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STAVANGER |
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STAVANGER is something of a survivor. While other Norwegian coastal
towns have fallen foul of the precarious fortunes of fishing, Stavanger
has grown into one of Norway's most dynamic economic powerhouses. Fish
canning and its own merchant fleet brought initial prosperity, which
shipbuilding and the oil industry have since sustained. It's a brash,
breezy, international sort of place, with a sprinkling of interesting
attractions and a good bar and restaurant scene, and well worth a day or
so before moving on to the fjords or Oslo.
The old town, Gamle Stavanger , near the international ferry terminal,
is of greatest appeal, a pristinely preserved area of wooden warehouses,
narrow clapboard houses and cobbled streets that were once home for
seamen and merchants. There's a good museum here, the Canning Museum ,
Øvre Strandgate 88 (mid-June to mid-Sept daily 11am-4pm; early June &
late Sept Mon-Thurs 11am-4pm; rest of year Sun 11am-4pm; 40kr), located
in a reconstructed sardine-canning factory; it gives a glimpse of the
industry that saved Stavanger from decay in the late nineteenth century
and smokes its own sardines on the first Sunday of every month and every
Tuesday and Thursday from mid-June to mid-August - and very tasty they
are too. Beside the harbour, on the main square, Torget , there's a
bustling daily market, while the streets around Skagen , on the jut of
land forming the eastern side of the harbour, make up the town's
shopping area. It's a bright mix of spidery lanes, pedestrianized
streets and white-timbered houses covering the area once occupied by
medieval Stavanger. At the top stands the spiky Valberg Tower , a
nineteenth-century firewatch, from where there are sweeping views over
the city and its industry. The only relic of medieval Stavanger is the
twelfth-century Domkirke (mid-May to mid-Sept Mon-Sat 11am-6pm & Sun
1-6pm; rest of year Wed-Sat 10am-3pm, Sundays only for service at 11am;
free), on the fringes of Torget, whose pointed-hat towers signal a
Romanesque structure that's suffered from several poorly conceived
renovations. The church overlooks Breiavatnet , a pretty little lake
right in the middle of the city. The Norwegian Petroleum Museum at
Kjerringholmen is also worth a visit to understand the importance of the
industry for Norway's recent history (June-Aug daily 10am-7pm; rest of
year Mon-Sat 10am-4pm & Sun 10am-6pm; free).
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