Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Finds
Zealots, “Perverts” & the Ax Man
Munkeholmen (Monk's Island),
is a small, grim, and inhospitable island
a short distance offshore from Trondheim's core. In summer daily fer-
ries depart from a point at the northern terminus of Munkegate at
hourly intervals between 10am and 7pm for the 30-minute jaunt off-
shore for picnicking, bird-watching, and beach excursions on the
island. Round-trip passage costs 45NOK ($6.40) for adults, 25NOK
($3.55) for children under 15. Bookings can be made at the
Lilletorget
Hotel,
Cicignons Plass (Littletorget;
&
73-80-63-00
). You can buy picnic
ingredients at the Ravnkloa fish market, a few steps from the landing
piers.
But there's more to this sparse island than fun, games, and picnick-
ing sites. For hundreds of years, beginning in 1658, the island func-
tioned as a prison and an execution site, with a prominent hangman's
scaffold, instruments of torture, and wooden blocks where ax men
would lop off the heads of wretches condemned as criminals, “per-
verts,” or enemies of the church or state. Before that, in the 11th cen-
tury, the island was developed by Benedictine monks into one of the
first two Christian monasteries in Scandinavia, housing zealots who
shivered away the winters as winds and snows howled down the edges
of the fjord. You can take a guided tour of the island's
historic fortress
for 25NOK ($3.55) for adults and 15NOK ($2.15) for children. If you
haven't brought picnic fixings, a cafe and snack bar are built into the
much-restored fortifications.
Today Monk's Island is moderately popular as a destination for
beachgoers, historians, and bird-watchers, even though the beach is
small, gravelly, and relatively narrow, and the island is very small. Some
locals even insist the place is haunted. What you may come away
with—at least in our opinion—is a pervasive sense of melancholy and
a profound new appreciation for the hardships and severity of life in
medieval Norway. Most first-timers to Munkeholmen return to Trond-
heim and head immediately for the nearest bar for food, drink, and a
replenishment of whatever good cheer they might have lost during
their excursion.
Incidentally,
Munkegate,
the broad boulevard known ironically
(facetiously?) as the “Champs-Elysées of Trondheim,” was named after
the medieval monks who lived here and who made frequent, some-
times daily, processionals between the landing pier at the avenue's
base and Trondheim's cathedral, a 20-minute walk to the south.
ORGANIZED TOURS
At the Tourist Office (p. 343), you can purchase tickets for guided tours of the
city, lasting 2 hours and taking in the highlights. Departure is from Torvet or
Market Square daily at noon from May 27 to August 25. Adults pay 180NOK
($26), while children under 16 are charged 75NOK ($11).
The tourist office also sells a 1
1
⁄
2
-hour sea tour, going along the canal harbor
and up the River Nidelven and out to the fjord. From June 23 to August 18, it
