It was a beautiful sunny day as we approached Stavanger, Norway.
I set my GoPro up to take a time lapse of the arrival and of course took some pictures as well.
Before departing I was able to get a tour of the galley. It was stainless steel everywhere and huge. There were a few cooks working to make fresh pasta (for Tuscan) and some cheese platters.
Since it was nearly lunch time and the past few days I haven’t eaten lunch I decided to get a burger from the Mast Grill by the pool as it was the only thing open at 11:30 AM.
I took a photo of the Stavanger Houston mural that was next to the ship when I disembarked.
I walked around to the Cathedral and found it not only closed, but covered in a tent. I guess I need to go to plan B.
The next place on my list of places to see was the Stavanger Museum, so I started to walk in that direction and took some pictures along the way.
I found another interesting manhole cover on the way.
I walked over to the Stavanger Museum and they actually recommended the Archeological Museum instead to get more local history as the Stavanger Museum was more of a natural history museum.
The museum was actually fairly small, but it had a variety of things in it. It had information about the cathedral I wasn’t able to visit, rock art, and stolen items from Ireland.
They also had a skeleton of a large Polar Bear.
On the way over I saw an interesting green space which was actually a large graveyard. As it wasn’t too far out of the way to my next point of interest on my itinerary I decided to walk through it. Apparently it is unique due to the fact the graves are marked by concrete curbs.
After walking through the graveyard I arrived at the Valberg tower.
Apparently it was an old watchtower to spot fires before they got out of control. There was a small museum inside discussed mandatory fire equipment needed for insurance. Some of the fire extinguishers were just large syringes and they were called “standard pumps”. I’m not sure I would call them a pump, although they do move liquid – so does a bucket.
There was also a hand pump hanging from the wall.
Of course there was also a nice view at the top.
I took some pictures of the old buildings in the area and walked back to the ship as it was now actually hot and I needed something to drink and also needed to drop off my rain jacket which was absolutely not required today.
I stopped at the local tourist information center by the ship for some more idea. They told me about a few old mansions in the area, so I decided to go walk around those.
Breidablikk was the first building I arrived to.
Apparently the house was built in 1881. Not that old compared to some of the buildings in Germany.
From there I walked to Holmegenes.
Now this building was more interesting to me as there were ruins of an old rock foundation next to the building. It made it a very scenic photo opportunity.
Finally I decided to walk around Ledaal despite it looking quite boring, it was still on the way back to the ship.
I was allowed to walk through the Retreat, which is the area for the suites. There was a special dining room, however I was not impressed by the menu, it didn’t seem any better than the main dining room.
In the Retreat lounge they had a bar (bartender appeared after I mentioned there wasn’t a bartender), a mini bar with free items (soft drinks) that you could help yourself to, a small snack area which didn’t have a server (until I pointed at the sign and mentioned no one was there – at this point I think they just sit behind the window and watch a security camera).
I also got to walk around the Retreat pool area which had a small pool and spas. There was also a bar outside, which had bottles in the speed well. I am not sure what was in the speed well, but honestly if you are in a suite and have the premium alcohol package *everything* should be made with name brand liquor and nothing should ever come from a well. To make matters worse if a guest is on a sun deck chair and is served by a server they have no idea what quality of alcohol was used to make the drink.
I took another time lapse video of the last sailaway and took some photos as the ship left Stavanger.
I decided to have dinner at Cosmopolitan main dining room tonight, mostly because the executive chef said the NY Strip Steak was one of his favorite things on the ship. I started with escargot and the crispy Thai beef spring roll. The spring roll was okay, but not spectacular. For the main I had the NY Strip Steak which was also okay, but not spectacular.
For dessert I had Cherry Brandy ice cream and guava sorbet.
I captured a sunset with some rain.
I watched one of the shows at Eden. The Chinese acrobat was very impressive.
