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Stavanger
Seas flat
Blue skies, sunshine and 25°C
We pulled back the curtains this morning and the sun streamed into the cabin. We had arrived in Stavanger and were berthed right next to Gamle Stavanger – right next to the old white wooden houses the city is famed for. To our left, Viking Sky was blocking our view of the town (but as Britannia had totally spoilt their view of Gamle Stavanger, we’ll let them off)!
Ann and Mum were off on a tour this morning – Tropical Gardens of Norway. Flor og Fjaere was set on a little island called Sor Hidle which was a 20 minute boat ride away from the the city. We watched the tour depart along with the boat taking everyone on the Fjords Cruise. Very little outside space on the boat for such a gorgeous day so hopefully everyone got the views they wanted.
We headed up to the bunfight at the buffet for breakfast this morning – Callum’s choice – not as nice or as relaxing as going down to the dining room, but it was quick. We gathered our belongings from the cabin and we made our way to the Archaeological Museum – it was a 30 minute walk or so. The alliums were out in Stavanger and they added splashes of colour about the town.
We were expecting the museum to be reasonably large – after all, we were in Land of the Vikings! However, it was really small featuring a few Viking artifacts that had been dug up locally … including a polar bear skeleton that someone unearthed whilst digging out their basement! We did learn that Viking helmets don’t have horns – that’s a myth!
Back into town and we grabbed a local beer at the Liverpool supporters club before meeting up with Mum and Ann.
They really enjoyed the trip to flower gardens. Mum and Ann were heading off shopping whilst we were going to explore Gamle Stavanger before heading back on board. The flowers were just starting to bloom and the narrow lanes would look really pretty in a couple of weeks time.
Once back on board we headed up to the Lido grill to grab a quick bite to keep us going until dinner this evening. Callum decided he wanted to go swimming so Jon kept an eye on him whilst I double checked our dinner reservation with Sindhu – had a gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right as we hadn’t received a confirmation in the cabin as we had with previous cruises. When I double-checked, they had no record of our reservation and as we’d pre-paid, I wanted to be sure this was registered on their system rather than make a fuss and have to sort out at dinner. I had a copy of my confirmation by email so hopefully all was good.
We left Stavanger about 4.30pm.
At 6pm, we met up with Mum and Ann at the Sunset Bar at the back of the ship on Deck 16. It was a busy spot with everyone making the most of a lovely evening. We headed down to Sindhu for tonight’s meal – Ann’s first time trying Indian food. Hopefully it would be flavoursome but not too spicy for her.
Starters – scallops proved a popular choice amongst us although Jon went for the beef in flatbread. Mum was a little disappointed that lobster wasn’t on tonight’s menu, so went for the lamb instead, I opted for King Prawns, Jon and Ann the tasting plate and Callum went for the Chicken Balti. All served with Naan and Chapati breads, lentils and bombay potato.
Puddings, mum went for ice cream and the rest of us opted for the chocolate sphere – it was really good.
Callum wanted to go to Kids Club this evening as he thought there was a flag quiz on (it turned out to be a food tasting quiz) so the grown-ups went to the Crows Nest for post-dinner drinks. We got in just in time as the masses arrived just after we did. We collected Callum later on and then headed to the syndicate quiz. Just 3 teams tonight – and it was a three way dead heat at the end. Two tie-breakers later, table 9 were declared the winners. It was good fun and learnt that there were about 3,700 passengers on this cruise… 2,700 of whom were first time cruisers! Average age was just 40!!! Must be all those kids on boarding bringing the average age down!
