Stavanger was the first stop during our Norwegian cruise and a great introduction to Norway.  We chose not to go on an organised shore excursion and had a leisurely wander through the inner city and around the wharf area.  Many shops were closed and apart from the cruise passengers the town was surprisingly quiet until lunchtime when the bars and restaurants started to fill up. We walked around the pretty central lake and climbed to the lookout tower then visited the market set up near the cruise ship terminal.  It was very touristy as you would expect and we didn’t buy anything.

The beautiful Old Town or Gamle Stavanger is just a few minutes walking distance from the cruise ship terminal and it seemed like the Britannia was towering over it. Carefully restored white houses, once home to sardine workers, line the narrow cobbled streets crowded around the harbour. The streets are lined with old fashioned gas lamps and the window boxes, bright hanging baskets and neat little gardens are reminders that this is not a museum. People live and work here with numerous galleries and tiny craft shops along the streets.

 

And so ends our Norwegian adventure. As I think is often the case with cruising, we barely scratched the surface. We would love to spend more time time on the ground in Norway and may go back in the winter and go further north to experience the Northern Lights. For the cruise lovers I’ll also post some info and pics about the Britannia when I have time.

Tomorrow we fly to Germany to catch up with our exchange student of 20 plus years ago.  We go first to Leonberg to visit Sabine’s mum then to Munich for a few days followed by a stay with Sabine in Lucerne. The second week, while Sabine is at work we will borrow her car and drive to the Italian Lakes where we have booked an apartment overlooking Lake Maggiore. The forecast is for extreme heat.  Hope we can cope! Lucky there’s beer!