Stavanger, Norway

The Motor City of Norway


The Porto Fund
Colorful historic houses of Vagen, the port of Stavanger.
Vagabjorn
Host of the Viking Museum, in historic Viking costume.
Kielland Shadow
Silhouette of the statue of Alexander L. Kielland one of the most renowned Norwegian writers.
Friends in Geoparken
Friends pass by a decorative Geoparken container.
The Old Control Tower
The Valbergtarnet observation tower, formerly used to control maritime traffic entering and leaving the port.
Ascent to Gamle Stavanger-Norway
Passersby ascend from Vagen towards Gamle Stavanger, Old Stavanger.
Museum of Petroleum
Corner of the Petroleum Museum.
Sverd i Fjell I
View of Sverd i Fjell, a monument commemorating King Harald I's victory at the Battle of Hafrsfjord and enabling him to unite all of Norway under his power.
Museum of Petroleum II
Section of the hyper-technological Stavanger Petroleum Museum.
shallow and cold bath
Friends bathe in the shallow, frigid sea of ​​Mollebukta, off Stavanger.
Sverd i Fjell II
Boyfriends are photographed at the memorial to the Battle of Hafrsfjord.
The abundance of offshore oil and natural gas and the headquarters of the companies in charge of exploiting them have promoted Stavanger from the Norwegian energy capital preserve. Even so, this city didn't conform. With a prolific historical legacy, at the gates of a majestic fjord, cosmopolitan Stavanger has long propelled the Land of the Midnight Sun.

The midnight sun is one. Mid-afternoon is another.

Norwegians and foreigners installed on the far side of Vagen port, on the esplanades of the Skagenkaien seafront, absorb the difference in the faces and arms. They convert it into vitamin D and the ever-precious serotonin, as long as the weather permits.

There are few ports that we remember with such an intimate relationship with the cities to which they belong. Vagen's hugs Stavanger so tightly he almost smacks her. The V with which it tightens reveals itself so deep that it almost joins Breiavatnet, the heart-shaped urban lake a few meters to the south.

Vagen, Stavanger, Norway

Historic and colorful houses of Vagen, the port of Stavanger.

As we unveiled them today, these estuary funds appear to be more recreational than commercial. Appearances deceive.

A Legacy of the Profitable Conservation Industry

During the 2002th and XNUMXth centuries, the secular wooden buildings and roofs in A served as warehouses and other structures to support fishing and trade in goods and, from the mid-XNUMXth century onwards, over fifty fish canning companies that disputed the city, until, in XNUMX, the last one was closed.

Even without the vastness of the Vagen de Bergen, the emergence of Stavanger as an unavoidable city of business and leisure, at a certain point, inhabited and frequented by wealthy people, facilitated the conversion of this row of houses, in a colorful succession – much brighter than the buildings from Bergen – from restaurants and bars.

Only the asphalt of the Skagenkaien separated the elegant buildings from the inlet and from the launches and other vessels moored right there. Some of the customers, owners or passengers of the boats, had the luxury of crossing the lane, to and fro, in a convenient and pleasant alternation between socializing with family and friends and one or another to do on board.

On certain nautical ephemeris, docks and moorings become overcrowded. The most exemplary event to date has been the Tall Ships Races of 2018 but, truth be told, it doesn't take that much.

Ramp at S-Stavanger-Norway

Passersby ascend from Vagen towards Gamle Stavanger, Old Stavanger.

Valbergtarnet and Gamle Stavanger: the City of Other Times

To the east of the Skagenkaien, Stavanger climbs the “highlands” of the Valbergtarnet, an observation tower erected between 1850 and 1853 and permanently inhabited by lookouts charged with alerting the inhabitants in case of fire. These days, the tower houses a museum.

Above all, it serves as a viewpoint over the surrounding urban scene. A few meters to the east, we enter Gamle Stavanger, the oldest district in the city and, according to its tourist authorities, the largest (173) group of historic wooden houses in Europe.

Valbergtarnet Tower, Stavanger, Norway

The Valbergtarnet observation tower, formerly used to control maritime traffic entering and leaving the port.

From 1800, with the emergence of the canning industry, hundreds of fishermen and other workers from the surroundings flocked to Stavanger. Some literally arrived with their houses on their backs. Made mostly of wood, the homes were easy to dismantle and transport on multiple trips in rowboats.

Before the dawn of oil exploration, Stavanger was the Capital of Canned Sardines, to be more scientific about Sprats (sprattus sprattus) canned, a species of the herring family then considered one of the tastiest and whose fishing and canning, in pepper sauce or jalapeno, from tomatoes and in olive oil, came to guarantee the livelihood of about half of the city's population.

Gamle's restoration turned out to be reliable except for the color. At the origin, these houses were almost all painted red or yellow, not by a fashion statement of the time or social affirmation. White paint was by far the most expensive.

Even employed, humble families could not afford to buy the Norwegian color of sumptuousness.

Gamle Stavanger's Salvation on the Tangent

In the aftermath of World War II, Gamle's homes had fallen into disrepair. They formed a devalued and ill-regarded zone. An overly radical plan stipulated that they should be razed to the ground, replaced by modern concrete structures.

This plan was only aborted due to the determined opposition of Einar Hedén, the city's architect, who managed to convince the Stavanger Council to save and enhance its historic core.

In recent years, Stavanger has given in to other cans. As we walk through its streets and alleys, we come across murals painted by graffiti artists with a mind full of surreal images and full of talent to illustrate them.

Geoparken, Stavanger, Norway

Friends pass by a decorative Geoparken container.

In one of them, the Ovre Holmegate, the murals are replaced by mere color. For some time now, this street, somewhat removed from the Skagenkaien promenade and too similar to the others, received few visitors for the ambitions of business owners.

Dissatisfied, they agreed to paint each of the buildings in distinct, showy colors. The idea made the street one of the most frequented, the most fashionable place for cafes and bars (in addition to an antique shop) in Stavanger.

An Incredible Deposit of Information and History about Black Gold

We walked along it on our way to the city's east coast, looking for the museum dedicated to Stavanger's much more recent and prosperous era, that of Oil and Natural Gas.

Museum of Petroleum, Stavanger, Norway

Staircase of the Petroleum Museum.

Nearby, we are distracted by the pranks of children and teenagers who share the Geoparken, an amusement park made of a container also with graffiti and an irregular surface suitable for bicycle and skateboard stunts.

Ahead, a futuristic complex of buildings inspired by storage tanks and oil extraction towers just might be what we were looking for. We entered. We circle.

Most of the time intrigued, among the panoply of illustrations, models and models, some explaining the different types of crude, others, the evolution of platforms that allow it to extract prominently into the North Sea offshore.

Museum of Petroleum, Stavanger, Norway

Section of the hyper-technological Stavanger Petroleum Museum.

The Fossil Wealth the North Sea Gives Norway

It was in this icy and wild sea that, 1969, the US company Phillips Petroleum Company (later part of ConocoPhillips) discovered the Ekofisk, the first of several oil and gas fields that would make Norway a major producer and exporter. of both raw materials.

And in one of the richest countries in the world, if the Gross Domestic Product is taken into account per capita.  Stavanger benefited from this discovery like no other Norwegian city.

In 1972, the Norwegian government passed a law in the Stortinget parliament that established the creation of a state-owned company that would enable Norway's direct participation in North Sea oil exploration. Thus was founded StatOil, later renamed Equinor.

Stavanger was selected to host Equinor's headquarters. By symbiosis, several other companies, agencies and institutions linked to oil prospecting settled there. At the center of a multimillion-dollar industrial branch, Stavanger's economy was quick to assume its current dynamism and power.

As mentioned in the entry of this article, in the light of what happened in the oil countries of the Middle East for decades on end, the city could have been satisfied with the great luck that it has been awarded. Instead, it opted to explore another Norwegian lode, tourism. In Stavanger, it is not only at the Petroleum Museum that the two intersect.

Alexander L. Kielland: The Famed Writer, Edil and the Voraz of Stavanger

In another late afternoon, we leave the vertex of Vagen pointing to the park-garden Byparquen that surrounds the lake of Breavatnet. Along the way, demonic seagulls share the roof of two snack trailers and fly over them, keeping an eye out for any offer or distraction from customers.

Alexander L. Kielland Statue, Stavanger, Norway

Silhouette of the statue of Alexander L. Kielland one of the most renowned Norwegian writers.

We identified the sunny Stavanger Cathedral and, in front, already completely in the shade, the statue of Alexander L. Kielland, former mayor of Stavanger, considered one of the four great Norwegian writers, an inveterate realist.

So faithful to realism that many readers believe that he stopped writing (too soon) because he became disillusioned with the neo-romantic path that Norwegian literature was taking at the end of the XNUMXth century. This, years before he died of obesity aggravated by an intractable passion for food.

Since 1880, Kielland had suffered from shortness of breath and serious heart problems. Finally, in 1906, the various ailments he suffered from ended up victimizing him. The dramas surrounding Alexander L. Kielland were far from ending up with his death.

In recognition of the work that the writer left to the city, Norway and the world, the Stavanger Drilling Company decided to name a semi-submersible drilling rig in his honor.

The Horrific Drama of the Kielland Platform

In the early rainy and foggy night of March 27, 1980, the platform was hit by winds in the order of 74km/h and waves of up to 12 meters. Around 18:30 pm, the workers on board felt a snap, followed by a tremor.

Moments later, the platform tilted about 30º. Of the six cables that stabilized it, only one resisted. The slope increased. Just three minutes after the shake, the last cable gave way and the platform heeled. One hundred and thirty workers were at the mess and at the cinema. The rest, in their rooms and work stations.

Of the 212 people on board, 123 perished. These numbers made the incident the deadliest disaster in Norwegian seas since World War II.

An oil and human catastrophe which, we dare to say, having taken place in the corresponding era, could have inspired in Kielland – in addition to being a writer, a wealthy boss but a defender of the working class – a whole complex and profound approach to Norwegian society.

The next day, the short trip we take from the coastal center of Stavanger to the seafront in the Hafrsjord district will give us some delicious notes.

Sverd i Fjell: A Homage to the Norwegian Union

It's a holiday. The weather had returned to frigidity, something windy more to be expected in those parts. Insufficient cold to deter some teenagers from bathing in the almost shallow sea of ​​Mollebukta that forced them to walk more than a hundred meters until the water passed their knees.

A group of friends decide to walk further and climb to a playful platform that allowed them to have fun diving. Two sisters as white as possible decided to extend their program to the family's Dalmatian. Despite countless pulls and pulls on the leash, the dog was even forced into a long and tortuous baptism.

Girlfriends bathe, Mollebukta, Stavanger, Norway

Friends bathe in the shallow, frigid sea of ​​Mollebukta, off Stavanger.

On land, on a lawn dotted with trees, several families and friends picnicked and socialized. Those who, like us, arrived there for the first time, arrived with other purposes.

Hafrsfjord was the scene of a battle of the same name which, in the year 872, allowed the victorious King Harald I to unite all of Norway under his power.

To commemorate the battle, in 1983, the sculptor Fritz Roed drove three ten-metre long bronze swords into a rocky headland. The highest (because placed higher) represents Haroldo. The other two, below, the defeated kings.

Photography in Sverd i Fjell, Stavanger, Norway

Boyfriends are photographed at the memorial to the Battle of Hafrsfjord.

The monument preserves strong symbolism for the Norwegians and the perspective that everyone yearns for lasting peace, in such a way that the swords were driven into the rock so that this peace would not be disturbed.

About the sunset, Sverd i Fjell, that's how the work is called, it shows itself, strongly photogenic, gilded by the sunset, reflected and somewhat distorted in the water below.

In a sometimes hopeless shift mode, we share it with lovers, groups of friends, visitors and lonely walkers.

We photographed the moments and movements that, among all those fortuitous models, most captivated us. When the pitch sets and chills us for good, we take refuge in the pacified, welcoming and sophisticated core of Stavanger.

Magma Geopark, Norway

A Somehow Lunar Norway

If we went back to the geological ends of time, we would find southwestern Norway filled with huge mountains and a burning magma that successive glaciers would shape. Scientists have found that the mineral that predominates there is more common on the Moon than on Earth. Several of the scenarios we explore in the region's vast Magma Geopark seem to be taken from our great natural satellite.
Nesbyen to Flam, Norway

Flam Railway: Sublime Norway from the First to the Last Station

By road and aboard the Flam Railway, on one of the steepest railway routes in the world, we reach Flam and the entrance to the Sognefjord, the largest, deepest and most revered of the Scandinavian fjords. From the starting point to the last station, this monumental Norway that we have unveiled is confirmed.
Flam a Balestrand, Norway

Where the Mountains Give In to the Fjords

The final station of the Flam Railway marks the end of the dizzying railway descent from the highlands of Hallingskarvet to the plains of Flam. In this town too small for its fame, we leave the train and sail down the Aurland fjord towards the prodigious Balestrand.
Oslo, Norway

A Overcapitalized Capital

One of Norway's problems has been deciding how to invest the billions of euros from its record-breaking sovereign wealth fund. But even immoderate resources don't save Oslo from its social inconsistencies.
Valdez, Alaska

On the Black Gold Route

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker caused a massive environmental disaster. The vessel stopped plying the seas, but the victim city that gave it its name continues on the path of crude oil from the Arctic Ocean.
Bergen, Norway

The Great Hanseatic Port of Norway

Already populated in the early 1830th century, Bergen became the capital, monopolized northern Norwegian commerce and, until XNUMX, remained one of the largest cities in Scandinavia. Today, Oslo leads the nation. Bergen continues to stand out for its architectural, urban and historical exuberance.
Balestrand, Norway

Balestrand: A Life Among the Fjords

Villages on the slopes of the gorges of Norway are common. Balestrand is at the entrance to three. Its settings stand out in such a way that they have attracted famous painters and continue to seduce intrigued travelers.
Preikestolen - Pulpit Rock, Norway

Pilgrimage to the Pulpit of Rock of Norway

The Norway of the endless fjords abounds in grand scenery. In the heart of Lyse Fjord, the prominent, smooth and almost square top of a cliff over 600 meters forms an unexpected rocky pulpit. Climbing to its heights, peering over the precipices and enjoying the surrounding panoramas is a lot of revelation.
savuti, botswana, elephant-eating lions
Safari
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
Aurora lights up the Pisang Valley, Nepal.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 3rd- Upper Banana, Nepal

An Unexpected Snowy Aurora

At the first glimmers of light, the sight of the white mantle that had covered the village during the night dazzles us. With one of the toughest walks on the Annapurna Circuit ahead of us, we postponed the match as much as possible. Annoyed, we left Upper Pisang towards Escort when the last snow faded.
The Little-Big Senglea II
Architecture & Design
Senglea, Malta

An Overcrowded Malta

At the turn of the 8.000th century, Senglea housed 0.2 inhabitants in 2 km3.000, a European record, today, it has “only” XNUMX neighborhood Christians. It is the smallest, most overcrowded and genuine of the Maltese cities.
Adventure
Boat Trips

For Those Becoming Internet Sick

Hop on and let yourself go on unmissable boat trips like the Philippine archipelago of Bacuit and the frozen sea of ​​the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia.
Ceremonies and Festivities
Pueblos del Sur, Venezuela

The Pueblos del Sur Locainas, Their Dances and Co.

From the beginning of the XNUMXth century, with Hispanic settlers and, more recently, with Portuguese emigrants, customs and traditions well known in the Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, in northern Portugal, were consolidated in the Pueblos del Sur.
Porvoo, Finland, warehouses
Cities
Porvoo, Finland

A Medieval and Winter Finland

One of the oldest settlements of the Suomi nation, in the early XNUMXth century, Porvoo was a busy riverside post and its third city. Over time, Porvoo lost commercial importance. In return, it has become one of Finland's revered historic strongholds.  
Meal
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Tabatô, Guinea Bissau, tabanca Mandingo musicians. Baidi
Culture
Tabato, Guinea Bissau

The Tabanca of Mandinga Poets Musicians

In 1870, a community of traveling Mandingo musicians settled next to the current city of Bafatá. From the Tabatô they founded, their culture and, in particular, their prodigious balaphonists, dazzle the world.
combat arbiter, cockfighting, philippines
Sport
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
Miniature houses, Chã das Caldeiras, Fogo Volcano, Cape Verde
Ethnic
Chã das Caldeiras, Fogo Island Cape Verde

A "French" Clan at the Mercy of Fogo

In 1870, a Count born in Grenoble on his way to Brazilian exile, made a stopover in Cape Verde where native beauties tied him to the island of Fogo. Two of his children settled in the middle of the volcano's crater and continued to raise offspring there. Not even the destruction caused by the recent eruptions deters the prolific Montrond from the “county” they founded in Chã das Caldeiras.    
Rainbow in the Grand Canyon, an example of prodigious photographic light
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 1)

And Light was made on Earth. Know how to use it.

The theme of light in photography is inexhaustible. In this article, we give you some basic notions about your behavior, to start with, just and only in terms of geolocation, the time of day and the time of year.
Nahuatl celebration
History

Mexico City, Mexico

mexican soul

With more than 20 million inhabitants in a vast metropolitan area, this megalopolis marks, from its heart of zócalo, the spiritual pulse of a nation that has always been vulnerable and dramatic.

Island of Goa, Island of Mozambique, Nampula, lighthouse
Islands
Goa island, Ilha de Mozambique, Mozambique

The Island that Illuminates the Island of Mozambique

Located at the entrance to the Mossuril Bay, the small island of Goa is home to a centuries-old lighthouse. Its listed tower signals the first stop of a stunning dhow tour around the old Ilha de Mozambique.

Sampo Icebreaker, Kemi, Finland
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

It's No "Love Boat". Breaks the Ice since 1961

Built to maintain waterways through the most extreme arctic winter, the icebreaker Sampo” fulfilled its mission between Finland and Sweden for 30 years. In 1988, he reformed and dedicated himself to shorter trips that allow passengers to float in a newly opened channel in the Gulf of Bothnia, in clothes that, more than special, seem spacey.
José Saramago in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, Glorieta de Saramago
Literature
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain (España)

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
Machangulo, Mozambique, sunset
Nature
Machangulo, Mozambique

The Golden Peninsula of Machangulo

At a certain point, an ocean inlet divides the long sandy strip full of hyperbolic dunes that delimits Maputo Bay. Machangulo, as the lower section is called, is home to one of the most magnificent coastlines in Mozambique.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Hammock in Palmeiras, Praia de Uricao-Mar des caraibas, Venezuela
Natural Parks
Henri Pittier NP, Venezuela

PN Henri Pittier: between the Caribbean Sea and the Cordillera da Costa

In 1917, botanist Henri Pittier became fond of the jungle of Venezuela's sea mountains. Visitors to the national park that this Swiss created there are, today, more than they ever wanted
Athens, Greece, Changing of the Guard at Syntagma Square
UNESCO World Heritage
Athens, Greece

The City That Perpetuates the Metropolis

After three and a half millennia, Athens resists and prospers. From a belligerent city-state, it became the capital of the vast Hellenic nation. Modernized and sophisticated, it preserves, in a rocky core, the legacy of its glorious Classical Era.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Characters
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
Daytona Beach Portico, most famous beach of the year, Florida
Beaches
Daytona Beach, Florida, United States

The so-called World's Most Famous Beach

If its notoriety comes mainly from NASCAR races, in Daytona Beach, we find a peculiar seaside resort and a vast and compact beach that, in times past, was used for car speed tests.
Boat on the Yellow River, Gansu, China
Religion
Bingling Yes, China

The Canyon of a Thousand Buddhas

For more than a millennium and at least seven dynasties, Chinese devotees have extolled their religious belief with the legacy of sculpture in a remote strait of the Yellow River. If you disembark in the Canyon of Thousand Buddhas, you may not find all the sculptures, but you will find a stunning Buddhist shrine.
white pass yukon train, Skagway, Gold Route, Alaska, USA
On Rails
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
Buffaloes, Marajo Island, Brazil, Soure police buffaloes
Society
Marajó Island, Brazil

The Buffalo Island

A vessel that transported buffaloes from the India it will have sunk at the mouth of the Amazon River. Today, the island of Marajó that hosted them has one of the largest herds in the world and Brazil is no longer without these bovine animals.
Coin return
Daily life
Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Wildlife
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.