Stavanger

I have heard that Stavanger’s sky gets blocked by cruise ships in the harbour, but I always thought of that as a hyperbole. Today I learned, it’s not really an hyperbole.

I don’t know how to enjoy big cities. Without the intellectual exercise around its history, geography or politics, it usually boils down to be just buildings, parks and houses. Stavanger is no different, they even have a preserved part of the city from 18th century, called Gamle Stavanger. But I was neither excited nor curious about the city. When I reached the harbour, it was extremely clear that almost everyone around me is from the cruise ship AIDA Perle; nothing inherently wrong in having a lot of visitors, but a lot of the experiences around the harbour were fabricated to the likings of said visitors which was something I was not looking for.

It all changed when a delightfully knowledgable man in the Stavanger Maritime Museum offered me to show around. He told me not only about general maritime history of Stavanger, but also the general history of sailing on the entire coast. Turns out the sprat (sardine) canning industry in Stavanger has it’s root in supporting the sailors with food for their long voyages. He also recommended me to look around the canning museum, which also worked hand in hand with the Stavanger’s typography and printing industry. Turns out labelling cans was a big deal. It seemed to me that the canning museum building is an old canning factory, with fish smoking shelves and whatnot. Other than heavy mechanical can seaming machines the most interesting part of the museum was it’s floors. The floors must have been perpetually wet and the rooms smelly during the factory’s heyday; they were broken and worn.

The man’s enthusiasm about the exhibits they have been working on was so delightful and wholesome, I stayed quite long in the museum, ignoring the fact I hadn’t had lunch yet. Turns out he used to a bike racer in his youth and he held his school record for a long time. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye properly, other patrons awaited him. Eventually, I came back to my Airbnb. There I met an offshore oil platform professional who’s also staying in the same house. I did not know oil platforms have so much going on inside them, from engineering work to food & entertainment. Apparently they have movie theatres in and cakes on weekends!

Since this morning, part of me wanted to be on the road but also I felt oddly lethargic about getting back on the road. I suppose creature comforts make it harder; the Airbnb have been so cosy! But then stories in the maritime museum cured my lethargy. I am not a sailor, I don’t have a boat. But I do have a bike and everything I need fits on that bike. I can’t be a dot in vast endless ocean, but I can be a dot on vast endless land.

Sandnes, Norway