Trondheim, Norway

Trondheim. Third largest city in Norway with a population of roughly 170,00 people. A small town by North American standards.

Our shore excursion, Wonderful Trondelag and Lokken Verk, was a long day. A 3-hour bus ride to an historic mine followed by a 1-hour train ride through the area and another few hours back to Trondheim.

The weather was very warm. Temperatures were well above 30 degrees Celsius for the day.

Thank heavens I packed all of that thermal clothing.

Here is a shot of the mine that we visited in Lokken Verk.

And the entrance into the mine. Note the year. This mine was started in 1654 and mining operations continued until 1987.

Once inside the mine, we were led to a large area that is now used for weddings, concerts and other special events.

We were treated to a musical concert and here is a short clip of one of the songs.

After we left the mine, we went aboard our train on the Thamshavn line. This train was Norway’s first electric railway. It features a unique rail gauge of 1,000mm. The cars were restored from the early 1900s — I seem to recall the guide mentioning 1908.

The bus picked us up at the final station in Bardshaug. And from there, we made our way back to Trondheim.

We made two stops. The first was at this historic site to see an example of Norwegian construction.

And then our second stop at Nidaros Cathedral. We decided to leave the bus at this point.

We had a very expensive lunch in Trondheim and then walked through the old part of the city.

I even found a bike shop.

In the old part of Trondheim, the wooden houses are built side-by-side and, in most cases, connected to each other. This was quite the fire hazard — and likely still is a fire hazard — and we heard numerous reports from tour guides about Norwegian towns burning to the ground in the past because of this approach to building houses.

Not all of the houses are connected though. This one had a generous amount of land although we found no front yards in this part of town. All of the houses were built right on the edge of the road.

As we made our way back to the ship, the architecture changed dramatically. Somehow the glass and steel designs did not do it for me.

And finally, a video highlighting our day at Trondheim.