#stavanger

(yo all, sorry for the lateness of the posts! trying to catch up but I've been getting my steps in and it leaves me exhausted by the end of the day! thanks for the patience!)

No trip would be complete without some self created drama and today, it happened because I woke up exactly in time to miss the departure of my planned fjord cruise! Spencer and I got great sleep, but figured we could always go down to the launch point in Gamle Stavanger (Old Town) and see if they would allow me on the next cruise time at 12. (We also saw 3 cats on the way so it was sure to be a good day!)

We walked down to Sentrum (Center) and made it there around 11:15, and the kind girl there on the Rødne Fjord Cruise allowed me to get on much to my delight! The day was not as nice as the previous day but it was still bright enough that I needed sunglasses and I got to use my puffy coat to keep the cold wind from seeping in.

The cruse was FANTASTIC overall! There weren’t many people on board, we didn’t leave until 12 (meaning I sat in the sun for a good 40 or so minutes before we started moving) so I got some nice time to soak up some vitamin D and soak in the Norwegian language, which, so far, has been an interesting exercise in trying to decipher how much meaning can be gleaned from what essentially sounds like Simlish (The made up language used in the Sims games). 

The notable people around me included a group of four older Norwegians who met on the boat, a couple of loud Espanophones (not surprising) having a loud conversation with their family for the entire boat to hear, a couple of French girls taking tons of pictures, a camera guy with more camera equipment than what most people had in their bags, and a couple of other solo travelers with whom I didn't feel the need to connect with and them with me. There were also 3 dogs on the boat as well who were all very well behaved. We were all in our own worlds and I was glad there were only about 37 of us on the boat.

The boat clearly could've held more people and I'm grateful the boat wasn't packed. I was able to move around freely and easily between the three leves; an upper deck that was level with the meteological tools, a main deck that was equal to the navigation cabin, and a lower deck where the lounge, cafe, and access to the bow of the boat was. The boat took us past some incredible sights, most notably Fantahålå (or The Vagabond’s Cave, its name coming from a story of some tax evaders who supposedly sought refuge in the cafe and shook the pursuing police), Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) which was featured in Mission Impossible 6, and Hengjanefossen waterfall, where the boat nearly bumped right into it but the captain knew what they were doing. :) We also happened to watch the crew feed some goats placed on a steep grassy side of the fjord by some local farmers.

The ride back was almost as beautiful as the ride there as the breathtaking views were a treat to experience. As most people were chilled from the wind, most going under to enjoy the enclosed lounge, I spent my time on the bow of the ship, debating with myself if I should throw my arms wide and scream "I'm king of the world!!" and celebrate life with a Titanic moment of my own. I didn't as the lounge windows were floor to ceiling, but I was doing it in my mind. And I'd struggled to get one photo of myself already as I forgot my phone stand to be able to take solo photos. Whoops.

Once we made it back to the Sentrum port, I hiked up a small but extremely steep (must've been at 45 degrees or something!) 6 minute walk up to the IDDIS Norsk grafisk museum og Norsk hermetikkmuseum (or the Norwegian Canning and Printing Museum). Outside, a woman was demonstrating a rolling printing press with prints that I received for free. I got to chat with her a bit and discovered she was a German, married to a Norwegian who had been living in Norway for the past 4 years. She mentioned however that it was somewhat hard to make connections as many Norwegians stuck to the people they grew up in. Interesting how she mentioned what I'd heard about online but I wished her luck and praised her Norwegian (though I'm not sure it meant anything considering I only learned the basic polite phrases).

After that pleasant chat, I headed to the museum with 30 minutes to spare before the museum closed. Fortunately, I was able to get a ticket for free since it was the last hour and flew through both exhibits, though the museum wasn't too large either.

The printing part of the museum outlined the history of text and printing from the history of languages and text, all the way to the modern era, touching on television news outlets to social media. (They also included Trump as a clear source of misinformation, featuring one of his speeches and addressing the lack of facts to back up his claims. VERY grateful to see this).

The canning museum was entirely focused on the history and production of canning sardines specifically, though not focused on the canning history of Stavanger as I had initially thought. However, given I have a can of sardines on my ankle, I wish I had more time to look through everything here though frankly, the entire experience of perusing a museum alone (even at breakneck pace) was quite peaceful and far more enjoyable than having to navigate around loud families and other eager learners. I may have to continue the trend of visiting museums just before closing...

Once I had finished in record time, Spencer met me at the museum café and I took a moment to snag a sardine can magnet from the gift shop (I couldn't help myself!).

We got a bite at Godt Brød Sølvberget, one of many chain bakery and cafés across Norway and I got a seedy sandwich, a Solskinnsboller, or a Norwegian sunshine bun, named that as it's a take on a cinnamon roll with vanilla custard in the center. We caught up a bit and then headed home, stopping by on a "Sunday store" to get some ingredients for dinner. (Sunday stores are stores open on Sundays that usually only stock "essentials" as most other stores are closed on Sundays.

Once we got home, we relaxed with Paul as walking around Stavanger was definitely a challenge when coming from relatively flat Montreal. I even asked Spencer if his cardio had improved with all the hills and he entirely affirmed my suspicions. It had to, as many locals had already been seen running and biking up the hills with ease. I knew I was a good walker but running and biking up hills was sure enough to get my heart pumping.

Initially, our group activity that day was to go to a beach. We had discussed our plans after I got off the fjord cruise, bumping ourselves down from a waterfall hike to a beach walk. I watched a video which featured Hellestøstranden (Hellestø Beach) as a favorite place to visit of a girl who had been born in Stavanger. The drive was about 25 minutes as opposed to a dreaded 2 hour round trip drive for Spencer.

The beach was fantastic, even with the overcast clouds. WInd whipped our through our hair, the waves a dark blue, but even so, it seemed to be a hidden gem as many people parted as we left and more came as we left the beach ourselves. There were even a couple of surfers brave enough to steel themselves against the biting cold of the North Sea (I managed to stick my feet in!) and paddle out to attempt a nice ride to shore. Paul and Spencer brought Leslie for a big excursion out of the house. The trip to the beach was farther than she had been in a while but that didn't stop her from running in excitement on the beach and spending much time with her nose to the sand. Of course she had the best sleep when she got back and passed out in the car as well.

We settled in once we got back and Paul prepped a delicious salmon fried rice for me and tofu fried rice for him and Spencer. We celebrated my last night in Stavanger with some gin-tonics (gin provided by yours truly from the duty free shop and also the first time I ever bought something from a duty free shop!). We closed out the evening with a beautiful hike up to Varden park for one last adventure and to look over the city once again.

Day 2 began with me in the dark of my hostel. I woke up (somehow) before my alarm at 4 AM and then had a couple of hours awake. I enjoyed some time in bed just relaxing and waking up before I was up and sneakily packing and extracting my belongings in the dark of my 12-bed dorm (sleeping in the same room as 11 other people sounds bad but I was so tired it didn't matter. I slept like the dead.)

A guy in a Tesla happened to be the one to answer my 5 AM Uber reservation and we were at the airport around 5:15ish.

Once again, I flew through security and had another 2 hours to kill at the airport. I used the time to catch up on my blog and crochet a cord tie for my puffy jacket (which I had begun to wonder if I would get to use at all on this trip given how warm Haarlem was - it did not bode well for the rest of Europe next week at least), and write Day 1 of this blog.

We started boarding just short of 8 AM and I noticed the girl ahead of me happened to run into a friend who I was slated to sit next to but I offered to switch seats with her so they could catch up. Funnily enough, another two guys recognized the two girls and laughed with me as one of them asked "What are you doing here?" to one of the guy friends, as if they weren't going to the same place to catch a rental sail boat that they would take up to Burgen over the span of the week. They invited me, but I politely declined, saying I had an itinerary to follow and would leave Stavanger shortly after arrival. They were good sports and we all had a nice time together.

I used the duration of the short flight (just over an hour) to listen to music and struggle with yet another sprout tie which she was happy to receive, added immediately to her bag. :)

Spencer met me at the Stavanger airport once I touched down and had a quick stop in the duty free area, buying a bottle of Hendricks gin, as Spencer had mentioned that the alcohol tax on hard liquor was something akin to 100% tax (IN-SANE!). A small price to pay to stay with friends :)

On the way into the city, we kicked it off with a slightly touristy stop: Sverd i fjell. Three 10 metre (~33 ft) swords plunged into rock meant to symbolize peace, unity, and freedom and a great introduction to my first time in Norway.

Spencer brought me to his apartment, shared with his partner Paul and their sweet 12-year-old Basset hound Leslie. We chatted for about an hour and then walked to a little chain cafe called Kanelsnurren in Stavanger Øst (West) for a delicious curry-paprika? sandwich and a sitronterte (which I immediately recognized as a lemon meringue tart!), though for some reason, I had a lapse in logic and forgot to take a picture!! Spencer got some vegan Thai noodles, and we both polished off our meals without issue.

From there, we headed to Arkeologisk_museum_i_Stavanger (The Archiology Museum of Stavanger) where we perused the exhibit of the history of runes, the history of Rogaland, saw an 8200 year old skeleton of The Viste Boy, and saw a polar bear skeleton from the Ice Age! Additionally, there was a special exhibit on the restoration fo the Stavanger Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in Norway, built around 1125, with the restoration running from 2013 to 2025. By the time we made it to this exhibit, we were pretty tired but I will leave you to look up some of this if you're interested in further knowledge. I had a great time in the museum and enjoyed getting some background on Norwegian history and the area before I continued to explore modern Stavanger.

We decided to stop by a coffee shop on the way home as I was still feeling a bit fatigued from walking and the early wake up (still a fair amount of jetlag as well!) and stopped in a little cafe called Storhaug Apotek, a pharmacy turned cozy cafe. The coffee was okay, but on the way home we stopped at a Coop Prix where Spencer picked up luncha nd I picked up the famous Norwegian version of Kitkat, called Kvikk Lunsj (like "quick lunch"). We also saw an indoor-outdoor cat (always a good sign!) and Spencer told me that there were apparently no stray cats in Norway, and that Norwegian culture typically allowed cats outside to allow them freedom. Plus the neighborhoods were very safe for the cats. According to Spencer, Norwegian drivers are terrible, they sometimes make suspect turns without turn signals, go 10 under the speed limit, yet ALWAYS stop for pedestrians and cats alike.

We made it home and had a quick lunch (not the Kvikk Lunsj kind, I'm saving that!) of Norwegian waffles, brown cheese, and jam, a Norwegian classic! Leslie approved (but not fed our meal).

Spencer and Paul treated me to some time in a small, self service sauna near the Stavanger Havnesilo (grain silos). The tiny building certainly packed a punch in our plans to relax and was entirely the reason why I brought a swimsuit! We were only there for an hour (far too short), repeatedly dunking ourselves in cold water and sweating out microplastics (apparently??) in the quaint wood burning sauna. Paul and I even jumped into the canal after much debate as the Svankeviå harbour was FILLED with moon jellies! None of us got stung though there was heavy debate over it.

I once again had a "Clio forgot something" moment as we had to drive back to pick up my sauna towel that I left to dry and promptly forgot since it was separated from the rest of my belongings in the sauna changing room. Fortunately, the towel was right there where we left it and it was properly recouped. We returned to the apartment for a delicious lunch: Norwegian waffles cooked in butter, brown cheese (like sweet, cheddar cheese), and strawberry jam. Riding the wave of relaxation, we went down for naps after showers and each woke up slowly around 9 PM to debate dinner plans.

Eventually, we settled on going down to Sentrum (equivalent of a downtown/ nightlife area), walked through the adorable uniform neighbourhoods, hiked the hills, and finally settled at Døgnvill Burger for burgers and beers (though I enjoyed a delicious chocolate vegan milkshake). A drunk African guy was loudly talking to the solo guy at the table next to us. He was also an American there on business and taking some detours to sightsee a bit, but then the drunk guy came to our table to ask where we were from until his friends came to pick him up and brought him back to the bachelor party going on upstairs. I enjoyed a delicious Sterk-Nils burger with habeneros that had me sweating!

Thoroughly stuffed, we walked down Fargegaten or The Street of Colours and settled into a cozy cafe-by-day bar-by-night called Bøker og Børst. Decorated with book shelves, red and green monstera wallpaper, and cozy lamps, the place was outlined in garlands of huge pothos vines and incredible atmosphere. I enjoyed a Ginger Viking, an alcoholic ginger beer and we continued the good vibes until 11:30 PM or so and enjoyed my first "midnight sun" (though not quite as the sun was set, but the light was still in the sky).

Once home and settled in, we stayed up and chatted a bit more. I showered, cleaned up the guest room a bit, and promptly fell asleep as I still noted light in the sky around 2 AM. Truly, an incredible day in Stavanger, and a perfect day that I will hold dearly in my memories.

(left picture was taken at midnight, right picture around 2 AM)