We left Bergen with our rented car and arrived
Stavanger in a few hours. It is estimated 210 km but due to speed limit it
takes longer time.
It is , located on the Stavanger Peninsula on the southwest coast of Norway . The municipality is the fourth most populous in Norway with
120,000. After our megapol city Istanbul, everywhere looks me so quiet. The
climate is maritime mild temperate, with all monthly
temperature averages above freezing. Summers are pleasant however, summer
temperatures are much cooler than those found further inland on the
Scandinavian peninsula, even in more northerly areas. I’ve learned that, in
contrast, winter temperatures are much milder than those in Oslo and Stockholm.
In 1969, when oil was first
discovered in the North Sea, Stavanger was chosen to be the on-shore center for
the oil industry on the Norwegian sector
of the North Sea,
Domestic and
international military installations are located in Stavanger, the NATO’s Joint Warfare Center is one of them. It is also an university city.
Stavanger is a popular
tourist destination, especially in summer. The hotels in the city have good
occupancy year round due to a lot of commuters who travel to work and meetings
in Stavanger. In recent years, Stavanger has also become one of the most
popular ports of call for cruise ships, with the number of cruise ships
increasing steadily, making Stavanger one of Europe's fastest growing ports
of call for cruise ships north of the Mediterranean. I searched some
records, in 2009, 99 ships and 146,000 passengers passed through the town, and
in 2010, a total of 111 cruise ships with about 175,000 passengers visited the
city. I believe that it is much more now!
cruise ships dock in the very city center near the oldest
part of the town, Old Stavanger. It is just a short stroll away is the nice, well protected Stavanger
Cathedral, and the city center with its cobbled pedestrian streets.
U-shape pier area have lots of restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, just a few hundred meters walking distance from the dock!
If you're sea-food lover, Stavanger is a perfect address to taste delicious seafoods. I'll share them as another topic, too.
Old Stavanger that cruises boards it offers Europe's
best preserved wooden house settlement,
consisting of more than 170 white wooden houses.
This adorable cat looks so happy, living in that preserved wooden house settlement in old town, he posed us.
I shared my opinions related with cruise trip before. I just want to repeat that, we would like to have more independent tours...Maybe, one day, we do realize a cruise trip for a specific destination.
I was always wondering the
daily life in a petroleum platform. I think, several movies that I’ve watched
and some tragic accidents occurred at the platforms caused my this curiosity. We passed through platforms by
ferry on the way of Bergen.
Glad that we managed to visit
Norwegian Petroleum Museum, of course, I focused on the petroleum
platform, drilling and its logistic support activities. Its exhibits explain how oil and gas are created, discovered and produced, and what they are used for. All museum looks informative
and it covers the Norwegian oil history and its development and economical
influences of oil incomes for the Norwegian people. Original objects, models, films and interactive exhibits illustrate everything from everyday life offshore to technology and dramatic accidents.
On 27 March 1980, due to
fatigue crack, and some other weld and material disorders one of the bracing
failed and afterward the platform, Alexander Lange Kielland Platform collapsed. I still remember that tragedy!
Failed bracing part of
the drilling platform is on display in the museum. Details related with
accidents were so touchy, especially that steel debris of a tragic accident is an
awesome evidence!!!
More details about Lauvvik - Oanes later!
