We Love Us Some Stavanger

Monday morning came quickly. We were up and out of bed at 5am and in a taxi on the way to the Bodø airport. We flew to Oslo (90 minutes) and then hung out in the airport for three hours until we could board our flight to Stavanger (60 minutes). If you have to hang out in an airport for three hours, might I recommend the Oslo one? It’s beautiful, clean, light, airy, and has top-notch food. Also, there’s a random piano in the domestic terminal and talented travelers will play music at times.

And the Bodø airport had a climbing wall. What?! 

When we arrived in Stavanger, we hopped into our rental car and drove into the city. Stavanger is about 900 years old and one of the oldest cities in Norway. It’s also the fourth most populous city in Norway. Stavanger is a well-known city for a number of reasons – Vikings, a battle that resulted in the unification of Norway, fishing, ship-building – but the city really became a big deal in 1969, when oil was discovered in the North Sea. Oil has made Norway into a very, very rich country. And in the early 1970s, Stavanger was picked as the Norwegian oil industry’s center. So, good on Stavanger!

We pulled up to our hotel – another Thon Hotel (with the seriously amazing breakfast buffet) – but our room wasn’t ready. We dropped our bags and parked the car at the nearest parking garage, about a half mile away. From there, we walked around Stavanger. It’s the coolest town, with lots of windy cobblestone streets and quaint shops and cafes.

We walked through historic Gamle Stavanger, or Old Stavanger, with its 250 white, wooden cottages. We walked down Øvre Holmegate, a popular street also known as the Color Street, in the shopping district. Back in 2005, a local hairdresser with a salon on Øvre Holmegate decided he wanted to attract more business to the area. Long story short, the houses on either side of the street were painted in different colors, based on a Miami Vice inspired color scheme suggested by the Scottish artist Craig Flannagan (who lived and still lives in Stavanger), hence Color Street.

Walking around Gamle Stavanger.

Which way should we go?

By the Stavanger harbor.

More Gamle.

Ever since we walked around Oslo and saw scooters for rent, Wyatt has been asking and asking and asking to ride one. He finally got his wish in Stavanger.

For dinner on Monday night, we walked around some more, this time in the rain. Surprisingly (or maybe not), several restaurants were closed. We eventually found a Norwegian-style burger joint and enjoyed some burgers and fries. It was still raining a bit after dinner, but we walked toward Narvesen, a nationwide kiosk chain that sells pizza, sandwiches, coffee, snacks, magazines…and Hennig-Olsen soft serve ice cream, which we’ve crowned the best soft serve ice cream of all time. We each got an ice cream and ate in inside the small store to avoid the rain.

Nothing like the best soft serve ever -- in a convenience store.

Bring on more Stavanger – we love this place!

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