With me working only Monday to Friday lunch time in the job that I was doing at the time, I felt that I needed to make the most of my weekends one way or another. I felt that far too often, I was wasting my valuable time and it was time for that to stop. I had a variety of options to choose from: head on home to visit my family, travel around the UK to see friends or new places, or use my proximity to Europe to start ticking off the places that were on my travel tick list (this being pretty much the whole planet…). Knowing that I’m based in the UK and you’ve seen the title of this blog, you know which option I went for. After my previous ventures out into the big wide world and meeting new people, I had a network of people in lands both near and far which I wished to connect with more. This both gave me a chance to have a good catch up with them and have a local show me around to the best places to visit there, win win right?!
For its natural beauty, active lifestyle and different take on Western culture, Scandinavia has always intrigued me and was a place high up on my list of places to head to, with the first place for me to head to being Norway. On this journey I decided to head to Trondheim. A place that I’d not really heard of, I must admit, until I met my friend, Alex, at a festival and had managed to sort out a quick flight for a catch up and to see what Norway had to offer as well seeing if a quick weekend city break was worth it. I’ll be firstly discussing my thoughts of Trondheim as a whole, followed up my thoughts on travelling to somewhere for just a weekend and finishing up with the detailed story of my experience.
Thoughts on Trondheim
Tucked up in the centre of Norway, tucked away on the coastline of one of many fjords, a city of just shy of 200,000 people is located going by the name of Trondheim. Surrounded by hills and forest, this port city has the perfect blend of city lifestyle with the ability to get lost in the wilderness. The air is blend of freshness and sea air, the locals friendly and location provides you the best of both worlds. In addition to that, that is fine mix of embracing its old town history with its now modern and present culture influenced by its high student population of nearly 20%, giving it an energetic nightlife.
I will admit, when looking into Norway, Trondheim isn’t a place that stands out to me to visit for a weekend and it was only by chance that having a friend live her allowed me to discover it, explore it and enjoy my time there.
Would I recommend a visit to here though? I’ll be honest with you here and say that if you’re thinking of doing a weekend in Norway, I feel your locations to head to would be Oslo, Stavanger or Bergen before Trondheim. However, that’s not me writing off this place, as in Trondheim I found an unexpected gem that if I applied my present day attitude to travel, I could have gained so much more from it. It is a place that would fit perfectly into a country wide tour that hits the major cities, giving you a perfect 2 or 3 day stop as you make your way north and allow yourself to enjoy this coastal city, the surrounding area and the vibrancy of its nightlife, fuelled by it’s high student population.
Thoughts on Weekend
Would I do a weekend again in a new city again? Most definitely! (If you continue to follow the blog, you’ll see that I certainly stand by that opinion!) It is something completely viable and doesn’t have to be in a different country to feel fulfilled but you can still get a great adventure away in a city that you’ve never been to, allowing yourself to immerse yourself in everything it has to offer. As I’ve said before, with only a limited amount of time it does take careful planning but with the sacrifice of a little sleep, you can make the most of your time and get a fully worthwhile trip in. You’ll even be surprised by what delights you can find in your local area if you do a little research or just go for a wander, try something new and you never know what gems you could unearth that you never knew about!
Now it’s story time!
Friday
Work? Done. Bag? Packed. Train? Boarded. Next stop? Gatwick airport.
Flying with Norwegian Airlines, knowing that they are a good airline to fly with after my trip to America, I knew that I was getting very good value for money. Leaving from Gatwick airport, there’s usually a flight going in the early evening (1750) and arrives at 2120 in Trondheim. I admit, a flight leaving earlier would have been more ideal to allow me to utilise the Friday more but my destination of choice wasn’t as popular a destination compared to others.
Going away for just a weekend which runs from Friday evening to Sunday evening to travel and explore was a new concept for me but I realised that I had a lot to fit into that very short space of time but with great planning ahead from either myself or someone who already lives there (handy to have!), you can make the most out your journey. How much you truly get out of it is down to you and the pace that you can go at. Probably not recommended for those that like long mornings in bed at a weekend.
The first evening was a relaxed one where, Alex, picked me up from the airport, which is actually around 30 minutes out of the city by car. As we chatted and drove through the Norwegian countryside into the centre of Trondheim, I was already being spoilt by the landscape Norway had to offer. If you aren’t fortunate enough to have a friend who lives there, then the next cheapest option is to get the train taking around 35 minutes and costing you 86 NOK (Norwegian Krones) each way, followed by the bus ran by Flybussen, costing 220 NOK for a return journey. We headed back to the his flat, after purchasing some food, and proceeded to have a catch up and plan the weekend ahead, talking through some pencilled in some ideas by him.
With me going to somewhere so far north in the summer, I didn’t take into account the fact that days are so much longer and I was certainly surprised when it came to how bright it was at night! It was never truly dark as we the level of light at its darkest was “civil twilight”, which can be compared to the how dark it gets during a thunderstorm if I had to describe it. When you’re trying to go to sleep, it can certainly disturb you and an eye mask is recommended in case you struggle.
Saturday
With the clock ticking and plenty to fit into the short time frame that I had here, it was an early wake up for us both to grab breakfast, stock up on our caffeine and get on to the road to see this Nordic city. The plan for the day? Alex had a several highlights and locations laid out across the city to head to. These were a mixture of places with historical significance, places taking us out into the fresh air to see the natural beauty of the local area and places made famous for its picturesque nature.
The place for us to go to get the legs moving, the fresh air in our lungs and clear any feelings of being lethargic out of our systems, was a short drive toward the outer edge of Trondheim to a place that made you feel like you’d got out of the city but you were actually still pretty much in the middle of the suburbs. Known as Skyås Utsiktspunkt, it was a quiet and peaceful place that gave a panoramic view of the skyline and easily accessible to escape the chaos of life. Perfect for a place to sit and let the world go by as a local.
Our final outside of the city centre’s limits was for us to head to the base of the Geitfjellet (translating to Goat’s Mountain) trail out to the western limits of the city’s suburbs. This was an easy trail that ran through the Scandinavian coastal conifer forests before forking to either a path up to peak or to a lookout point, which we went to, giving you another full view of the Trondheim to the right and the sea to the left. Unfortunately for me, and one thing to note about this area of Norway is that it doesn’t host the world renowned tall and beautiful fjords that are associated with Norway, which are mostly seen in the south.
With it being an overcast day, it was just about the right temperature for getting active without it being uncomfortable though it was a shame the delights of the Norwegian landscape couldn’t be emphasised by the rays of the sun. Nonetheless the views from the lookout chosen were still great to sit back and admire, taking in that fresh feeling Norwegian air.
The next place for us to head was into the city centre to see the traditional landmarks that people head to the city to see, such as the cathedral and Old Town area. One of the most well known and photographed locations in Trondheim is the Old Town Bridge. As you can see by the photo featured, the view down the river with the different coloured buildings is one that brings out the photographer in everyone and is trademark of the kind of places that are on offer in Norway.
The final stop on our whistle stop tour was to Tyholttårnet, a tower built east to the main city centre to provide both a radio tower and a tourist attraction taking you up a restaurant and observation deck sitting at 74 metres, which revolves once per hour, providing you a panoramic view over Trondheim and the greenery in the opposite direction. Best thing about it, is that it’s free to head on up so just rock up and hop into the lift. One thing that it would definitely be great for in my opinion is watching sunset on a clear day as the sun sets over the city.
After our exploration of the city, we stocked up on supplies for the evening ahead. This was where I found out about both the high prices of the alcohol and the policies that were in place in Norway. Back in the day, Norway as a whole was deemed to have a drinking problem, in particular Trondheim as a student city, thus policies were put in place by the government to impose strict rules on the sale of alcohol as well as having the “Vinmonopolet”, translating to Wine Monopoly. The cutoff for purchasing alcohol from the supermarket at the weekend is 1500 on Saturday then that’s it until Monday unless you go to a bar. It was also these policies that prompted Alex to use my customs limit to bring him a cheaper bottle from the airport duty free.
On the topic of bars, our evening plans contained two kinds of bars. Firstly, we headed to the gym to both allow me to continue with my training and aid Alex with a few things prior to us “hittin’ da club” that evening. With fitness and health being high on the Norwegians agenda, only emphasised by seeing mothers and fathers running around with pushchairs, the gyms that they have are well stocked, cheap (in Norwegian terms) and have an even balance of male to female so you shouldn’t feel intimidated by the experience at all.
Moving on to Trondheim’s nightlife, many of the go to locations are all condensed right in the heart of the city, in the Downtown area, which was thankfully within walking distance from Alex’s apartment. Further to our discussion earlier about Trondheim’s student drinking reputation, I was informed that the bars and clubs here closed a lot earlier than I was used to thus an after party scene has been adopted by the place. Also due to the higher prices, pre parties were a big thing here! Unfortunately for us, our pre drinks were just us two before we headed to a couple of bars before heading to our final spot of TAG Restaurant and Club, hosting a bar and sit down area upstairs and dance floor and bar downstairs.
The music was good; the party people plenty and the prices of drinks… yep, pretty high even for a sober man! I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening hitting the town here but one thing I did notice that the usual western etiquette that I’d become accustomed to wasn’t here. The two main thing that I did notice that was different compared to England and the US was the lack of presence of status and relaxed nature of things. The reason why I say this is due to the fact that elsewhere I’ve been out, to have a table in a nightclub, you need to pay extra for it and is, sometimes but not always, used by people to show wealth and attract attention, whereas in Norway that’s not the case at all. The way that you can get a table in Norway? Just turn up first. It’s that easy!
At the end of the night, earlier than I’m used to, it was certainly odd to be walking home with it being pretty bright! I was like nighttime had never truly come around!
Sunday
It was a typical Sunday morning for us with it being a slow and lazy one after the late night of the night before. A steady start to the day with a cuppa and some breakfast whilst watching the EDC Las Vegas stream was on the agenda before we got the day underway.
With it being a Sunday and the day that I was leaving, the plan was this time to properly drive out of the city for a proper hike out in the hills and forests of Norway. Honestly, it was everything that I expected it to be. This nation is truly spectacular to just go and take in with its picturesque landscapes and I would definitely recommend a visit here. If you do visit and don’t go and explore the great outdoors on offer then in my humble opinion… you’re crazy! It was a great way to get the blood pumping and really wake me up on a Sunday afternoon. I’ll just leave you with a few photos to enjoy the view from Gråkallen, even when it’s overcast, and let them show you what I mean.
On the way back, we checked out the last couple of things Alex wanted to show me back in the city before grabbing a spot of lunch and sorting out my bags. One of these attractions was the statue of Olav Tryggvason, the founder of Trondheim, which sits on top of an obelisk and having an impressive combined height of 18m, it stands tall above the city and with the since added cobblestone mosaic surrounding it to compliment it and form a sun dial.
And just like that, before you know it, the weekend had come to an end and it was time to head back to the airport and back home. The bags were packed, a mid afternoon snack polished off and the car was packed up, as Alex was kind enough to drop me off. I said “Cheerio” to him and was on my way through the standard airport process. It was a fast paced weekend, cramming in everything that I could but it was certainly a worthwhile and enjoyable one that allowed me to explore a new place instead of sitting at home!
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