Scavengers in Stavenger, Norway

We arrived in Stavenger (which I like to pronounce rhyming with Scavenger) to pouring rain. But that’s fine – we were expecting it; the South West coast of Norway is known to get lots of rainfall. So after a good breakfast we piled on our waterproof coats, trousers, and walking boots (all my other shoes have holes in them – a source of constant amusement and mockery for my BF!) and set off into town!

We actually explored Stavenger in two halves; the old town and the new town. The Old town, or Gamle Stavenger, was the first stop. This is a quaint area of town full of cute white clapboard houses with red rooves. We were surprised to find that the houses were not old relics, but lived in and very much a part of modern-day Stavenger. We saw people walking through there with their shopping, and children cycling home from school.

It was a beautiful and photogenic little area to explore and didn’t take too long to see it. Of course it was tipping down with rain throughout so we sheltered in the Sardine Canning museum. A little-known fact about Stavenger is that it is the birthplace of the man who invented the ring-pull for sardine cans!

We had a quick pit-stop at the ship before heading to the new town. The ship was ~~parked~~ moored in the middle of the two, which was handy.

The new-town started off being almost as pretty as the old-town, except painted in loud colours. This part of town had pavement cafes, vintage shops, and bars.

We also visited the more, um, concrete parts of town which had normal shopping streets and a shopping mall. We were amused to see a branch of Boots the Chemist! We visited a supermarket and my BF noticed a sign advertising 2 loaves of bread for 45 Krone (about £4.20 !!). We ended up buying a couple of chocolate bars, including “Kvikk Lunsj” (meaning “Quick Lunch”) which is Norway’s answer to the Kit Kat (but is actually nicer as it is coated with a much more luxurious chocolate!) for about 17 Krone each (about £1.50 each – shocking!!). This reaffirmed my belief that a cruise would be cheaper than staying here!

While wandering the streets eating our snacks, we were surrounded by a load of seagulls scavenging and obviously wanting a bit of my chocolate bar. I quickly finished it and tried to put it in the bin but a seagull was one step ahead and went to sit on the bin so I couldn’t even dispose of the wrapper without being pecked! It was like The Birds! I am suspicious of these scavengers since one once bit my Mum! Anyway we got away, walked round the lake, and headed back to the ship.

As we sailed away from Stavenger we stayed on deck to admire the stunning scenery. It was exciting to think we were going to sail into the fjords, towards these mountains.