Ok, so thanks to school I don't really have time for this blog post, but I don't want to postpone it until whenever I have time (end of May probably xD) either. That's why this is gonna be a bit of a nightly hush-hush operation. But I just can't keep this new instance of "beauty of Norway" from you. :)
For the Easter break, I didn't team up with friends (some of them are not even in Scandinavia at the moment) but just booked transportation and accommodation for my own private trip to Norway. That saved me from a bunch of planning meetings that would have been necessary for a road trip around the country and for which I really didn't have the time - neither the meetings nor the actual trip, unfortunately.
For going to the middle of Norway, I opted for the train. That doesn't only take longer than the plane, but is also more expensive (train student discount can't beat UNDER26 flight campaign code!), especially since I booked a bit last minute - a week in advance. That's my version of last minute; for anything later, I would probably be losing it completely. So why the train? Because of the view! (And you can include stops on the way, like I did with Røros.)
I had to get up at 5 in the morning, when it was still dark outside, but it was absolutely worth it!
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| The perks of taking photos from a moving train: unwanted stuff in the pictures... |
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| My very cute fellow traveller. Hi doggie! :) |
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| Selfie of proof. (I prioritised the landscape.) |
Røros
I had to change trains at a place called Hamas, which I almost didn't manage due to my train being delayed. Very good first impression, Norwegian railway! :P However, the connecting train in Hamas waited for the passengers from my train, so I didn't have to wait in a random Norwegian town for two hours (that's when the next train would have left...). Instead, I continued my journey to - another random Norwegian town, you might think!
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| If you - like me until 10 days ago - don't know where Røros even is... |
Ok, full disclosure: the decision to go to Røros was rather random. I was researching things to do in Trondheim, and a website showed me a map of different travel locations in Norway. Røros was the closest place to Trondheim marked on that map, and I was like: well, I might as well combine the two, as that will probably be my only opportunity to visit Røros.
Anyway, so Røros is a town in the county of Trøndelag. That's the same county Trondheim is located in, so I guess for Norwegian standards, it's really around the corner. The train ride from R
øros to Trondheim took two and a half hours though. Wikipedia says, Røros has 3800 inhabitants, which would be a village in Germany. It's even smaller than my rather small home town in the middle of nowhere - but hey, it has an airport!
However, what's interesting about the town is the fact that it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. That's because it still looks like a medieval town with its wooden houses.
I had four hours before my train to Trondheim left - and not much of a plan. Or let's say: the plan was to walk around and explore the town. That turned out to be a bit of a challenge due to the combination of icy roads, quite a few cars and the obvious lack of sidewalks. But I survived and have a bunch of photos to show you!
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| Not much of a spring feeling upon arrival... |
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| ... and its watchcat. Hi cat?! |
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| That's a graveyard covered in snow. |
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| Icicle formations |
Then I made my way to Slegghaugan, the slag heaps. Slag is a side-product of copper mining, and Røros is a mining town. (The mine can unfortunately only be visited in summer.)
Next to Slegghaugan, there's Sleggveien. The houses at the end of the street are actually a free outdoor part of Rørosmuseet, Røros Museum.
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| The houses... |
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| ... and the museum itself. |
What I found more exciting, though, was the view of the town from the top of the hills.
Trondheim
After this brief stopover, I continued my train journey to Trondheim. I'm not gonna post a Google Maps screenshot again - just scroll back if you've already forgotten where it is. :P Trondheim is the third biggest city of Norway, after Oslo and Bergen. At least if you consider the population of the city only: Stavanger, city-wise number four, has a bigger urban area. However, being number three in Norway means something around 190.000 citizens. To put it into my German perspective again: that's less than two thirds of Mannheim - and Mannheim is not even in the top 20 in Germany!
I spent almost three days in Trondheim, but I won't reconstruct the exact order of events here, just post photos somewhat ordered topic-wise. Oh, and just so you know: I never even saw one of the city busses (Trondheim city is located in a valley, so busses is kind of the only means of public transport that works there) from the inside - I did it all walking! To be honest, that was only possible because it seems like spring is slowly coming after all. In winter I would probably have died trying to walk around all day.
But during my stay, I was definitely not the only one spending time outside. All the days of my trip were sunny with a clear bright sky, so it seemed as if the whole city was coming out of hibernation!
Trondheim city centre
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| Other side of the world's northernmost medieval cathedral |
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| The city hall. |
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| Stiftsgården, the royal residence in Trondheim. |
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| Torvet i Trondheim, the marketplace. |
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| Not exactly in the centre, but somehow fits with the cathedral... |
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| ... the main building of NTNU, the largest university of Norway. |
Old town
Bakklandet: the view you'll usually find on postcards of Trondheim - old buildings by the Nidelva river.
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| ... the Old Town Bridge! |
Nidelva
If you walk through Trondheim by the
Nidelva river, there's not only the old town, of course.
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| Ehm, interesting? |
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| Nidarosdomen again! |
Kristiansten festning
Passing the Old Town Bridge and walking "a bit" uphill, you make it to
Kristiansten Festning, the historical fortress of Trondheim.
By the way, "a bit" uphill means: they installed a bicycle lift. :P
Anyway, once you make it up there, you are rewarded with a nice view over the city:
Bymarka: yay, hiking!
The city itself was mostly ok to walk (except for some paths next to Nidelva - the moment when a walk by the river becomes an adventure...). However, obviously, that changed when leaving the centre for a bit of hiking.
The excitement when you follow the signs to
Bymarka, the park/ forests/ nature reserve that starts at the west side of Trondheim - and the first thing you get to see is a coat of ice like this. And it didn't get better, of course. So just to let you know: I didn't make it all the way to the top of
Våttakammen, which I had originally intended. At some point the path just became too icy so that I would have needed better hiking skills - or spikes. But I got a bit of a nice view and made it back without getting lost in the woods for good or getting injured - both achievements in themselves!
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| Why do people litter in the nature, seriously? -_- |
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| Yeah, that would have been easier in summer... |
Ladestien
Ladestien is a walking track around the peninsula Lade at the Trondheimfjord. According to a Norwegian friend of mine who is from Trondheim, it's "usually a nice walk, but..." You can probably imagine the issue: winter weather conditions. Well, the view was stunning nevertheless, just the path became a bit too icy at some point. So I didn't do much of Ladestien, but the bit I did was beautiful!
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| Just a bit of ice... |
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| ... a tiny bit. |
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| And why does this thing stand around there? |
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| To take photos like this probably! :D |
Ilsvika
As Trondheim is directly by the water, Ladestien is not the only place to go if you want to have a nice view. Relatively close to the centre, you can walk by the coastline e.g. at Ilsvika. Again, there was a bit too much ice for my taste, but the outlook was good! (And I have no idea if the actual coastal walk is called Ilsvika, I literally just checked for any name on Google Maps so you can track where I was wandering around if you feel like it. :P)
Skansen & promenade
I kept my favourite spot for (almost) the end. The area around the
Skansen bridges and the promenade following the coastline eastwards offered really beautiful views!
(I went/passed there several times, that's why the lighting is different, just in case you're wondering.)
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| Yes, you can walk on that wall - and I did it later, too! :P |
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| And another selfie of proof. ;) |
The actual end...
... was when I had to go back to Oslo, of course. I took the train to the airport. And the rails were running parallel to the coastline from time to time, so I got a bit of a nice view there, too! Except for the dirty window of the train - try to ignore the dark spots, please...
But let me start with an "Only in Norway!"-experience I had at Trondheim central station:
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| Paying for the train station toilet with card only... really now? |
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| Waiting for the train: hi bird! ;) |
Going to the airport on Holy Saturday being like: I've never seen a more deserted security check - the sign said "0 minutes waiting time" when I arrived - and most shops were closed, even duty-free! At least the weather outlook for Oslo looked good*:
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| * Plus 3 degrees and sun - that's great for Norwegian standards! :D |
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