A short tale about Stavanger

Stavanger is located in the south western part of Norway. It is quite a charming city in the summertime, but I have to confess that it is greyish and boring in the winter time. But come here in the summer and there are quite a lot of activities.

There are two annual "festivals" that has gotten quite popular . . . it is "Gladmat festival" (food festival) and a Worldcup in beach volleyball. Both take place in the middle of town.

Quick Tips:

I will describe these activities more in detail in seperate journals but here are some of the stuff that you should not miss: trekking to Kjerag or Prekestolen (the pulpit rock) or maybe both. You can also take a trip by boat to Lysefjord to see Prekestolen from below.

In town, you can sit on the stairs by the town square . . . eat a bag of shrimp and look forward to fresh and sweet strawberries for dessert.

When it comes to sightseeing you can check out the cathedral in town . . . it is a small, intimate, and old church. There are a number of museums in town . . . everything from an oil museum to museum of canning (what can I say . . . canning used to be a big industry in Stavanger).

Best Way To Get Around:

Yes, you can get around in Stavanger with a bus but it is a small town so you can cover it just by walking. To get to Stavanger you can go by plane (to Stavanger Lufthavn at Sola) or you can take the train. Stavanger is actually the end of the line.

Due to the fjords, you won't find a railway between Stavanger and Bergen. But if you want to go from Bergen, you can of course catch a fast boat.

This hotel represents a new concept: you book on the net, you pick up your key in the reception from a machine and you don't really have to check out in the way you normally do. The hotel will run on a minimum staff to keep the cost down and compared to the Norwegian standard this is a pretty cheap hotel (about 500 Norwegian kroner or 70 US dollars).

The hotel is located at Forus (actually it is located in Stavanger neighbour county Sandnes) so it is close to major oil compaines like Statoil, Hydro, BP and so on. But it is also fairly easy to take a bus to get into Stavanger (it is about 12 km into town). It is also located close to one of Norway's biggest malls Kvadrat.

To keep the cost down there are not many extra facilities here. You will not find a water boiler to make tea or coffee in the room, there is no minibar in the room and there is not much of a wardrobe. I guess this is a hotel that you get if you just want a cheap stay or if your are just in this area to work.

They do have Smart cars for hire so you can get around in those...I really think these cars are cool. :-)

For more information you can check out their website www.smarthotel.no

This small restaurant is a great place if you want a great meal. I went there not long ago and had a six course dinner with different wines for each meal and it was just fantastic :-) The price for this menu was about 140 dollars pr person including the wine so it was pretty expensive but worth it :-) The menu is not very big and it changes a lot so it is hard to classify what kind of food we're talking about here. When I went there we had salad, quail, pâté de fois gras (goose liver paté), a cheese plate and a sherbet made out of passion fruit. And we got a new wine for each course and our waiter would tell us a little bit about the wine before he served it to us. I'm not a typical wine person but in this case it was a great joy tasting the different wines.

This resturant has one of the best selections of wines in town and the place has gotten good reviews in the local newspapers. A place to go if you want a meal above average.

The resturant is not that big so book ahead to make sure that there is a seat for you.

The name of the restaurant is of course named after Craig himself. He is quite famous in Stavanger. Craig is an american guy who moved to Stavanger and he has started several resturants here and he is a name that keeps popping up when we are talking about food in Stavanger. His cheese cake is fantastic by the way but that is another story...get in touch and I might give you the recipe :-)

The restaurant is run by Antonio Bjelancic and he has been involved in several restaurants in Stavanger. The Allegro restaurant has gotten pretty good reviews so we decided to try it out.

It is a small restaurant so if you want a table here you better book ahead. I think there might be about 30 seats. But the atmosphere was really nice, candles burning and the staff was friendly and polite.

The menu itself was not really big but we found some good dishes to choose from. According to the menu Antonio Bjelancic's family comes from southern Italy so the food is inspired by that.

To start with we got a small appetizer and I guess it was some sort of bruscetta. It was just a tiny little piece of bread to get the meal started :-) Then we went over to the starters and we had scampi with sundried tomatoes and spring onion and bread on the side. And we had some italian sausage on a bed of ruccola. The last dish mentioned here was so simple and yet so good.

For the main meal my wife went for the monkfish with risotto on the side. I went for a chicken dish with potatoes and italian sausages. Both meals tasted great and it seemed like they were made with affection and care.

We skipped dessert and we left the restaurant with the remains of the great taste in our mouths. I'm sure it won't be the last time we visit this place.

The restaurant is not located in central Stavanger so it might be a bit hard to find. But Stavanger is not that big so it only takes 5-10 minutes to walk there from the town square. It is located on the road Løkkeveien so there is a bit of traffic on the outside. It is quite a small place (only about 30 seats I guess) and it was not cowded when we went there....in fact we were the only one there at one time :-) But the food was nice and Tiffani Huyen Truong who runs the place was friendly and nice.

We tried out some very common Thai dishes to compare it to other Thai restaurants that we normally go to. For starters we had Tom Yam goong (you know...the spicy shrimp soup) and that was very good. And we also had some satay and I enjoyed them with the peanut sauce. For the main meal we chose chicken in green curry and coconut milk and masama curry. The first one was pretty good (but as a friend said "it is pretty hard to not get this right") but there was more onion that what I'm used to in Thai dishes. The masaman curry on the other hand was a bit dissapointing. I don't recall seeing any potatoes and it didn't have the good rich masaman taste. But overall it was a pretty nice Thai meal.

If you come here in the summer and the weather is nice you can even take a swim here. Some of Norway’s most beautiful beaches are located just outside Stavanger. When you caome to Sola you will first of all come to Sola Beach. This is the see and be seen beach in the area and it is often pretty crowded on nice days. It can also be hard to find parking. If you drive a bit further out you will come to Ølberg and then Vigdel. I don''t have much experience with these places but Vigdel seems to be a hangout for families. I prefer to go to the beach Hellestø which is the next one you will get to when driving away from Stavanger.

All the places that I have mentioned so far offer long sandy beaches with clear and refreshing water. I say refreshing even if my wife claims that it is just another word for "very cold water". If you are lucky the water will reach about 20 degrees Celcius. But it is more realistic to say that you have 16-17 degrees. Still, this is sufficient (especially when the sun has heated you for some time).

If you continue to drive away from Stavanger you will find the beaches of Orre and Bore. These are normally not crowded at all and they are the longest beaches in the area. A part of this beach is a nude beach, by the way, but I think that you will notice this. :-)

As I said the beach offers nice sand, clear and refreshing water and pretty good waves at times. The only thing that you have to worry about is the jelly fish. There are basically two types: the clear jelly fish that is harmless and the red jelly fish that stings. The red one looks nasty and a natural reaction is to stay away from it. But sometimes you bump into one (or a loose thread) and it stings a bit but it doesn''t cause anything but discomfort.

Kjerag has become a popular destination in the last few years. Some go there because Preikestolen has become too crowded, some people go to jump onto Kjeragbolten and quite a lot of BASE jumpers go there to dive of the mighty cliffs. This travelogue will give information about my trip to Kjerag June 1st 2003.

My brother and I started from Stavanger at 6.30 am on this Sunday morning and after 2 hours we reached the parking at Øygardsstøl (600 meters above Lysefjord.). We got on our boots, packed our bags and started the walk. The first climb is the worst. There is a 200 meter height difference from the parking to the top of the first hill and it is steep. It is about 6 km to Kjeragbolten and a total climb of 500 meters. On your way to Kjerag you go up and down, up and down and then you climb to reach a plateau.

Finding the way is not a problem. To start with you will be walking on granite and the path has been marked with red T’s. In the steepest hills chains has been put up to help the hikers. In some places a path has been made. We walked alone all the way into Kjerag and I guess the reason is that we were up bright and early and it was still pretty early in the tourist season.

After 2 hours we reached Kjerag and when I walked to the edge I remembered why this is such an amazing place. The view of Lysefjord 1000 meter below is great when you stand on the edge. I can’t describe how amazing it really is and I don’t think that my pictures shows how impressive this place is. You have to see it with your own eyes.

After enjoying the view we walked the few hundred meters to reach Kjeragbolten. This is one of natures wonders and it is certainly one of the most amazing natural motifs that I have come across. Kjeragbolten is a big rock that has fallen into a crack in the mountain and there it has been wedged into the crack. And it is possible to make your way out on the rock and from a certain angle it looks amazing. The rock is located 1000 meter above the fjord so the knees has a tendency of being a bit weak when you walk onto the rock. After the 2 hour walk it was nice to sit down and relax with a couple of slices of bread with the traditional brown cheese.

On the way back we met lots of people on their way up. The trip back is exhausting as well. Sure, you are going down but there are still some climbs and it is quite exhausting using your muscles to hold back. When we got back to the parking lot we checked our watches and we had used 5 hours to complete the walk.

There are some museums in Stavanger and I would like to say a few words about the Oil museum. It might sound strange but Stavanger is the "oil capital" in Norway. Most of the major oil companies have their Norwegian office here in Stavanger and I guess this is the reason why Stavanger was the natural choice for the location of an oil museum. The oil industy has meant a lot to the development of Stavanger and Norway in general and this is an industry that has been going on for about 40 years now.

Once you get into the museum you are taken on a journey through history. What was Norway like when the oil was created? How do we the oil when it is located several thousand meters below the sea bed? How do we get down to the oil? What can we make out of oil? What is it like for people that work offshore of the oil riggs? What has the oil meant for Stavanger as a city and so on. And on the way you will find lots of exhibits of drillbits, models of offshore installations, different submarines/lifeboats and there is even a replica of a drill floor where you can take a look at the tools that are used when drilling.

I find this museum interesting but that might have something to do with the fact that I’m a petroleum engineer. :-)

You get a pretty good view of parts of Stavanger harbour if you go out on the roof of the museum. And if you get hungey there is a pretty good resturant called "Bølgen og Moi" inside the museum.

If you want more information there are two good links that I have found. The first is to the official pages: http://128.39.97.19/oljemuseum/uk/hovedframe.htm. The other one is http://stavanger.clickwalk.no/area/4e.html

There is basically just one cinema in Stavanger (well, there is another one in Sandnes, Stavanger's twin city) and it is located in the middle of town. There are 8 screens at the moment and screen number 5 is the best one (THX, DTS sound and the works).

If you want to check out what is playing go to www.kinoz.no and click on "Program Stavanger". Most of the information is in Norwegian of course but the movies are normally in the original language and subtitled into Norwegian. Prices vary from about 50 kroner (on Wednesdays) to 75/85 kroner other nights.

In the cinema you will find little shops where you can buy the stuff you need to see a movie (popcorn, soft drinks and so on :-). And if you are into coffee I would like to recommend enjoying the movie with a coffee mocca and a Stratos :-) (Stratos is a pretty good Norwegian milk chocolate by the way).

Another place of interest is something called Flor og Fjære. This is more or less a botanical garden that is located on an island called Hidle (just outside Stavanger). In this pretty, harsh environment you come to the "Garden of Eden" and I guess I can understand their slogan "a break from reality".

Out on these small islands you normally don't see much of plants and stuff but here you will find all sorts of plants that you don't normally see in Norway. You will even find palm trees, pumpkins, chilis, a lemon tree and so on. The company sells a package and for the money you get the boat trip out to Hidle, a tour around the garden where they try to explain how they manged to make such a beautiful garden and in the end you can get excellent food...and they use ingridients that are taken from the garden of course.

There are more information on their website http://www.florogfjare.no/

The artwork is made by Antony Gormley, a London-based sculpter also known for "Another Place". It took 4 years to decide whether or not to place the figures in Stavanger. The project is financed by the Municipality of Stavanger, Stavanger Art Society and Rogaland Art Museum. Each sculpture is fitted 1.95 meters lower than the previous. The first iron man is placed at the Art museum some 40 meters above sea level. The last sculpture is found in the sea just outside of Natvigs Minde downtown Stavanger.

I first encountered Mr. Gormley's work at the Sola beach when "Another Place" took place. "Another Place" was 100 sculptures (similar to the ones that are described above) placed on the beach and out in the water at Sola. At first people were shocked by the idea of placing lots of statues on the beach but as time went by I think most people fell in love with this exhibition and many were sad when they were removed. But now, similar sculptures are back in "Broken Column" and I will present some pictures of the various statues below.

The sculptures' are all 1.95 tall and they all face 10° west. The 'Fish Market' sculpture is the one that has given the direction for the rest of the sculptures. It is located in the harbour and it is looking out at the sea. Each sculpture is also placed in a specific height. Sculpture no. 1 is located at Stavanger museum of fine arts and it is located at 41.41 meters above sea level. Sculpture number 2 is 41.41 - 1.95 = 39.45 meter above sea level and this continues until the last one located 1.23 meters below sea level at Natvigs Minde.

This is actually a monastery that has been turned into a museum/conference center. It is the only preserved monastery from the Middle Ages in Norway and it is located on the island of Mosterøy near Stavanger. On the trip you will pass through the Rennfast tunnel. The ad says: 'gnashing and pounding waves, sheltered coves, naked cliffs, lush heather carpets and a vivid play of colours - the outward-looking coastal region that carries the Rennfast link offers intense and charming experiences. Being able to cross a fjord 223 metres under the surface makes those experiences even more memorable.' Be aware of the fact that the road out to Mosterøy is a toll road.

It has not only been a monastery by the way. King Harald Hårfagre used this place as his home after the battle of Norway in Hafrsfjord in 872 A.D.

Check out this link for more pictures from Utsien Kloster:
http://stavanger.clickwalk.no/s/stavanger_cw/l98v4s3g2. You can also check out their website http://www.utstein-kloster.no or get in touch with them on utstein@online.no

The Gladmat festival has become an annual happening in Stavanger. During one weekend lots of the resturants in town bring a bit of their kitchen outside and you can buy little appetizers from varies food stalls. According to the official website "The purpose of "Gladmat" is to tickle, enhance and arouse the publics interest in delicious food items and drinks, through arranging a summer town feast annually, holding cuisine and culture as the main focus."

The best part of the whole thing is that the harbour (Vågen) is closed so cars can't drive there. It turns into one big outdoor restaurant. And the atmosphere has been really good during the previous festivals. I just hope that this continues this year also. In 2003 the festival will take place from July 23rd to July 26th.

In previous years there have been competitions like "Who makes the best chili con carne" and "Norwegian championship in pizza making".

For more information please check out the official website: http://www.gladmat.no.

Preikestolen is one of Stavanger's most popular attractions. The following travelogue gives details about my trip to Preikestolen on May 25th 2003.

I got in touch with a Canadian girl named Caroline on LP Thorn Tree and I bragged about how beautiful my hometown Stavanger is and the great view that you can get from Preikestolen. I ended up being a tour guide for Caroline when she came to Stavanger and the first thing I wanted to show her was Preikestolen. We got up early on Sunday morning to catch the 07.20 ferry to Tau and it was worth it. When we came to the parking at Prekestolen I think we were the first ones there.

The hike to Prekestolen is a 3.8 km but it takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to the top because there is a 330 meter height difference. The path leading up to Preikestolen has been improved a lot in the last years but you still need a pair of good shoes/boots. Remember to bring water, some snacks and maybe even some dry clothes. Finding the way to the top is not a problem at all. The path varies from gravel path, rocks and wooden paths. There are some benches and tables along the route that can be used if you want to take a break.

We started walking about about 8.30 and we walked alone all the way up to Preikestolen. I was quite surprised that we were alone because it can be pretty crowded in the summer time. But I guess it was early in the season, it was early in the morning and the weather forecast was not great. But it made it into a really special experience. When we got up to the top we were more or less alone there (a couple had spent the night in a tent there) so we could enjoy the view and take some pictures of the place.

So what is unique with Preikestolen? Well, it looks like a pulpit when seen from below. The rock itself is 25 by 25 meters and when you stand on the edge it is 600 meters straight down. On clear days you get a great view of the Lysefjord. The path leading up to Preikestolen is also very scenic.

A few years ago there used to be a little "shop" on top of Prekestolen. The girl who worked there walked up every morning carrying some of the supplies on her back. I guess that is the kind of summer job that makes you fit. :-)

On the way down we met quite a few on their way up and some had the traditional question "how much longer to Preikestolen?" :-) It is always fun serving a white lie telling them that there are still 3 hours to go just to see how people react.

I hope that this has been of some help to people that want to see Preikestolen.

Stavanger is located in the area Rogaland in the south-west coast of Norway. The people that live here are still debating whether we belong to the south of the country or if we can regard ourselves as true westeners. So far we have not been able to reach a conclusion :-) The history of the city is long…the cathedral in the middle of Stavanger (Domkirken) dates back to 1125 if I’m not mistaken. The cathedral today is one of the sights in Stavanger. No, it is not as BIG as Notre Dame or other cathedrals in the big European cities. It is a small intimate cathedral and the most unique thing is that it is bulit in both roman and gothic style. The reason for this is of course that the church was exposed to fire and it took quite a long time to finish the project. But today it is located in the middle of town and lots of people get married here every summer.

My wife is from South Africa and the first time she came to Norway she came in July. She was very surprised to find that Norway was green and warm. It has to be said that the summer she came here was an unusual warm summer. One of the great disadvantages of living in Stavanger is the unpredictable weather. It has been said that we can have 4 seasons in one day. Well, I don’t know about that….I can agree to 3 seasons in one day because we don’t have much of a winter here anyway. But when the weather is great in July and August that is when I love Stavanger the most. So what is there to see here. Well, first of all I would recommend a bit of trekking. There are two sites that are great: Kjerag and Prekestolen (Pulpit rock). Let’s start with Kjerag.

Kjerag is located on the edge of the Lysefjord. To get there you have to take a two-hour drive through Sirdalen/Hunnedalen and go towards Lysebotn. Once you get to the eagle’s nest you have to get out of the car and put on your hiking boots. The trail to Kjerag will take about 2 hours (depending on how fit you are :-) and the trail goes up and down, up and down. But in the end you reach a plateau and you walk along the Lysefjord and the view is GREAT on a nice summer day. Remember that even if you come here in the middle of summer this is 1000 meters above sea level and don’t be surprised if you have to walk through a bit of snow on your way. In the end you reach Kjerag. The best thing about Kjerag is Kjerag bolten. This is a big rock that has been wedged in the crack in the mountain. It is possible to walk out on the rock and from one angle it becomes one of the most spectacluar natural motives. But some choose to not walk out on the rock of course. It is pretty scary the first time because it is 1000 meters down to the fjord below. If you are lucky you might even see some BASE jumpers. Kjerag has become one of the most popular sites in the world for BASE jumping (skydiving) and it is breathtaking to see them jump of the mountain.

The other place I mentioned was Prekestolen. This is also located in Lysefjord but it is on the opposite side of Kjerag and it is only 600 meters above the fjord. But it is a easier walk compared to Kjerag and it offers the same great view.

If you don’t like walking at all you can take a boat into Lysefjord and see the mountains from below but I can promise you that you get a different perspective when you see it from the top :-)

If you come here in the summer and the weather is nice you can even take a swim here. Some of Norway’s most beautiful beaches are located just outside Stavanger. I prefer to go to the beach Hellestø but you can also go to Sola (closest to Stavanger), Ølberg, Vigdel, Bore and Orre. All these places offers long sandy beaches with clear and refreshing water. I say refreshing even if my wife claims that it is just another word for "very cold water". If you are lucky the water will reach about 20 degrees Celcius. But it is more realistic to say that you have 16-17 degrees. But it is sufficient (especially when the sun has heated you for some time).

There are some museums in Stavanger and I would like to say a few words about the Oil museum. I know that it sounds strange but Stavanger is the oil capital in Norway. The oil industy has meant a lot to the development of Stavanger and Norway in general and this is an industry that has been going on for about 40 years now. In this museum you can learn about the history of the oil exploration, how the oil is formed, how it is produced and what the life is like for an offshore worker here in Norway. I found it interesting but that might have something to do with the fact that I’m a petroleum engineer :-)

If you want to learn something about the Norwegian history you can check out the Stavanger archaeological museum. This can be combined with Jernaldergården (the iron age farm). This is a recontruction of a farm bulit in the iron age. If you go there it is worth bringing a guide so that he/she can talk you through it. This farm was rebuilt in the 70s based on findings that dates back to 300-500 AD. The place is located on Ullandhaug not far out of town.

Another place of interest is something called Flor og Fjære. This is more or less a botanical garden that is located on an island called Hidle (just outside Stavanger). In this pretty harsh environment you come to the "Garden of Eden" and I guess I can understand their slogan "a break from reality". Out on these small islands you don't see much plants and stuff but here you will find all sorts of plants that you don't normally see in Norway. The even have palm trees, pumpkins, chilis, a lemon tree and so on. And there is a tour and you can get excellent food.

Talking about food...if you stroll around in town on a nice summer day it is great to sit down on the stairs next to the town square and just relax and have a bag of shrimp to eat. And for dessert: strawberries of course :-) I love strawberries and I guess it is because the strawberry season is so short. Only for a few hectic weeks in the middle of summer can you get the sweet Norwegian strawberries and in this periode I get a bit carried away and I eat it all the time :-)

Well, I hope that this has encouraged some of you to stop by Stavanger. If you do come here please don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you want more information about the area.