Stavanger, Norway-Oct. 3, 2018

What a blessing to be calmly docked at Stavanger, Norway. The cobbled streets of Gamie (Old) Stavanger have the largest number of wooden buildings in all of Europe dating from the 1600 to 1700’s. Profitable off shore oil drilling in recent years has spurred the town’s economy.

The red roofed wooden houses of Gamia Stavanger taken from our cabin’s balcony on our ship.

I was excited about our tour this morning. We were headed for a cruise down Lysefjord past Pulpit Rock. Lysefjord means “light fjord.” Fjord means a narrow inlet of sea between high cliffs usually formed by glaciers. Pulpit Rock is a 2,000 foot high rock that juts out over the water and is popular with hikers. We were very happy to simply cruise by it to marvel at scenery. Fortunately it was a beautiful sunny day, even though it in the low fifties. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

We passed three cute goats grazing on the hillside. They belonged to a local farmer who conveniently brings them to the hillside every morning so tourists like us can take their pictures.

The cliff in the middle is Pulpit Rock. It has a flat face on the top. We couldn’t see hikers but I am sure some were there.

Here was an entrance to a cave in the rocks.

What can I say? Can’t take Frank anywhere! Seriously on our way back from seeing the fjord we were treated to Norwegian waffles. They were very thin and tasted yummy with strawberry jam and cream. I couldn’t resist. I ate two!

Since we did not need any more food, I convinced Frank to explore Stavanger on our own. I had read in the Rick Steve’s travel book about a Canning Museum. We trudged up a hill in the old section of town and found it. Canning sardines and other fish was a big industry for Stavanger in its days as a fishing village. The building was one of many canning factories that flourished in the town from the 1880-1930. The fish were brought in from the fiords from late May to October. The process including putting the fish in a brine solution, next threading the fish to be smoked, and finally packing them into cans. The museum showed the first machines, up to the newer ones for each process. Canning is no longer done in Stavanger. Most folks are involved with tourism or the oil industry today.

Canned fish balls. They still sell them today but they are now canned in Poland.

Our tour guide explaining how this machine worked to seal the cans.

Smoke ovens. The workers who maned this area had to know just how long the fish needed to stay in the oven for tasty results.

After the canning museum we continued on into the town. I wanted to check out the church that the guide book said had some interesting features.

The inside of St. Swithun’s Cathedral which was built in 1125.

This was a statue of a fish head with human hands at the base of one of the pillars. The head has been worn down. One idea is that the parishioners would put their foot on top of the monster to push evil spirts back to the underworld.

Two carved epitaphs were on display. Each one was painted in the 1650’s for important bishops of the church. The huge plaque was to be used for their tombs with a painting of each man and his entire family. The boys and men were dressed in big white collars. This man sure had a lot of kids!

Reindeer are pretty common in Norway. We discovered this one in a souvenir shop.

There was a lake behind the church abounding with swans. Couldn’t miss this photo opp.

Trolls are everywhere in Norway. I loved this one posing with Frank under Norway’s flag.

At this point, we were too late to catch our included walking tour of the town which started at our ship. Fortunately, we saw a Viking group with a tour guide. We conveniently joined in hoping that they would head to the Oil Museum which was our next intended stop. Since we did not have our voice headsets along, we had to stay close to the guide to hear her commentary. She went through each part of the museum showing how they search for oil and set up oil rigs for extraction.

Off shore oil drillling has changed Stavanger a great deal. In fact, Norway as a whole has profited greatly from oil. The profits have gone into a Norway Fund which has been invested in the stock market. It is one of the strongest funds in the world. Using only about 4% of the profits a year for infrastructure, our guide explained how the Norweigans are happy that it has helped their country prosper.
Back on the Viking Sun, we had dinner and then went to the theater for a show. Our cruise director, Beven, is a very talented singer and kept us entertained for over a hour with show tunes and familar songs. All in all, we saw and did a lot today in our stop at Stavanger, Norway. We’re headed to Bergen, Norway tomorrow.

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