Stavanger, Norway

No, we are NOT still on that Viking cruise we embarked upon last July.  I am just a very lazy blogger, who only puts fingers to keyboard when the spirit moves me, and there clearly hasn’t been much movement lately.  But this epic narrative will end shortly.  Only one more country — Norway — and three more ports left, starting with Stavanger.

This lovely town features a Maritime Museum which could possibly be spectacular.  I have no idea whether it is or it isn’t, because  we didn’t get around to visiting it.

Can you make out the white tents around the harbor in the above photos?  They were booths for the food festival that was in full swing the day we were in port.  Given the abundance and the quality of the food on the ship, eating was the last thing on our minds, so we didn’t experience THAT either.  What we did instead was climb the hill into town to get a better view  of the harbor (seen from above)  and the tower (seen from below).

As usual, Viking offered an array of excursions, including a free walking tour of the port. Our choice was one of the other options:  cruising Lysefjord and seeing the famous Pulpit Rock.

I had briefly considered hiking up Pulpit Rock, but was dissuaded by the comments from bloggers that had gone before.  And boy oh boy, I’m so grateful they convinced me to sit this one out.  Take a look!

Here’s a tip for future cruisers visiting Stavanger.  The Viking sponsored cruise to Pulpit Rock cost $149. per person.  Instead, before leaving home, we booked directly with Rodne for $60 per person.   (Clicking on the blue link will get you directly to their website). The ferries were identical, the routes were identical, only the price differed.  I don’t mind a cruise line making a little money on the trips they put together, but this mark up seemed a bit excessive.  I was a little concerned about the distance from our ship to the ferry, but the port is so small, it was a short distance to the boarding area, which was clearly marked.

We discovered we would have been able to buy a ticket at the Rodne office in the harbor,  however even if I had known that, I probably would have bought the tickets in advance.   We were only in Stavanger one day, so I wasn’t willing to take a chance that the time we wanted was sold out.

Okay, this one is the last…