Why I gravitate towards Stavanger

Norwegian cities often have rich nature kept inside the cities, humble people, and a mix between Scandinavian tree houses and central European architecture in common. Besides some common denominators, each city has a special flare that isn't replicated anywhere else in Norway. You will see me describing the reason why I easily get hooked on Stavanger city. I'm not the only one to fall in love with the city and you will find out why shortly.

Close by, you'll discover the Pulpits rock Preikestolen hike and the Kjeragbolten hike

Old Stavanger

Let's start with a history lesson in the old part of Stavanger. The best-preserved wood house settlement of northern Europe is in this part of the city. For you architecture travellers, this is something that won't be discovered by archaeologists very easily like the pyramids or Easter island since it is made of wood and it can easily disappear. Take the opportunity to study the iconic houses of old Norway.

Old Stavanger

Øvre Strandgate 66A, 4005 Stavanger, Norway

The dialect

South-west Norway has a common way of speaking and pronouncing the words. The Stavanger dialect is something in itself and can be hard to understand sometimes and the people speaking it takes a certain amount of pride in that. If you ask a person about the Stavanger dialect, they most likely have an opinion on it. Either they are fond of it or are disgusted by it. It takes a bit of effort to find someone who is indifferent to it. These issues are what Norwegians get caught up in. We even have a TV-show exploring the dialects of Norway called ''DIalektriket'' on NRK.

The characters of Stavanger

When I'm travelling to Barcelona or Macedonia and meet Norwegians, it's quite easy to recognize the Stavanger personality. Before we both figure out the other is Norwegian, the traits of a Stavanger girl or guy is easy to spot. When they speak their eccentric dialect there's no question where they come from. The personality is more colourful than most parts of Norway. They commonly have a peculiar interest. It could be Indy movie making, a model train fascination, or football card collecting and the like. Like the way of speaking, their personal self is well developed and significant.

Activities for the sporty

A city gives you a certain amount of things, pubs, people, buildings, and theatres. The fun thing about Stavanger and a lot of Norwegian cities is that close by, they've got good hiking mountains, sports fields, and out of city events. A proud example is the majestic Preikestolen where Tom Cruise impossibly managed to survive in the newest Mission Impossible movie, which is close to you (1h 30m). 

Preikestolen

Preikestolen, Forsand, Norvège

The oil

Stavanger is the oil capital of Norway and they have a museum dedicated to explaining the fascinating process from finding oil to distributing it to the rest of the world. Norway benefits a lot from the oil since we have few people and the oil-to-person ratio gives a lot of oil money for each person. The oil really changed Norway in the 80s and a lot of young people invested a little bit in the market and benefited a lot from it. 

Norwegian Petroleum Museum

Kjeringholmen 1A, 4006 Stavanger, Norvège