Stavanger west coast of Norway 8 & 9 June

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Stavanger west coast of Norway 8 & 9 June

We arrived in Stavanger at about 3.00pm and booked into Camping Mosvangen which is next to the water and is well appointed. We have stopped converting Norwegian Krone to AUD. However you may be interested to hear that diesel is $2.60 AUD a litre!!!



We road our bikes into the town (took 15 minutes) after we booked into the caravan park and did some washing. The Old Town and the new city centre are either side of the main harbour of the city. Stavanger has only 126,000 people and is the 4th largest city in Norway.

We had a good look around and visited the Petroleum Museum which was fascinating. Displays of submersibles, drilling equipment, a mock oil platform, and audio-visual presentations make for a good few hours.

The harbour was pretty busy with freight and tourist ships and other smaller craft. The new side of the harbour was lined with bars and restaurants.

It was then time for a walk around Gamle Stavanger (Old Stavanger) which is a well preserved slice of Norwegian history. Old winding streets and wooden houses are representative of accommodation from Stavangers days as a the canning capital of Norway. Most houses in Old Stavanger are privately owned and well kept.



It was a warm day so we sat down at one of the harbour-side pubs, had a cold beer and did some people-watching. The sun was shining brilliantly.



We also booked a ferry tour through the Tourist Information Centre to see Pulpit Rock for the next day. We are pretty excited about that.



On our way back to the Harbour we saw the Stavanger Cathedral which was being restored. Stavanger Cathedral (romanesque style from about 1125, with later gothic additions) is the best preserved medieval cathedral in Norway and well worth a visit.

We then had a kebab for dinner and road our bikes back at about 8.00pm. The sun is not setting until 11.00pm. It is magic. Tom tells me the sun is rising at about 4.30am!



The next morning we road our bikes back into the city centre and had more of a look around the harbour while we waited to board our small cruise ship to see the Pulpit rock

In between our cruise to Pulpit Rock and then our drive to the Rock, we were advised to see the following as it is a good place for a photo opportunity. These are the Three Swords (Sverd i fjell, literally Sword in Mountain), a monument outside the centre of Stavanger, beside the Hafrsfjord. The swords themselves are massive and in the background is the fjord. The monument commemorates the battle of Hafrsfjord in the late 800's where Harald Hårfagre beat his eastern opposition and became the first King of Norway. Standing by them shows how tall these stone monoliths are.

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