Trondheim - Halsanaustan - Kanestraum - Kristiansund

Friday 2.9.16

After breakfast with Kirsten, I walk up to the fortress. Light drizzle, 12 degrees.

I briefly look into one of the buildings. With the weather and the early hour, it's not very crowded. No entrance fee is charged. The view of Trondheim with the tip of the Nidaros Cathedral is beautiful.

I walk down to the old town and meanwhile a beautiful rainbow appears over the city.

I pass by the world's only bicycle elevator. A group of Germans is trying it out. You have to put your foot in front of a wedge that then moves up.

The elevator, which is also only on this one street in Trondheim, was installed to encourage Trondheimers to cycle.

The sun is now breaking through the clouds and Bakklandet - the old town - looks like a picture-perfect small town.

My next destination is the Nidaros Cathedral, so I walk across the red old town bridge over the Nidelva River with a beautiful view of the waterfront of Bakklandet.

The nearly 650km long Olav's Way between Oslo and Trondheim ends at the Nidaros Cathedral.

It is the pilgrimage route that was used after the death and canonization of King Olav. It was not until 1997 that this path, which was already 1000 years old at the time, was renewed. Today, it is one of the European cultural routes, just like the Camino de Santiago.

The marking of the pilgrimage route is marked with a cross, which can also be found here, at kilometer 0.

This is where what Kirsten told me yesterday connects to the history of the pilgrims.

From the back, the cathedral looks more like a "normal" - albeit large and compact - church, but the front with its many decorations is breathtaking and reveals the dimension of this place of worship - it is simply huge.

Admission is 95 kroner, approximately 12 euros. Inside there are ancient stone reliefs and decorations, as well as very beautiful stained glass windows, although they are not old. Photography is not allowed.

The cathedral has practically burned down once every 100 years since its completion. Nevertheless, it is considered one of the most beautiful Gothic buildings in Northern Europe. In the middle of the 16th century, Norway decided to become Protestant, and in this upheaval, the cathedral (then Catholic) was only very reluctantly or not at all repaired again, after the Archbishop Trondheim and Norway left.

At that time, the church was only rebuilt to a lesser extent. The Catholic Church remained prohibited in Norway for around 300 years. But a storm and another fire in the mid-18th century also took their toll on the church, and after the last fire, only the foundations remained. The reconstruction then took place until 1906.

You can see from the size of the doors how small the people were back then. The coffin with the bones of Olav is a taller wooden box with colorful paintings - but it probably did not survive all the fires in its original form.

I walk through the Schultz Gate to Torget, where a dance group is dancing to salsa rhythms and sprucing up the otherwise fairly plain square. My path leads along an old church built of rocks and wooden houses that really remind me of Russia.

It's funny how well you can derive German from the Norwegian signs. The pronunciation is different though.

I stroll along the shops on Nordre Gate and sit down for coffee at "Dromedar." Short break - my feet are already tired... Continue through the pedestrian street of Nordre Gate, where you can find everything.

Now it's back over the modern bridge and back to Bakklandet.

Soon I'm sitting by the old bridge in the sun with a delicious lemonade and reading a bit in my travel guide. Today I still have to leave Trondheim and make my way to Kristiansund.

I meet Kirsten at her place at 3:30 p.m. and she kindly drives me to Hertz. There's a black Peugeot 208 with 10,000 km - not very clean, but with two stone chips in the windshield (on the passenger side). Well, I'm only on the road for one week and hopefully not on too bumpy roads and with not too large temperature fluctuations.

So off to Kristiansund. First with traffic jam south of Trondheim and then quite nice scenery. I drive to Halsanaustan to take the ferry to Kanestraum across the Halsafjord and I'm lucky: The ferry in Halsafjord is already there and leaves 2 minutes later with me on board.

It's past half past six. 20 minutes drive = 95 kroner = approximately 12 euros. Beautiful view of mountains on the banks of the Halsafjord with the evening sun. On the other side, in Kanestraum, I continue my journey. But I only arrive at the Atlanten Turistcenter after 8 p.m. It is now very dim and there is a light drizzle. I booked a single room with its own bathroom for 585 kroner (approximately 64 euros). There are nice cottages and a building with motel rooms of different types. The facility seems almost empty to me. Next to my car, only one other car is parked in front of the two-story motel building.

The room is as expected simple with PVC flooring, but with a good, wide bed and a good blanket, TV, private bathroom and breakfast. I drive to the harbor again to possibly take some photos of the sunset, but by the time I get there, it's already over. I take a picture of the famous sculpture of the Codfish Woman and get some water and yogurt from Spar, then open the can of black bread that I brought with me in my room and make a sandwich with cheese and liverwurst. I upload the pictures to my tablet and lie down horizontally at 10:30 p.m.

200km Trondheim-Halsanaustan-Kanestraum-Kristiansund