Stavanger

The rain plashed on the roof when we woke up in the morning :( It was just a question of time that the nice weather would change to rain. But I don't wanna complain. As always we were prepared for everything.  We got our rain clothes on and took the bus to the center to explore the city.

Our first destination was the old wooden town "Gamle Stavanger" which is also known as Straen. It is the largest surviving wooden house settlement in northern Europe. It is a beautiful area of little wooden houses and cobbled streets along the west side of the harbour where the cruise ships land during the summer. Nearly all the houses are white (only a few are allowed to have another colour) and they vary in age from less than 100 to about 300 years. The houses are lived in and most are privately owned.

Besides some galeries the Sardine Canning Museum (Hermettik museum) is one of the main attractions there. It's worth a visit. It has been created with a great love for details. We didn't book a guided tour but we could listen to some fragments of it and it was very interesting. So, I think it might be a good idea to book a guide next time.

Because of the pouring rain we went back downtown for some shopping - more looking since everything is more expensive than in Germany. At least it was dry at the shops :p Then we looked for a reaturant to have something for lunch but it wasn't allowed to bring your dog inside :( Understandable but bothering because of the rain. But as always we found a good solution. There was a Burger King (which normally wouldn't have been our first choice) which had a small roof over the entrance and we leashed the dog there. So, outside he sat as dry as we sat inside :)

The Stavanger Domkirke (St. Svithun's cathedral) was built between 1100 and 1150 and in the late 13th century a new choir was added. The cathedral is the only Norwegian cathedral that is almost unchanged since the 14th century. The cathedral is very impressive.

It still rained and we decided to let our sightseeing come to an end. It wasn't fun anymore. We took the bus back to the campground at lake Mosvatnet.