© Lonely Planet Publications 274 lonelyplanet.com TRONDHEIM •• History 275 TRØNDELAG TRØNDELAG 0 100 km TRØNDELAG 0 60 miles ACB Brønnøysund D 76 Tosbotn Trøndelag Kvannli Błrgefjell SLEEPING National Park TRØNDELAG TRØNDELAG Føllingstua..........................................1 C3 Majavatn Sandmoen Camping...........................2 B4 Vennesund 1 Holm TRANSPORT Bindalsfjorden Namsvatnet Værnes (Trondheim) Airport..............3 C3 Leka Gutvik ὈὈ The Trøndelag is a region of rumpled hills, stippled with ox blood–coloured farmsteads and Vikna Namskogen Limingen ruffled green with wheat and barley. Hay stands out to dry on distinctive long, low trellises Kongsmo Tunnsjłen like a line of shaggy yaks in procession, and always there’s water near at hand, whether Rørvik RV17 Grøndalselv S r-Gj slingan Høylandet sea, a lake or an incised fjord. E6 Kvarnbergsvattnet Overhalla 74 N Far and away the region’s major draw is the attractive city of Trondheim, Norway’s third- a m Namsos 2 s Grong largest, and the most northerly place in Norway that merits the title ‘city’. You can find fjorden Skage Gressåmoen fulfilment wandering the medieval streets and quays of this attractive town with its buzzing N O R W E G I A N Snåsa Gress moen Sjøåsen National Park S E A student life, pretty wharf-side restaurants and bars. Highlights include Nidaros Cathedral, Scan- Fossli RV763 Sn savatnet Hoffstad 17 1 dinavia’s largest medieval structure, and the open-air Sverresborg Trøndelag Folk Museum. Følling Bølarein Malm Sunnan NORD- TRØNDELAGὈ The area also marks a couple of beginnings, one historical, the other contemporary. Stik- Steinkjer Beistads lestad, site of the martyrdom of King Olav (St Olav) is at the heart of every Norwegian’s fjorden Stiklestad Årnes Volden sense of national identity. With its lovely little church, impressive visitors centre and open-air 3 Rødsjo Kallsj n Levanger 72 Sandvika museum, it well deserves the minor detour from the Arctic Highway. Brekstad Skogn Olsøy E6 Trondheimsfjorden Frłya Sistranda Feren Sund Duved The town of Steinkjer marks the start of the ultrascenic Kystriksveien. Also called, more 3 Järpen prosaically, the Rv17 (Steinkjer’s tourist office, right beside the E6, is well endowed with Rørvik Hell Stjłrdal E14 Hitra Stadsbygd Kvenvær information about this tempting alternative), this coastal route continues as far as Bodø, Trondheim Storlien 2 Trondheimsleia Nordland, and offers a stimulating alternative to the Arctic Highway for those with spare Smłla Melhus Orkanger S W E D E N Kyrksæterøra Selbusjłen Skaun 705 time – and cash – for the extra ferry fares. Even if the chronometer or a krone shortfall Rendal E39 Tydal SØR- precludes you from following the Kystriksveien, you can get the flavour of this alternative Vinjeøra Nesjłen 4 65 Løkken Verk Støren TRØNDELAG by diverting to the little coastal settlement of Namsos, then cutting back eastwards to Skei rejoin the E6 at Grong. Øydegard E6 Ramundberger Berkåk Vauldalen HIGHLIGHTS estuary to moor his longboat. The natural Browse Nidaros Cathedral ( p276 ), TRONDHEIM harbour and strategic position made Nidaros Trondheim, Norway’s most sacred building pop 161,750 (meaning ‘mouth of the River Nid’), as the Rørvik Trundle a trolley ( p288 ) along the no- Trondheim, Norway’s original capital, is settlement was then called, especially useful for defence against the warlike pagan chiefs longer-active Namsos–Skage railway line Namsos-Skage nowadays the country’s third-largest city Railway Line of Lade, who were a threat to Christianity Explore the cultural centre at Stiklestad after Oslo and Bergen. With its wide streets and to the region’s stability. One plausi- ( p287 ), where St Olav was martyred and partly pedestrianised heart, it’s a simply ble theory has it that Leifur Eiríksson (or Stiklestad lovely city with a long history. Fuelled by a Learn about coastal life at multimedia large student population, it buzzes with life. Leif Ericson as he’s usually transcribed in Norveg ( p289 ) in Rørvik English) visited the king’s farm two years Bymarka Trondheim Cycles zip everywhere, it has some good cafés Tuck into Norwegian specialities in Trond- and restaurants, and it’s rich in museums. You later and was converted to Christianity be- heim’s historical Vertshuset Tavern ( p283 ) can absorb it in one busy day, but it merits fore setting sail for Iceland and Greenland and possibly becoming the first European to Hike in the wilderness of Bymarka ( p281 ), more if you’re to slip into its lifestyle. right in Trondheim’s backyard set foot in North America. (If you’re from the History USA, the Viking staring out to sea near the In 997, the Christian King Olav Tryggvason Hurtigruten quay may seem familiar. That’s POPULATION: 407,900 HIGHEST ELEVATION : KRÅKVASSTIND (1699M) selected a broad sandbank at the River Nid because he’s an exact replica of the Ericson 276 TRONDHEIM •• Orientation lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com TRONDHEIM •• Sights 277 TRØNDELAG TRØNDELAG thedral, palace museum & crown jewels adult/child/family Mon-Sat, noon-4pm Sun May–mid-Jun & mid-Aug–mid-Sep; TROND- WHAT? Nkr100/50/200; h9am-3pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat, noon- 10am-4pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat, noon-4pm Sun Jun-Aug; Listen to Trondheimers talk about their city, and you may wonder whether they’re all referring 4pm Sun May–mid-Jun & mid-Aug–mid-Sep, 9am-6pm core hrs 11am-2pm Wed-Sun rest-of-year) is in the same to the same place. Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat, noon-4pm Sun mid-Jun–mid-Aug; compound. After visiting the well-displayed TRØNDELAG TRØNDELAG Since the late Middle Ages, the city has been called Trondhjem, pronounced ‘Trond-yem’ and noon-2.30pm Mon-Fri, 11.30am-2pm Sat, noon-4pm Sun rest- statues, gargoyles and carvings from the ca- meaning, roughly, ‘home of the good life’. But in the early 20th century the fledgling national of-year), constructed in the late 11th century, thedral, drop to the lower level, where only government was bent on making Norwegian city names more historically Norwegian; just as is Scandinavia’s largest medieval building. a selection of the myriad artefacts revealed Christiania reverted to its ancient name of Oslo, on 1 January 1930 Trondhjem was changed Outside, the ornately embellished west wall during the museum’s construction in the late back to Nidaros. has top-to-bottom statues of biblical char- 1990s are on show. Take in too its enjoyable Some 20,000 locals took to the streets in protest and by 6 March the government relented – acters and Norwegian bishops and kings, 15-minute audiovisual programme. sort of. The compromise was ‘Trondheim,’ the etymologically Danish ‘hj’ having been duly sculpted in the early 20th century. Within, The adjoining National Military Museum exorcised. the cathedral is subtly lit (just see how the vi- (admission free; h9am-3pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat & Nowadays the official pronunciation is ‘Trond-haym’, but many locals still say ‘Trond-yem’. brantly coloured, modern stained-glass glows, Sun Jun-Aug), in the same courtyard, is full of Thanks to the vagaries of the local dialect, still others call it ‘Trond-yahm’. Typical of this toler- especially in the rose window at the west end), antique swords, armour and cannons, and ant city, any of these pronunciations is acceptable, as is the ‘Trond-hime’ that most English so let your eyes attune to the gloom. recounts the days from 1700 to 1900, when speakers hazard. The altar sits over the original grave of St the Archbishop’s Palace served as a Danish Olav, the Viking king who replaced the Nordic military installation. On the top floor is the pagan religion with Christianity. The original Hjemmesfront (Home Front) museum, devoted statue in Seattle that commemorates the tens Just east of the centre, across the Gamle cathedral was built in 1153, when Norway to Trondheim’s role in the WWII resistance. of thousands of Norwegian emigrants to the Bybro (Old Town Bridge), is the Bakklandet became a separate archbishopric. The current New World.) neighbourhood, where, within old warehouses transept and chapter house were constructed SVERRESBORG TRØNDELAG FOLK MUSEUM In 1030 another, now more famous, King and renovated workers housing, are some of between 1130 and 1180 and reveal Anglo- West of the centre, the Folk Museum (%73 Olav (Haraldsson) was martyred in battle at the city’s most colourful places to eat and Norman influences (many of the craftsmen 89 01 00; Sverresborg Allé 13; www.sverresborg.no; adult/ Stiklestad ( p287 ), about 90km to the north- drink. Small Solsiden, even more recently were brought in from England), while the concession/child/family Nkr80/55/30/195; h11am-6pm east, and canonised. Nidaros became a centre restored, is where you’ll find Trondheim’s Gothic choir and ambulatory were completed Jun-Aug, 11am-3pm Mon-Fri, noon- 3pm Sat & Sun rest-of- for pilgrims from all over Europe, its bishopric trendiest cafés and wharf-side restaurants. in the early 14th century. The nave, repeatedly year) is one of the best of its kind in Norway. embracing Norway, Orkney, the Isle of Man, ravaged by fire across the centuries, is mostly The indoor exhibition, Livsbilder (Images of the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. It Information a faithful 19th-century reconstruction. Life) in the main building, displays artefacts served as the capital of Norway until 1217, Ark Bruns Bokhandel (%73 51 00 22; Kongens gate Down in the crypt is a display of medieval in use over the last 150 years – from clothing ruling an empire that extended from what is 10) Carries a good selection of books in English. carved tombstones (the majority restored to school supplies to bicycles – and has a short now western Russia to, possibly, the shores of Elefanten Vaskeri (h10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm from fragments since many headstones were multimedia presentation.