On the western tip of the Island Frøya you will find the fishing village Titran. The name has an unknown meaning, but it is an old fishing village, mentioned by the Nidaros’ Archbishop Aslak Bolt in 1433, when he gathered “The Titrom fishermen” for a meeting. They agreed to pay all the fees that the Christian court ordered. That means, at Titran, there were both people and money at the time, and the fishermen were even willing to give some extra fish out of pure goodwill. Before 1430, all the Norwegian fishing villages were free to settle.
The grand old days were in the 16th century: Of Frøya’s 49 households, 15 were on Titran and 15 on Sula. During the fisheries, there could be hundreds of fishermen out here in the ocean gap, with a safe port and a short way out to sea. Today, the number of inhabitants is less than 100 people.
On the south side of Titran we find the peninsula Stabben, where the Germans built a coastal fortress, Stabben, during the WWII. The work started in 1941 and was part of the Atlantic embankment. Serbian and Russian prisoners of war dug out more than 20 bunkers and hundreds of meters of underground passages.
The fortress was opened to the public in 1990, so Stabben fortress you just have to come and visit!
The fortress was equipped with 3 Krupp canons (150 mm K 16), with a range of 22 km. The purpose was to hit allied ships. The construction of Stabben fortress turned out to be a mistake. Very few ships passed by Frøya. The shipping lane goes inside the neighbouring island Hitra, sheltered from wind and waves!
During the WWII, shots were fired from the Stabben canons only once – at their own: German minesweepers who had misunderstood the signals from the fortress.
The Germans left Stabben in 1944, and the families could move back to their houses. The Germans had occupied all the houses on the Stabben peninsula for 3 years.
At Titran you will find beautiful bathing places everywhere, it hardly makes sense to recommend one in front of the others. We were accommodated in the Titran old school – it has been converted into apartments – so then it was natural to cross over to Stabben from there. An absolutely beautiful bath in a quiet, marvelous evening.
A night bath on Titran is just right!