Stavanger- One of the oldest cities in Norway

About Stavanger

This time our ship bring us to one of the oldest cities in Norway: Stavanger.

Located on the Stavanger Peninsula in Southwest Norway, this standing treasure consists of 18th and 19th-century wooden houses that are protected for being part of the city’s cultural heritage.

This has caused the city to retain its small-town looks even though Stavanger is the third biggest metropolitan area in Norway and the fourth most populous municipality.

The Old Stavanger

The old town is the very heart of Stavanger and being a protected cultural heritage, it has influenced the way this city has grown throughout the years forcing people to choose other metropolitan regions in the country.

Therefore, seeing the old town will show you why this city stands out.

Old Stavanger is full of Character, transporting you to older times. The city to me had a very cute look, I normally enjoy visiting towns like this, filled with history.

The ship stops close by the center. I first noticed the number of jellyfishes in the water where the ship docked, as well, in the rest of the sea areas, you could see really big ones, it was kind of interesting and unusual.

Piers and Boardwalks

One of the beautiful things to admire when is Stavanger, in my opinion, was that gorgeous waterfront view, again very characteristic from Norway, those wooden houses at the bay make incredible pictures and pleasant walks. That spot was where we got great shots.

At the bay you have these aligned and colorful wooden houses as stores, cafes, and restaurants.

To me, that area was the highlight of my visit to Stavanger.

Stavanger Cathedral

In the city one of the main touristic stops will be the Cathedral, built almost together with the city, It had an Anglo-Norman style. The Cathedral was damaged by fire in 1272, due to its mostly wooden structure, it barely resisted, but it was rebuilt, taking a more Gothic look.

Famous Stavanger Domkirke one of the oldest churches in Norway.

Stavanger Museums

As a city standing in history, there are many good and interesting museums to explore Stavanger’s past in more detail. Many of them have several fun activities for the kids, and if you visit one museum you get 50% off on your next museum ticket, isn’t that cool?

That being said I will list here the name of some great museums to make your trip to Stavanger even reacher.

Norwegian Petroleum Museum, Official site: www.norskolje.museum.no/en/
Norwegian Canning Museum, Official site: http://norskhermetikkmuseum.no/en/
Stavanger Museum, Official site: www.museumstavanger.no/home/
Stavanger Maritime Museum, Official site: http://stavangermaritimemuseum.no/en/
Breidablikk Museum, Address: Eiganesveien 40 A, Stavanger 4009
Museum of Archaeology, Official site: http://am.uis.no/?lang=en_GB
Flyhistorisk Museum Sola, Official site: www.jaermuseet.no/flyhistorisk/en/
Stavanger Art Museum, Official site: http://stavangerkunstmuseum.no/en/

Hiking in Stavanger

Stavanger is not all about history, as a Norwegian city, good long hikes are also on the list here.

For those who expect to see a more common aspect of Norway, like huge, scary, but beautiful steep rock faces, you still can do it from Stavanger.

Preikestolen-The pulpit rock hike

To do one of the most popular hikes in Norway, you will need few hours and an adventurous spirit to see PREIKESTOLEN -The pulpit rock hike. It is a total distance of 8 km (5 miles) and it will take you around 4 hours going and coming back to complete this course. I don’t need to talk about what stunning views you get from up there.

Norway is well known for its amazing cliffs and nature art work, that’s why many tourists come here to experience at first hand these incredible views.

Kjeragbolten hike

If you are still in the mood, and I can’t think about a reason why you wouldn’t, you can take an even longer hike to Kjeragbolten, a 10-kilometre hike, taking about 6 hours to complete. It is not very easy to reach, but again, it’s a picture-perfect spot, where you can stand on top of a rock stocked in the mountain crevice. Where else in the world you can do that?

As you know, we couldn’t do those sort of hikes in just few hours free, but I must add those points here as a reference for you in your future or actual trip to Stavanger.

Coffee in Stavanger

We started exploring this vintage town, stopped for a coffee, Norwegian cities have some good pastries and bakeries, but unfortunately, no city had a good cup of coffee, so if you are a coffee lover like me, I will not encourage you to try the coffee in Norway, maybe a hot chocolate will do. Well, I ordered coffee here and again it was a let-down for me. Never the less the city’s atmosphere make it up for it.

Viking inspired Souvenir Shop

We already spoke about what great Viking souvenirs Norway has. In Stavanger, meters away from where our cruise ship docked we came across this shop, called Viking Virtual Reality experience, with some antiques, ancient Viking tools, and swords that we found interesting and called our attention.