Sleep (or the lack thereof) has certainly been one of the themes of this trip, thus I was disappointed to find that my sense of having finally arrived with my biorhythms into this time zone was quite wrong. Having gone to bed around 11:00PM, I woke again at about 2:45AM and read until it was time to get up around 6:00. So much for overcoming jet lag as the trip ends in a couple of days.
Amazingly, I felt pretty good and we went for our walk on Deck 5 after a cup of tea. I had more energy than one would think and the cool, foggy morning on a ship moving through the sea kept me awake and moving for warmth, if nothing else. Whatever motivation keeps me moving is a good thing.
Our first sight of nearby land revealed farms, then clusters of homes on the slight rise up from the water. There are lots of homes built in the A-frame style once popular in the States. Here the sharply-pitched roofs are designed, perhaps, to let snowfall slide off to the ground, though the Gulf Stream coming into this area somewhat mitigates snow along the coast.
When the ship pulled into the dock at Stavanger, we were delighted to find that the city's colorful buildings began just outside our window. Mike could step onto our balcony and photograph buildings dated 1900 and 1905. The Victoria Hotel faced our position with its ornately-trimmed doorway beckoning travelers who come here by ship.
Our stop in Stavanger is only a half-day, so we disembarked by 9:00AM for a short walk along the pier to board a big catamaran that would take us through the harbor and under very tall bridges, motoring smoothly miles up into the Lysefjord. As we left the harbor, our guide told us some of the history of the area. It has transitioned from a fishing village with its livelihood first dependent on herring, and then later on sardines. Now it is dependence on oil from the North Sea that has had such an impact on Norway's economic development.
This area is a seaside haven with million-dollar homes dotting the shoreline. Those close to town are condos with marinas at their front doors. The masts of sailboats create little forests of their own along water's edge throughout the harbor and its islands and up into the Lysefjord. The area immediately adjacent to the town is reminiscent of the landscape around Aalesund with shoreline and islands rising above the water into low hills rather than mountains.
The mouth of Lysefjord is relatively shallow, as compared to other fjords where huge cruise ships sail into their depths easily. Once inside the fjord, we saw its singular island and began to see the high, rocky cliffs for which it is known, some of these rising 3000 feet. There have been many industrial attempts here, including copper mining and salmon hatcheries.
We passed a salmon farm and could see the fish jumping inside the enclosures where they spend the first three years of their lives. Also visible in this area, in those places where the rock walls are farther from the water and land is available along the shore, farms and holiday homes create idyllic scenes. Sheep graze along the shore and fishermen can be seen either wading in shallow waters or kayaking. One kayaker I saw was chatting animatedly on a cell phone—modern life is never far away, even here where people have lived for millennia.
The captain of the catamaran was quite adept at taking us very close to the rock faces to appreciate specific formations, such as a sort of bowl at water’s edge, hollowed out of the rock over centuries. There were colonies of mussels, clinging to the rock just atop the water. Then there’s the Vagabond Cave, a spot with a cleft in the rock where early tax evaders escaped the sheriff, climbing up through this opening and throwing rocks down on their pursuers. Someone had hung a sort of scarecrow midway up the cleft.
The boat also pulled in where the guide called down resident goats to come to the shore for the entertainment of the passengers. Two smaller goats, referred to as Gorbachev and Brezhnev, seemed to appear out of the rock itself, followed by a larger one, called Clinton. They obviously expected some sort of reward, got bread thrown from the boat crew, then noshed on the bits of grass available. The guide later confessed that these goats are brought here in summer to amuse the tourists, then taken to a farm elsewhere for wintering. Disney couldn't have designed the show any better.
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| Pulpit Rock |
The biggest draw in this fjord for visitors is Priekestolen or Pulpit Rock, a formation that juts out over the water high above. Its shape, with imagination, is somewhat like a church pulpit. We could see people, as tiny from our perspective as insects, walking at the edge of the flat top overhead. Despite our perspective from water level, the top of Pulpit Rock is about 82’ x 82’—enough room for quite a crowd to gather for the view. More than 100, 000 people make the two-mile hike to stand on the rock each year, we’re told. There is no railing at the edges, but local lore says no one has ever fallen from Pulpit Rock. The legend is that it will fall down when seven sisters marry seven brothers from the same district. So far so good.
On our return along the fjord, we stopped at a shoreline restaurant (and petting zoo) for our morning coffee and tea, this time accompanied by lacy waffles served with cream and strawberry jam. Light and tasty, the waffles are both smaller and thinner than the classic American waffles sold at fairs, slightly sweet but not covered in powdered sugar. The cream and jam provided enough calories without sugar. Our only disappointment was that they weren't served with cloudberry jam as we are curious about it now that we've seen it referenced often in Norway. Perhaps we'll find some to bring home.
We made it back to the ship in time for boarding at 12:30, followed by sailing at one o'clock. We have left Stavanger in time to arrive in Oslo tomorrow morning for our day there. When we came on board, both the patio grill and the outside tables in the Colonnade dining room were crowded as people rushed to enjoy the bright sunshine. This has been a rare opportunity on this trip and, even before some finished their meals, the ship sailed into a fog bank.
Mike and I shamelessly spent our afternoon cruising at sea with a combination of reading and napping, lulled by gentle waters and the movement of the ship beneath us. Our accommodations are comfortably designed to enjoy such time. And, if one tires of privacy, there are many common areas with comfortable seating and great views of the ocean around us. It's obvious that careful planning has gone into this ship, creating so many options. Many times this week, one crew member or another has said, "whatever you like" and proceeded to help us enjoy the voyage. There is enough competition in the cruise business these days to provide inspiration and Seabourn has trained their people well in the art of encouraging happy vacationers.
Photos by Mike Lumpkin
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