Monday 11 August – Stavenger, Norway 0800-1700

Arriving into Stavanger, the weather showed some blue skies with passing showers and was quite cool. Later the sun warmed us up providing we were out of the breeze.

Norway’s fourth largest city, Stavanger lies at the mouth of the Gandsfjord. The old port, attests to the sea’s enduring role in Norwegian history. Here, Vikings once sailed on voyages of conquest and exploration. In later centuries, the port served as a major hub for Norway’s mercantile and fishing fleets. By the mid-20th century, however, Stavanger had fallen on hard times as the fishing grounds dwindled. In 1969, the discovery of North Sea oil opened a new chapter in Stavanger’s history.

So this time the Norwegian Petroleum Museum was on our sightseeing list. On our last visit in 2013, we cruised the Lysefjord under Pulpit Rock. With the benefit of Hutch our Port Lecturer, we saw some of his photos at the top of Pulpit Rock. Scary! (We also remembered that on that cruise on the Crown Princess, the Port Lecturer failed to show).

Disembarking we walked off the ship around the cove and ended up at Stavanger Cathedral (under repair and closed but we managed to see of the interior as it was open to prepare for the filing of a chamber music recital). We were heading towards the Valberg Tower we thought, but ended up near the Petroleum Museum. The museum visit was well worthwhile with a mixture of models, film, and child appealing things to do.

Our walk continued up to the Valberg Tower (said to be a good view of the port area but …. It was a good view of that dam ship, Eurodam). We walked down to the port level and along Old Stavanger and re-boarded the ship. Perfect timing, before a lot of squally rain early afternoon.