Back in Trondheim on Boxing Day

Bryggen on the Nidelva River, Trondheim..

06:30 –  We arrived in Trondheim where we had a long stop on our north-bound journey.  Trondheim is a Viking city, founded by Viking King Olav Tryggvasson back in 997.  It is also Norway’s third largest city.
07:58 – There is an optional Trondheim sightseeing tour for new passengers who’ve joined the cruise for the southbound journey.

We had a quick breakfast and rushed out to catch more of Trondheim sights.  This time we walked across the Bakke Bru bridge, just past the Clarion Hotel, into the Rosenborg district.

Even as the first light was trying to break into the morning skies, we could see that this was an affluent part of Trondheim.  Easily visible were five star hotels, shopping centres, office building of Deloittes and many trendy looking apartment blocks and nice boardwalks line the waterways.  There were also many speedboats in the river moorings and bars and recreational facilities abound here.

We walked in a big loop around town and then rushed back to the ship which was leaving at 10 a.m.

13:00 – We were supposed to leave Trondheim at 10 a.m., but engine problems delayed our departure by 3 hours.  Not a nice Boxing Day present for the captain and officers.  The engineers must have been sweating, but I didn’t mind.  Secretly, I wouldn’t have minded being stranded here for a few extra days as I didn’t want to cruise to end.  Norway is a beautiful country, the people here are great and we’ve enjoyed the cruise immensely.

Munkholmen Island, Norway..

13:05 – We passed the grim looking island of Munkholmen again on the starboard side, the island that’s been used as a place of execution, a monastery and a prison. Our next port of call was Kristiansund which we were supposed to call into at 16:30 but due to the three hours delay in Trondheim we would be arriving later.  The captain is pushing the ship along to make up for lost time.

Along the next part of the journey, we passed the Fosen shipyard where Hurtigruten’s MS Trollfjord and MS Midnatsol were built.  We also passed the Agdenes lighthouse before leaving the Trondheimsfjord.

By the time we reached the island of Hitra, the largest island in southern Norway, it was already dark.  Hitra is home to Europe’s largest herd of deer.

17:30 – We have a disembarkation briefing.  There were people who are going straight to Bergen Airport after the cruise so they would be concerned about arriving back in Bergen on time.  Luckily for us, we were staying a night in Bergen.

We also have a film screening of Hurtigruten’s other cruises to Antarctica, Greenland and Spitsbergen, all very enticing to people with the travel bug.

It’s dinnertime when the ship called into Kristiansund for half an hour.  I don’t think anyone went ashore.

After Kristiansund, the ship crossed the open waters of Hustadvika.  We were in view of parts of the huge “Ormen Lange” gas installation, the largest industrial project in Norway.

23:00 – I think it’s about this time when we arrived in Molde.  There’s a 45 minute stop here, but as we’ve been ashore before and it was late, we gave this stop a miss.   Ålesund is the next port of call, but we won’t be staying up for this.