Day 13 - Stavanger

We arrived at Stavanger around 8:00 this morning. Martha and I only know this because they broadcast the all clear to go ashore in every room at an unseemly early hour. We are finally sleeping a lot on this trip. I don’t know if it’s the darkness, the weather, the stress, or whatever; but we’re averaging about 10 hours of sleep per night.

A couple pics from the dock.

Wiki: Stavanger is a city in southwestern Norway. In the center of town, Stavanger Cathedral dates back to the city’s 12th-century founding. Stavanger Museum chronicles the city’s history and displays preserved wildlife. The Norwegian Petroleum Museum illuminates the oil industry with submersibles, a large drill bit and an escape chute. The shopping street Øvre Holmegate is known for its colorful houses.

Norway is said to have the second longest coast line in the world behind Canada. I can believe it with all the fjords and islands.

There is a lot fish farming of salmon near here. Wiki: The cold, clear waters of the Norwegian fjords provide the perfect conditions for farming fish. Norwegian fish farming began in the 1970s, when the first ever ocean-farmed Norwegian salmon was bred in floating sea cages.

The Norwegians consider this a better way to make a living than straight up fishing.

The fjord went across is 700 feet deep. Brrrr, cold water. When the ice age finished, the soil in Norway was left unsuitable for farming and living inland. Therefore, people preferred to live and work near the water and travel by boat.

Our boat tour took us to Lysefjord. Wiki: Lysefjord or Lysefjorden is a fjord located in the Ryfylke area in Rogaland county in southwestern Norway. The 42-kilometre long fjord lies in the municipalities of Strand and Sandnes, about 25 kilometres east of the city of Stavanger.

Lysefjord means fjord of light. It is 18 miles long and the cliffs are 3000 feet high. There are no roads between settlements in the fjord. All travel is by boat.

In the fjord we saw Vagabounds cave where people running from the law allegedly hid out. Also a breeding ground for birds, herons sea eagles, and hawks.

From Martha: For those of you afflicted with Face Pareidolia (the illusion of seeing a facial structure in an everyday object), I’ve got two for you. The first one I saw the profile first but couldn’t get the camera out until we turned the corner. Check out the reflection of the light, it makes the perfect eye (unintentional). Maggie captured the other one from the top of the boat. Does anyone else see a dog? Or Hedwig the Owl?

We went to a waterfall, called Whiskey Falls, that runs into the fjord. Whiskey runners were said to drop barrels onto boats via the falls during prohibition.

We stopped at Pulpit Rock. Wiki: Preikestolen or Prekestolen is a tourist attraction in the municipality of Strand in Rogaland county, Norway. Preikestolen is a steep cliff which rises 604 metres above Lysefjorden. Atop the cliff, there is an almost flat top of approximately 25 by 25 meters.

The rocks around Pulpit Rock fell into the sea leaving the “Priest’s Chair” or Pulpit Rock. It’s 2,000 feet above sea level.

A Pulpit Rock myth: When 7 brothers marry 7 sisters, Pulpit Rock will fall in the sea.  It was too foggy to see all the way to the top, but we believe it is there.

We could not see the top due to the fog.

The rest of the pictures are from the ride through the fjord. Even on a cloudy day it is beautiful. Stark, but beautiful. Of course we had a beer along the way. And yes, the sun drew my eye in almost every picture.