Shortly after the sun rose at 5:16 AM Thursday, July 28, we approached the southern coast of Norway, on our way to the
lovely southern port city of Stavanger, Norway.
Our ship had a central berth just a short walk to a delightful stroll among Stavanger's cultural riches. Stavanger is indeed a "rich" little city with its riches coming from the petroleum industry. Offshore drilling feeds the economy here making the city one of the most expensive in the world.
Stavanger is famous for its old town made up of cobbled streets lined with Europe's highest concentrations of wooden houses, protected by a conservancy after developers threatened to destroy them in the 1950's. These charming homes, most of them white with beautiful gardens, reminded us of old New England houses.
Even the manhole covers were pretty!
Walking around the city, we came across several interesting sculptures. There was even a real Mini Cooper car attached to the wall of a traffic tunnel.
We strolled the shopping street and found several interesting shops including one with Beth's favorite fabric and a store with traditional Norwegian garb. David and Dave decided to be "knightly".
David found a trace of his ancestry coming across a shop named "Made with Hart"
Obviously the Norwegians are paying attention to the political election discourse in the U.S. as evidenced by this sign outside of a taco shop!
In the afternoon half our group went on the arranged walking tour which included a visit to the Petroleum Museum. We also saw that besides the white, wooden houses, there are many colorful houses and shops in Stavanger.
The afternoon was a chance to catch up on reading (upside down for some of us!), work (for some of us), and just hanging around enjoying life on the ship, including high tea at 4:00! The sunset at 10:09 as we cruised to the fjords of Norway anticipating waking up to a spectacular view!
Stavanger is famous for its old town made up of cobbled streets lined with Europe's highest concentrations of wooden houses, protected by a conservancy after developers threatened to destroy them in the 1950's. These charming homes, most of them white with beautiful gardens, reminded us of old New England houses.
Even the manhole covers were pretty!
Walking around the city, we came across several interesting sculptures. There was even a real Mini Cooper car attached to the wall of a traffic tunnel.
We strolled the shopping street and found several interesting shops including one with Beth's favorite fabric and a store with traditional Norwegian garb. David and Dave decided to be "knightly".
David found a trace of his ancestry coming across a shop named "Made with Hart"
Obviously the Norwegians are paying attention to the political election discourse in the U.S. as evidenced by this sign outside of a taco shop!
In the afternoon half our group went on the arranged walking tour which included a visit to the Petroleum Museum. We also saw that besides the white, wooden houses, there are many colorful houses and shops in Stavanger.
The afternoon was a chance to catch up on reading (upside down for some of us!), work (for some of us), and just hanging around enjoying life on the ship, including high tea at 4:00! The sunset at 10:09 as we cruised to the fjords of Norway anticipating waking up to a spectacular view!
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