Travels with rarecat: Why I love Trondheim (Central Norway)

I love Trondheim! This was where I encountered for the first time several birds I have never seen in my life! We chose to do a hike in the Bymarka Nature Preserve instead of doing a city tour, knowing that we would still have the afternoon to walk the city. Bymarka covered a large area of 80 sq. km with tons of walking trails through beautiful boreal forests and lakes. It was a lovely walk even though it was raining part of the time. During the two hour hike, we saw a pretty pair of Eurasian Wigeons, goldeneyes, a black-headed gull, a hooded crow and a Great Tit - never even heard of this one but it has a distinctive sound and was a real attention getter - that's how I found it in a tree! There were also all kinds of flowers that carpeted the side of the trails - it's spring afterall.

Flower-lined trail in Bymarka Nature Preserve

Lake in Bymarka where we found the golden eyes, the wigeons and mallards

Pair of Eurasian Wigeons

I found the Great Tit near this lake on the edge of the Reserve

Great Tit - found it by following its song

After the hike, we were taken on a tour of the Sverresborg Folk Museum, an open air museum with 80 buildings from the area. Here I encountered one of the most entertaining museum guides I have ever met in my travels - what a delightful young lady. I typically don't enjoy listening to long narratives but she made it so amusing and down-to-earth I stayed with her for the half hour she was talking. Then I encountered another new species called Fieldfare (like a robin) on the grounds and even caught it with a worm in its beak!

Houses in the Sverresborg Folk Museum

The very entertaining young lady guide made the story of the old house sound interesting

Fieldfare

After the museum, we were dropped off in the middle of town where we grabbed a quick lunch at a riverside café in Bryggen, the old district by the river. This gave us our first taste of the iconic view of old Trondheim, with its wood houses on both sides of the river. When we returned after our visit to the Nidaros Cathedral nearby, the late afternoon sun made the buildings even more picturesque. I was looking at my two sets of photos, before and after, and trying to figure out why the later set looked different; I found out it had nothing to do with my camera settings - the difference was in the angle of the sun!

The Old Town Bridge

The late afternoon sun on the riverside houses

Looking back at the Cathedral from the other side of the river

We missed the tour of Nidaros Cathedral because of our hike and so had to pay for entry. Admission was pretty steep at around $18 CAD per person so if you were offered a free tour, don't forgo it. Even more disappointing was, after paying for the ticket, I found out that photography is not allowed inside! The original Cathedral was built in the 11th century but there were several fires and restorations, including the addition of the rose window and the pipe organ in the early 20th century - the two creating a stunning visual at one end of the church.

It was a nice walk through the old town back to the pier to board our ship, giving us an opportunity to see both old and new Trondheim and a chance for some street photography. The encounter with the Pied Wagtail, another first for me, topped off the exceptional day with its combination of nature, culture and city experiences.

The main street in Bryggen - the paved part of the road was actually the bike path. I thought it was easier to walk on to take photos and almost got run over a few times.