwarmers came in very handy – I popped them in my gloves to try and keep my hands warm. Trying to leave the thermals and additional layers until later in the cruise when the temperatures will fall even lower!
We called it a night – early start in the morning as we cross the Arctic Circle somewhere between 7.30 – 8.30am and wanted to be on deck as we sailed by the monument.
