Mark Stratton takes a tour of 2008’s European capital of culture
07.30: Begin the day with a smorgasbord while overlooking Lake Breiavanet at the Radisson SAS Atlantic Hotel. Then take a short bus ride to the Swords in the Rock monument located on the shoreline of the steely Hafrsfjord. The national monument – three towering 10m-high swords evocative of Norse mythology, thrust into the rock – commemorates the military victory of Harald the Fairhaired in 872AD that ultimately united Norway.
09.00: Back in the city centre, call in on Norway’s oldest cathedral – originally constructed in an Anglo-Norman style in 1125, it was distinctively rebuilt after a fire in 1272.
10.00: Make your way to the old quarter, Gamle Stavanger, and the quirky Canning Museum. This charts the rise and importance of Stavanger’s once massive sardine industry. Located inside a former canning factory, exhibits include everything from fish decapitation machinery to smoking ovens. Visitors can even sample the delights of smoked fish, fresh from the oven. Opening days and times vary throughout the year so check the website before heading out. Entry is from 50NOK ($8.50). Exit into Vågen harbour, passing colourful moored trawlers and yachts then make your way up to the circular Valberg watchtower. Built in the 1850s, this offers fine views back over the harbour and a café for a quick bite.
12.00: Take the boat from Vågen and experience the most awe-inspiring way to take in Stavanger’s majestic coastal fjords. For 320NOK ($55), you can enjoy a three-and-a-half-hour roundtrip with Røden Fjord Cruise along the Lysefjord, passing thundering waterfalls, to one of Norway’s most famous beauty spots, the 600m-high Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen. Departure time is 12pm, except for July and August when departures are 10am and 2pm.
15.30: The sea air should have by now generated a Vikingsized appetite. Restaurant Bevaremegvel at Skagen 12 offers sumptuous seafood dishes such as mussels and lemon sole with an extensive wine menu in a relaxed bistro setting.
16.30: Head back to the old quarter, which is home to the largest surviving wooden house settlement in northern Europe. Among the 173 wooden buildings dating from the 18th century are numerous boutiques and galleries to explore.
18.00: Take a bracing walk along the harbour quay to Kjeringholmen and visit the magnificent Museum of Petroleum. The ground floor has interactive displays of the geology and extraction of petroleum with scale models of platforms alongside diamond-tipped drill-bits and submersibles. Head upstairs via a helicopter simulator to experience a rig drilling platform and the Petrodome art installation. Opening days and times vary throughout the year. Entry is 80NOK ($14).
20.00: For a unique dining experience, depart Skagenkaien wharf for Flor & Fjære. A 20-minute boat crossing delivers passengers to the small, curiously out-of-place island, where banana palms, nectarines, and lemon trees – apparently warmed by Atlantic Ocean currents – thrive. A tour of the gardens precedes a three-course buffet of seafood, meats, pasta, inside a chalet-style restaurant. Boat, garden tour, buffet, and drinks cost from 790NOK ($135). The season runs from May to September. Or try Sorensen’s, one of Stavanger’s best restaurants. It has a harbour view and is open all year round.
22.00: By now the numerous bars fringing Vågen’s Skagenkaien wharf will be alive with music and beer drinking. Queue for the popular Hall Toll, a bar and nightclub set in the early 20th-century Customs House, or head to the pretty painted wooden houses on Øvre Holmegate for a nightcap at Bøker og Børst, a backstreet bar that has a reading section!
www.flysas.com
www.stavanger2008.com
www.visitnorway.com
www.stavanger.museum.no
www.norskolje.museum.no
