So what is Stavanger like?

That's the question I had when I left the hotel this morning. And very quickly you get the answer: It is very small, but also very specific. It has a habor-atmosphere, the sea is always very close, you hear boatsounds all the ime, and the weather is as you can expect at the very eastern limits of the Atlantic Ocean. When I arrived yesterday a very strong westerly wind made the trip from Oslo to Stavanger very bumpy. But it seems that Norwegians are used to that. Business as usual, except for a 20 mins delay (and not like KLM, that had to delay it's flight with several hours). Next to the typical weather, you get to see, once you get close to the harbor, the leftovers of what made Stavanger (and Norway) famous before it became known for its oil. Stavanger was the place to be for sardines. These small fish were fished in summertime (19th century) in the fjords surrounding this city. The fishermen sold their treasures to companies that canned the sardines and transported them around the world. With this as a background I went into the museum that gives you all the ins and outs of this era.
After this museum I went checking out the cruiseboats. Tomorrow I have planned to go and do a 3.5hr tour to a fjord, but as the weather is so bad, I doubt that the tour will happen. Today the boat didn't leave the harbor. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
I continued my citytour and it gave me a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. It's clear that this city will have a complete different picture in summertime. Many more activities, related to Stavanger 2008, are planned as from April. Later in the afternon the weather turned worse again, so I had to find a warm spot in the hotel. I'm planning to do a swim now. More tomorrow.

Jn