Stavanger and Pulpit Rock

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Trip Start Jun 20, 2004 Previous
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  Stavanger, Norway
Friday, June 25, 2004

We were free till 11.30am this morning and we rose early to walked around Stavanger. The 150 years old Valbergtarnet tower recommended by LP to have a birdeyes view of the city cost 20 Nok each (not mentioned in LP) to go up. It was not worth it. You do get a good view. The top of the tower were enclosed with small windows around. One cannot take photographs with the town as backdrop. 5 minutes is all you can stay up there before getting bored. We quickly make our way past the market square selling fruits and flowers to the beautiful Gamle Stavanger. The Gamle is located next to the harbour. 187 houses from the 18th century have been preservered as "Old Stavanger" (Gamle Stavanger). It's a residential area and there are some shops there too and a sardine canning musuem. The path were all cobblestone and too narrow for any car to past.

We tried to visit the Stavanger Domkirke, Norway's oldest church (1125; LP neglect to tell you it was Norway's oldest) but it was too early and only opened at 10am. We were there on Thursday and there was supposed to be a organ recital at the church at 11.15am. Sadly we were rushing for time and had no choice but to head back to the hotel to have lunch. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a vendor selling Russian souvenirs along the road. We bought a Russian Doll (with 4 dolls inside a bigger one) for 125 Nok. Chris simply loved it. Lunch was Cup Noodles, we simply couldn't afford not to as we had no idea when will be the next time a kettle was available in our room.

Our optional excursion to Pulpit rock was a mistake. We should have done it on our own. The reason is that we only got to see it from the bottom. Arrggh! . This optional tour was meant for old farts who cannot endure the 2 hrs hike up the rock.

Anyway, the tour started with us walking to the harbour and took a cruise up the Lysefjord and went underneath the towering Pulpit rock. Along the way, we saw many fish farms dotting along the shore line. Sitting on the deck was very chilly and we should have bought our gloves. Amanda didn't do a good job here to advice us on what we should be wearing. When we reached Pulpit rock from the bottom, it was a disappointment. The only interesting part of the tour was that the ship moved close to a waterfall to harvest the water and we had a drink from it.

We disembarked halfway back Stavanger and drove to see a candle factory with a hairy house (house with grass on the roof, grown to provide insulation for the house). We also stopped at a valley where it used to be a glacier during the ice age. It dragged along huge boulders as the glacier moved. When it melts, the boulders were deposited at the start of a fjord form by the melting ice. I simply marveled at this geographical formation.

Dinner was at Pepe's Pizza, the local pizza chain near the market square. One medium pizza and a coke (0.8L) cost 228 Nok. Back home I could have 3 at that price. After dinner, we took a stroll to 2 19th-century manor houses (Ledaal and Breidablikk) that were home of 2 rich ship owners. It is being conserved now and open to the public at a price. It was closed when we reached there about 7.30pm. We walked round the garden and the gaudy coloured house before heading back to the hotel.

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