Day 3 - Stavanger.

There was no foghorn to wake me this morning instead Sylvia got up at 4.30 to take pictures of the sunrise and the approaching fjordd scenery. Much as she enthused about the views I was more interested to getting a few more hours sleep, although I can see from the photos why she was so excited.

When I eventually got up at around 8.00, the ship had arrived in its berth right in the middle of the old town with its small white wooden houses.

As it was Sunday and still relatively early the town was very quiet so I decided to go for a little walk to locate the sights ready for later in the day. Although the sun was shining there was a bitter wind blowing down the fjordd making it very cold in the shade, so no shorts this morning. It was really pleasant to walk around the houses before most of the ship had finished their breakfast.

Talking to some of our fellow travellers many had not appreciatted how cold this cruise may be with one person telling Sylvia that they thought the temperature was going to be in the mid-20s. They are going to be cold!!!

Today Stavanger is known as the oil capital of Norway, but its prosperity was built on a different oil namely sardines in olive oil. At one stage there were over fifty canning factories in the town and one of these has been turned into a museum. This proved to be an excellent visit as it took us through the entire sardine canning process. The process was very manual and included threading the sardines on spikes prior to smoking and de-heading and finally being put in the cans. Quite a hands-on experience.

The museum also gave an oppurtunity to have your photo taken as the original “Skipper” on the sardine cans. Sylvia thought that this made me look like my brother Stanley.

After the museum we wandered the small streets heading towards the Stavanger Cathedral which has many English connections as it was built by the English Bishop of Winchester in the 12th Century and dedicated to St Swithun. Unfortunately the church was not open but looked good from the outside.

We walked around the rest of the harbour before returning to the ship. A beautiful city that has retained much of its old-time charm.

Sylvia spent the afternoon sketching the old town from the balcony, where below us an international beach volleyball competition was taking place on the quayside.

By this time the weather had warmed up somewhat and the shorts were able to make an appearance before we set sail for tomorrow’s stop in Olden.