Stavanger, Norway
Today we are docked in the city of Stavanger. It is the third largest city in Norway. The city is located on a peninsula further along the coast south of Bergen. Stavanger counts its official founding year as 1125, the year the Stavanger Cathedral was completed. The center of the city is comprised mainly of 18th- and 19th-century wooden houses that are protected and considered part of the city's cultural heritage. As a result, the town center and inner city to retain a small-town character with an unusually high ratio of detached houses.
The city's population rapidly grew in the late 20th century due to its oil industry. Stavanger is known today as the Oil Capital of Norway. Norwegian energy company Equinor, the largest company in the Nordic region, has its headquarters in Stavanger. Multiple educational institutions for higher education are located in Stavanger. The largest of these is the University of Stavanger.
The climate of the city is very mild by Nordic standards due to a strong maritime influence. As a result, winter usually remains above freezing whereas heat waves are rare and seldom long. Rainfall is common, although less so than in areas further north on the coastline.
Stavanger is served by international airport Stavanger Airport, Sola, which offers flights to cities in most major European countries, as well as a limited number of intercontinental charter flights. The airport was rated as one of the world's most punctual airports of its category by OAG in 2020. The Gladmat food festival is also held each year and is considered to be one of Scandinavia's leading food festivals. The city is also known for being one of the nation's premier culinary clusters. Stavanger was awarded the 2008 European Capital of Culture alongside Liverpool.
We had a morning excursion which was two hours. It was the usual panoramic motor coach tour; except this morning we were informed there would be no stopping along the route. So, for two hours we rode along looking at the beautiful countryside and parts of the city. Unfortunately, this was not one of better guides we had ever had. She was difficult to understand, paused a lot, and repeated herself often.
We did however get to see a lot of the countryside, some of the seaside a a few monuments along the way. There was a lot more flat land here than further north. We did get to see the Stavanger Catherdral through the window of the motor coach. The catherdral is Norway's oldest cathedral. It is a gray stone church was built in a long church style around the year 1125.
Bishop Reinald is said to have started construction of the cathedral around 1100. It was finished around 1150: the city of Stavanger counts 1125 as its year of foundation. The cathedral was dedicated to Saint Swithun, an early Bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. The church was initially the seat of the Diocese of Stavanger within the Roman Catholic Church until the Protestant Reformation.
It is Sunday. Here things are not open on Sunday. Except for the tourist things in the port around the cruise dock everything we passed on the motor coach was closed. Burger King and Starbucks were open, sadly. We ate lunch aboard because we didn’t think anything was open.
After lunch we went for a walk along the dock area and found several restaurants and tourist shops open. We should have walked before having lunch on board, it would have been a better lunch ashore. Stopped in a tourist shop and got that elusive sweatshirt to replace the Wisconsin one.
Got back to the ship. Rested. Washed the new sweatshirt. Went to dinner with Mike and Maddie in Compass Rose. Gambled a little before heading off to bed.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria.
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