Peeps at Many Lands: NorwayMockler-Ferryman, A. F. (Augustus Ferryman)
History
Peeps at Many Lands: Norway
Mockler-Ferryman, A. F. (Augustus Ferryman)
Norway -- Description and travel
A little farther on you come to Trondhjem; but if you would curtail
the sea voyage it is not necessary to take the steamer from Bergen,
since Trondhjem can be reached by rail from Christiania or by a
driving tour right through the country from various places. Onwards
from Trondhjem, however, you must go by sea, unless you are prepared
for a long and rough overland journey.
Trondhjem, the ancient capital of Norway, is a place of historic
interest, and contains the finest cathedral in Scandinavia. Its
name means "throne home," as the old Kings of Norway used to reside
there, and it was the place where the coronation ceremony was always
performed. Though no longer the capital of the country, it is still
a flourishing town, and the present King (Haakon VII.) was crowned
there a few years ago.
Now the real sea voyage to the North Cape commences, and with luck
you may reach your destination in five days, but on every one of the
five you will stop somewhere or see something which will be worth
seeing. The town of Namsos is of no great interest, but the coast and
island scenery now becomes stupendous and grand, with great giant
rocks rising up out of the sea. The most remarkable of these are
Torghatten and Hestmanden.
The peculiarity of Torghatten lies in the fact that there is a hole
or tunnel straight through the massive rock, which itself is some
800 feet in height. As you sail past it you see daylight through the
hole, and if you land to examine it you will find that it is nearly
200 yards from end to end, and that its almost perpendicular sides
vary in height from 60 feet at one end to four times that height at
the other end. No man can account for this remarkable tunnel except
by quoting the local legend, and in this the Hestmand (the other
extraordinary rocky island) is mixed up.
Hestmanden, the "man on horseback," is a wonderful mass of rock,
the outline of which, allowing for a little imagination, resembles
a man on a horse. And this is the legend:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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