Day 18 - Baltic Jewels & the Midnight Sun: Stavanger, Norway

 Stavanger, Norway – Tuesday, July 12

Port arrival was early this morning - 7 a.m.  Here's a summary of what Wikipedia has to say about Stavanger.  

Stavanger (pronounced sta vang YUH, with the emphasis on the last syllable) is the fourth largest city in Norway. It is located on the Stavanger Peninsula in Southwest Norway.  It's not clear when the city was founded, but it dates back to at least 1125, the year the Stavanger Cathedral was completed. The protection of its 18th- and 19th-century wooden houses has caused the town centre and inner city to retain a small-town character and charm - but more about this later.

The city's rapid population growth in the late 20th century was primarily a result of Norway's booming offshore oil industry. Today the oil industry is a key industry in the Stavanger region and the city is widely referred to as the Oil Capital of Norway.  Norwegian energy company Equinor, the largest company in the Nordic region, is headquartered in Stavanger.  

Multiple educational institutions for higher education are located in Stavanger. The largest of these is the University of Stavanger.  Several of our guides have spoken of the Norwegian social democratic system that guarantees a college education for anyone who wants it.  If you have the ability to pay, you will pay something, but if your family cannot afford it, the tuition and books are free.  "But we pay for it in our taxes," they are quick to add.  Taxes are high - up to 38 percent of your earnings, but health care, education, and what we would call "social security" are all "free" or virtually free.

Domestic and international military installations are located in Stavanger, including the NATO Joint Warfare Centre. Other international establishments, and especially local branches of foreign oil and gas companies, contribute further to a significant foreign population in the city. Immigrants make up 22.1 percent of Stavanger's population.  Stavanger has since the early 2000s consistently had an unemployment rate significantly lower than the Norwegian and European average. In 2011, the unemployment rate was less than 2%. The city is also among those that frequent various lists of expensive cities in the world, and Stavanger has even been ranked as the world's most expensive city by certain indices.

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. 

Our dock is right in the middle of town, giving us a sweeping view from our veranda.

Today's excursion is a two-hour walking tour of Stavanger, including a visit to the Oil Museum.

I was glad to have my trekking poles for our two-mile walking tour this morning.  Our guide, Suinji (sounded like Sun-dyuh), was a native Norwegian, very fit, and no-nonsense.  She was a swift walker and a fast talker, and I wasn't alone in having difficulty keeping up with her.  That said, the old town portion of the walk was absolutely fantastic. 

Suinji (pronounced Sun-yay), our guide for the morning

She took us first to Gamle (Old) Stavanger.  This section of town is marked by cobblestone streets and close to 250 buildings protected by a conservancy.  In a way it is like our "Historic District" legislation that is designed to protect the historic nature of the homes and buildings.  The mostly wooden buildings date from the 18th to the early 20th centuries and are considered the "best kept wooden houses in Northern Europe."  They were nearly demolished in the 1950s but were saved through the efforts of the city's architect, Einar Hedén.  

This neighborhood was absolutely charming, although I couldn't help but feel sorry for the residents as hundreds of tourists throng the cobblestone streets gawking at their homes.  Sondje repeatedly reminded us not to look in the windows of the houses we were passing.  

A variety of sights along our walk in Gamle Stavanger:

An old well that has been preserved - not something I would want to drink from!

The pride that Norwegians take in their homes was evident as we strolled through the neighborhood.  Most of the homes were painted white, and each one had doors painted a different color, with their entryways adorned with flowers.

My favorite door display!  I warned Jeff that it had inspired me to do something similar with our doorways back home in Middlebury.

The oldest house in Gamle Stavanger

"Gossip Mirror"

We noticed several houses with these funny-looking contraptions affixed to an area outside a window of the second story.  Our guide told us that these were called "gossip mirrors" designed to facilitate gossip back and forth between the ladies of the house.

From the Old Town, we walked back to the town center, and our guide headed off across the market, warning us not to buy anything to eat unless we wanted to share it with the many seagulls that circled the marketplace!  I elected to sit out the second half of the tour - mostly because I had no interest in the Oil Museum, and was enjoying people watching in the square.  I also did a bit of walking about on my own while I waited for Jeff to complete the tour.

Mars at Dock in Stavanger

Beware of "winged thieves"

Alexander Kielland, Norwegian Author

Alexander Kielland was born February 18, 1849 in Stavanger, and he died at the age of 58 in Bergen.  He wrote newspager articles, short stories, novels, and some plays.  He was a prolific and brilliant letter writer.  The bulk of his fiction was written in the 1880s and came out of the realism school with a sense of wit, irony, and satire.  He was a scathing critic of the education system, and a famous piece titled Poison was about a young lad who died as a result of too much Latin.  As the most stylish writer of his time, Kielland was an elegant and witty writer with a strong social conscience as his role model John Stuart Mill .  Most famous are his "short stories" and novels such as Garman & Worse Gift and Skipper Worse . 

The action in the novels is mostly added to Stavanger and the surrounding area with recognizable nature and environmental descriptions. Kielland used his literary works for criticism of church and school, and of the bourgeoisie's exploitation of the workers. As a Liberal man, he was strongly provoked by class divisions , social distress and oppression of women. Kielland had great faith in women's abilities and strength.

Jeff and the group traveled on to the business district, past several shops where one could purchase the traditional dress known as Bunads.  Norwegians are proud of their traditional dress, which is worn on special occasions such as confirmations, weddings, funerals, and every May 17th, which is "Constitution Day" (similar to our "Independence Day."

They ventured into Øvre Holmegate (Rainbow Street), an area with lovely cafés, boutiques, and galleries.  The locals call it “Fargegata” (the color street) because it is one of the most colorful streets of Norway.  A hairdresser named Tom Kjørsvik came up with the idea of completely renewing this previously quiet and rather dull street.  He enlisted the help of the artist Craig Flannagan to create a color scheme for painting the houses, garnering approval from landlords and the city council - no easy task since, at first, many people were skeptical of the bright color palette.  In 2005 the street was closed to traffic and is now a pedestrian area lined with cafes, bars, and shops. 

And, of course, Jeff managed to find an old wooden sailing vessel, the Rogaland.  Built in 1929 by Stavanger Støberi & Dok, it was operated by the Stavangerske Steamship Company from 1929 to 1940.  On Apr. 20-1944, while Rogaland was at Bradbenkhopen in Bergen, the Dutch ship Voorbode, with a cargo of 120 tons of explosives meant for Hammerfest, exploded in Bergen harbor (she had arrived Bergen for some minor repairs). The explosives had apparently self-ignited in some way, possibly from the oven, with the aid of primers stored within the vessel. The results were devastating over a wide area; fires erupted, buildings were destroyed, over 150 people were killed, including more than 50 German soldiers, while almost 5000 were injured. Rogaland was heavily damaged and sank alongside the quay that day. She was raised in the summer of 1944, and by 1947 Rogaland had been repaired and rebuilt, then reentered coastal service between Bergen and Oslo that year. She was converted to motor vessel in 1950 and rebuilt again in 1957 and renamed Tungenes in 1964. Today she wears the name Rogaland once more.

 

Jeff decided to skip the Oil Museum as well, and we returned to the ship for lunch, a swim, a nap, and some dinner.

Although a bit cloudy, overall, the day was pleasant.  No sunset, however, due to the cloud cover.  And so we bid a fond farewell to Stavanger as we set sail to travel to Oslo, where it is anticipated that we will dock around noon tomorrow.