Of nuns and nunneries

Sight-seeing got underway a little late today due to my laundry needs. Once that was out of the way, we decided to go to the small island of Tautra to see where a group of nuns have been living since 1207.

The drive to Tautra went through some more beautiful places and snow scenes.


 We travelled through some small towns to get to the island and one of these was Frosta which has hot house culture for vegetables.

Most of the farm animals are kept inside for winter but there were a few cows out. This photo is especially for Jo!

Finally we got to the island and the sun came out. This is the first bit of sunshine I have seen since leaving home! The bridge to the island has an automated gate on the land side to prevent unwanted animals from crossing over to the island.



First we went to see the new nunnery and the church. There was a sign saying that visitors are welcome in the church but as we were about to open the door the nuns started singing and both of us felt that we would be intruding if we went in at that point. We stood outside for a few minutes listening to the beautiful voices before going back to the car and onto other areas of the island.

The above photo shows the church on the right and the start of the dormitories on the left. The building is made of wood like most other buildings in Norway but is covered with slabs of local stone which gives it a rather unusual appearance.

From the old church we went to see the ruins of the original building that was built in 1207. It is a small ruin but is situated in a lovely spot and views through the doorways and the broken through areas are good.

From Tautra, we went on to Stjørdal which is where the Trondheim airport is. The road took us along the edge of the Trondheim fjord. We searched for moose all along the forest edges by only saw signs of them:

Hopefully we will see a real moose soon. The scenery was of course beautiful and we went through two short tunnels through the mountains around the fjord.

Then passed yet another church. I am quite taken with these churches but they do seem disproportionately large in relation to the number of people living in the vicinity of them.

And passed another nunnery on a different island. These nuns seem to like island living.

In Stjørdal we went to a shopping mall to have some tea and marzipan cake. The abundance of marzipan in Norway is a problem - I like the stuff A LOT!!!!! It was good to see the area where I arrived on Saturday night. It was so dark on Saturday when I arrived that all I got to see was the road.

For once the non-smokers at a cafe had the best area  .....
the smokers' area was covered in snow! LOL!!!

The drive home took about an hour and we saw a lovely sunset at around a quarter to four!


There is a chance that we will be able to see the Northern Lights tonight at around ten pm so hold thumbs for me!

Take care everyone!


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