August 4, 2023 - Stavanger, Norway

 August 4, 2023 - Friday - Stavanger, Norway

When we left the ship today we were later than usual. All of the tours had left and apparently so had the independent travelers. That was OK for us because we consider ourselves very independent. Because there was no one leaving with us we made the mistake of going straight up the street outside the gate. Later we learned we should have turned left. Our walk took us through a neighborhood into the old town. This was fine, but the route had a couple of steep hills. Alice’s fractured metatarsals have not yet healed completely and did protest this effort.

We took pictures of the lovely houses. And we noted the signs that said the area was historical and was occupied by regular people. Please do not peer into the windows and do respect their property and privacy. This was fine with us. We could experience the history of the dwellings without viewing the furniture and wall coverings. As we enjoyed our walk we realized that we were proceeding inland away from the harbor. All of the other sights were around the water. We made our way through the neighborhood down to the harbor. We could not remember if we had visited Stavanger before. As we strolled some aspects seemed familiar. Then it hit me. We reached the end of the harbor and I told Alice that if we walked up and over a small hill we would find a pond with swans. We were here before and we watched a family with small children feeding the swans. Sure enough, we went over the hill and there was the pond. There were no families but there were certainly swans. It was just as it was in 2004 when we stopped here on the Norwegian Coastal Voyage. What a joy!

We retraced our steps and found the cathedral at the top of the hill. It was closed for renovation in preparation for the 150-year anniversary.

Moving along, we walked through another old part of the city. This neighborhood featured shops and restaurants. Window shopping was fun, but our objective was the Petroleum Museum. We found it on the waterfront at a harbor that we could not see from Pursuit. This museum was built in the 1990s to tell the story of the discovery and development of Norway's rich offshore oil fields. We viewed a series of panels explaining the timeline from discovery in the early 1960s to today. This includes the steps that Norway is taking to protect the environment through regulation of the industry. In Finn style, we read all of the panels in about 40 minutes. It is a large carousel.

Now we made our way to the models. Here we saw examples of the various types of rigs in use over the years. Today’s rigs are like small towns. As many as 150 people live and work aboard them. Concrete gravity towers rest on the bottom of the sea to support the rig. Even this support has equipment and the men to operate it inside. The models are overwhelming. Another exhibit includes a number of vessels. They are described by type and the service they provide. Safety exhibits are also present as are drill bits and piping used in the drilling process. Another exhibit shows how oil transport ships are attached with flexible lines to various sources of stored oil for transport to shore.

I knew that oil was an important part of Norway’s economy, but I and no idea of the magnitude of the industry. We spent over 2 hours in the museum and left with a strong desire to learn more about it when we get home. It is fascinating.

We made our way back to and around the end of the city harbor. As we walked back toward Pursuit we discovered the flat route that we could have used if we had made a left turn when leaving the ship.

This was a day filled with reliving memories and making enriching discoveries.