It’s no secret that we haven’t traveled Norway as much as we would like to. Apart from short city brakes to Drøbak, Drammen or Tønsberg, we still haven’t seen the west coast, the North or the South. To be completely honest, it’s crazy expensive to travel anywhere in Norway. And with long and hard winters, we always prefer to travel somewhere warm. But….last year we did several short trips around Norway.
The trip to Stavanger was my gift for our anniversary. Actually, ever since I moved to Norway, I wanted to do some hiking. Trolltunga was first on my list, but with 2 years of pandemic restrictions and a baby along the way, I lowered my expectations. Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) would have to do.
For the adventures ones, hiking the Preikestolen from Oslo is actually pretty simple. You get on an early 50 minutes flight to Stavanger, grab a rental or a coach bus to the foothill, take a four hours round hike, grab a bite in the city and you can still catch late evening fight back to Oslo. What this activity might do to your body afterwards, that’s another subject to discuss. However, if you have a year old traveling buddy, you’ll have to take TIME in your account, and it’s better not to rush.
So I have planned a three nights stay, to have enough time for a hike and to explore the city. Debeli suggested a fjord cruise and we were all set. Just had to get there 🙂
I booked a nice Airbnb for our stay, packed a baby hiking carrier, brought my mother with us, as she was visiting the grandson, and off we went.
Located on the peninsula of the same name in southwest Norway, Stavanger is the third largest city in Norway and the administrative center of Rogaland county.
The city’s population rapidly grew in the late 20th century due to its oil industry but it’s still considered a small city with just little over that 200 000 inhabitants.
Although one of the Norway’s oldest cities, Stavanger rapidly grew after the oil boom in the late 60ies.
Being known as the Oil Capital of Norway, Stavanger attracted many immigrants and was rated the most livable city for Europeans expatriates.
The city has been often found on the list of the most expensive cities in the world, that one cannot tell by the old wooden houses in the harbor. But they are part of the Vågen bay of Byfjorden in the center of Stavanger and some of the old houses dates back as early as 11th century.
The harbor area is usually filled with locals and tourists enjoying the variety of restaurants, bars, fish market or just strolling along the sea in the sunny day.
Our first morning in Stavanger started as grey and gloomy as only Norwegian morning can be. But the rest of the days was perfect. Nice, sunny with the perfect amount of wind to not spoil us with short sleeves⛅🌬️😀.
We took the advantage of this glorious weather and drove to the other side of the peninsula to see the Svjerd i fjell.
The giant monument was created by sculptor Fritz Røed from Bryne and was unveiled by King Olav V of Norway in 1983.
The three 10 meters tall bronze swords are planted into the rock of a small hill next to the fjord.
They commemorate the historic Battle of Hafrsfjord that took place in late 9th century, when King Harald Fairhair gathered all of Norway under one crown.
The monument also represents peace, since the swords are planted into solid rock, so they may never be removed.
