Heading south again - Stavanger, our last stop in Norway. Part 1

We docked right in the center of the town, next to the Queen
Mary II. But here you can see the M/S Rogaland, built in 1929,
and recently used as a hospital ship in the movie "Dunkirk".

This fat complacent bird make it's
home on Aliexander Kielland., the
writer and politician.

I loved Stavanger Cathedral. Contruction was started in 1100
and finished in 1150. It was damaged heavily in 1272 and
rebuilt in the Gothic style.

During a renovation in 1860 it lost much of it's medieval looks
some of which where returned during additional work from 1939
to 1964.

Andrew Lawrenceson Smith created this
magnificent pulpit in the 1650's. He was a
Scottish craftsman who moved to Norway.

Here's a detail of the stairs.

This is a stock photo of the cathedral's rear view -
unfortunately it was covered with drop cloths when
I was there - but the medieval look is more obvious
than in the fscade.

Behind the Cathedral is a lovely lake with a walking path
all around. 

From there a series of stairs and small parks
lead up to Old Sttavanger, an area of 18th
and 19th Century wooden homes

These homes are almost all wooden and painted white, most
with red slate roofs.

The steep, often cobblestone, streets climb steeply the hill
above the harbor.

I was reminded strongly of Nantucket!

Not only the house, but the roses were similar.

In all colors...

A group of bundled up toddlers caught my eye - although
the day was sunny, it was cool and breezy.

As I toured the area, more people showed up, but mostly on
the main street (which was flat).

Although the yards were tiny, they were manicured.

I was alerted to the Norwegian Canning Museum by the internet and it was just as interesting as claimed. Later I
researched the life of Angus Watson (later Sir James Watson), an English Food Manufacturer, who greatly impacted the
 sardine industry here in Stavanger. His sardine brand was Skipper and he was a wizard at advertising. 

I really enjoyed this glimpse into the life of women working
at this time. There was a documentary film from the turn of
the century showing the canning process and the people that
worked there.

These tiny fish were threaded on dowels by
the women and then smoked.

Canned sardines were a huge treat year's ago - and still
are for my husband!

The tiny house nearby was one of the worker's homes and
is now a museum (free) and cafe. I enjoyed a waffle
(served with sour cream and preserves) and coffee. 

Here's the dining room where you can sit down and have
your food - or out back on the patio.

Across from the cannery was one of the few stone buildings,
now a coffee house.

It was surreal to see the Queen Mary II rising
up beneath the small buildings of Old
Stavanger.

Here's a view looking up from the harbor edge.

And across the end of the harbor.

The small fish market now has an attached
restaurant, which was packed (like sardines)

Another view of the harbor edge. Our cruise ship was docked
just to the left here. Valburgtarnet, the old Fire Tower, looms
above.

Way up North in Honningsvåg, Norway

We got up very early to see us pass the North Cape. It was
overcast and foggy but it cleared up enough to take this
photo.  This is the northern most point in Europe that can be
accessed by car and is very popular for tourists.

 During the night of the June 18th or early the next morning we passed the Arctic Circle. I checked at 1 am and it was daylight. We had heavy drapes that shut out the light to enable us to sleep. We got up early to see the North Cape and the boat circle around and enter Honnigsvåg, the northernmost city in Norway and just barely a city with 2,484 residents. The sun remains below the horizon from Nov. 21 to Jan. 21!!! I can't imagine living through that.
The average high temp in June there is 52 degrees - and mostly cloudy. Our local guide told us that the day we had (70 degrees and sunny) was one of the five best days they have in a year!

The day started out cloudy but cleared up quite quickly.
Here's our first glimpse of the town.

These were the only trees we saw all day. They and the
fences beneath them are to protect the town from avalanches.
The white spots on the hill are reindeer.

Our ship with it's tenders going back and forth.

We saw reindeer several times during our day. All reindeer
are owned by the Sami people. Formerly known in English
as Laplanders. Since prehistoric times they have lived in the
northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

We drove over the mountains to Gjesvaer and saw snow
fields along the way.

Beautiful clear glacial lakes dot the area.

The small fishing village of Gjesvaer where we boarded a small boat to go bird watching. This was our first "official" tour,
purchased from the Cruise Ship. It was worth it. We wouldn't have been able to organize this ourselves. Like most villages
in the Finnmark (the Norwegian northeastern county) the Germans burned down the town in 1944. It has about 130 inhabitants at present.

We saw a number of fishing vessels heading out to sea. The
hills in the distance were on the islands we circumnavigated
looking for various bird colonies.

The village as we left the harbor.

Fish were drying in racks on the docks.

Although we are wearing warm clothing it was mostly due to
the wind. The temperature was in the 60's.

Those are puffins on the ledges. We saw lots of them but I wasn't able to photograph any of them close up - with a simple
camera. Walt got some better photos, including the one just below. They were swimming in huge flocks around our
boat but took off as we approached. 

Here's Walt's picture of a puffin taking off from the water - it takes them
quite a long time to get airborne! 

And Scott's photo of a puffin close up

Scott again, this time with several puffins!

Enormous colonies of kittywakes nested on the steep cliffs.

As you can see it was a beautiful day. We also saw numerous Gannets and Cormorants. Many white tailed Eagles soared
over the islands. The Puffins are the most numerous with over 400,000 pairs!

Walt & Honoree - Walt is a great photographer and has a big
collection of lenses, including this huge one.

Heading back you can see the extent of the village.

Approaching the harbor

Here's a poster explaining the bird species visible here and the mountain range behind the town.

Taken from the bus as we headed back to the ship, you
can see the town and in the distance the islands we visited.

The lakes are very beautiful and we even saw some sandy
beaches - but you'd have to be very hardy to bathe.

Our guide explained that almost all Norwegians have a
small cabin somewhere in the country where they go on
vacation.This includes the people of Honnigsvåg! In the
distance here are a herd of reindeer.

This small island with several vacation homes was connected to the "highway" by a bridge.