At one time, Stavanger was extremely quaint. I remember seeing the port in July of 1979 bustling with activity. It was one of those surreal moments. I was there for one night to take the express ferry to Bergen the next morning. I always wanted to go back.
My 1979 picture from my Canon AE-1
My wife and I had the pleasure of spending three days in Stavanger in July 2019. We flew from Bergen into a modern airport.
The afternoon flight was sunny and we were blessed with some fine vistas.
You can actually spot the fish farms below, pic 2019
A bus took us into the central part of town to our Thon Hotel. The downtown Thon hotel is a delightful place to sleep.
They have the best breakfasts.
I love their freshly squeezed orange juice machine.
And at night, they serve a lite supper—all part of the deal.
The port that I was so fond of in 1979 is now filled with very large cruise ships.
The quaint town is infused with oil monies. In fact, the playgrounds were infused with oil equipment!
There is a beautiful church close by. It was the first cathedral in Norway back in 1125 AD. In 2019 the outside was being remolded.
My 1979 picture
2019 picture of Stavanger’s Cathedral.
The church was free in 1979. Today, due to all the cruise tourists, there is a $5-dollar charge. At first, I would balk at these charges. Like everyone else, churches do have their expenses. We happily pay these days, particularly to view a beautiful church.
The highlight of the church is the gorgeous pulpit.
Inside was small, not like your standard Cathedrals of Europe. There was, though, a distinctive ambiance about Stavanger’s church.
The front stained-glass windows by the alter are definitely beautiful.
Not noticed in 1979, there is actually a stunning little pond behind the church. On a sunny day walking around the pond was delightful.
We did come across a Thai restaurant that was quite good and tasty.
We walked around “old town,” something which I did not do in 1979. These neighborhoods date back to the 19th century.
It was early July and at mid-day it was 52 degrees in July. Thoughts of what Mark Twain came to mind, “the coldest winter I spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Stavanger is the same way!
We walked around the port where we purchased cruise tickets.
The port is still beautiful, but it has changed since 1979.
We came across a large modern oil-rig ship.
The highlight of our sojourn to Stavanger was taking a boat cruise for several hours into a fjord with Rodne Fjord cruises.
Someone thought this was a Confederate flag…
Bridges today connect many of the islands
We went out to a fjord famous rock called the “Pulpit Rock,” also named “Preikestolen,” located in the Lysefjord.
This famous rock ledge that was used to film Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible Six.”
We never made it to the ledge.
Pic from his film “Top Gun.”
“The Pulpit Rock” made headline news when they closed the trail to the ledge back in 2017 in order to film.
It was a beautiful sunny day out on a ship that could carry over 200 people.
On the way, we saw summer Norwegian cottages. These homesteads stay with the families for generations.
There were also a number of fish farms. Norwegians are known to eat very fresh food staples.
A number of people did get off the boat to hike up to the Pulpit. We regret not doing the four hour hike—maybe next time!
