Trondheim

Why this place

While the Ungdommene (the Youngsters) head west into fjord country, the Gråhårsklubben (the Oldsters) drive north — about seven hours up the E6 highway from Oslo — into the Trøndelag half of the trip. Trondheim is the regional anchor; the smaller visits are out beyond it.

What happens here

The hotel is Scandic Nidelven, on the river that gives the city its name. Day 3 is the drive itself plus arrival. Day 4 is the day out into the Stjørdal valley to the parish churches at Værnes and Hegra and on to Kylloplass, the small holding upvalley. Most of the day is spent walking ground rather than seeing sights. Day 5 belongs to Trondheim itself.

The city anchors the trip in the medieval:

• Nidaros Cathedral (Nidarosdomen) — the northernmost gothic cathedral in the world, built over the burial place of King Olav II and the destination of pilgrims walking from across northern Europe in the centuries before the Reformation. Eight Norwegian kings are buried inside it.
• Bakklandet — the surviving wooden old quarter on the eastern bank of the Nidelva river, painted in faded ochres and reds.
• Stiftsgården — the largest wooden royal residence in Northern Europe.

Background

Trondheim was founded in 997 by King Olav Tryggvason and was the seat of the medieval Norwegian kingdom for the next two and a half centuries. The cathedral marks the spot where his successor, King Olav II — Olav the Holy — was buried in 1031 after the battle of Stiklestad; the burial site became the most important pilgrimage destination in Northern Europe before the Reformation cut Scandinavia off from the Catholic pilgrimage circuit.

The region — Trøndelag — is the wider farming country east and north of the city. Stjørdal, Hegra, and Kylloplass are all within it, strung up the Stjørdalselva river east of Trondheim Airport. Parish life here goes back centuries; the small plasser — clearings worked from forest across generations — are the typical settlement pattern of the inland valleys.

Trondheim is the day base for reaching them. The deeper detail of the two churches and the upvalley small-holding is on the Stjørdal & Hegra and Kylloplass pages.