Summer in the Cities: Stavanger and Oslo
I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxing our trip to Norway turned out to be. Much of the credit goes to the amazing hotels the beloved found for us. In Stavanger, Norway’s 3rd city, we stayed at a Scandic. We already knew from our previous trip to Trondheim that this hotel chain offers a fantastic buffet breakfast, and it was the same case here.
In the pricier capital, the beloved did one better and found us the Clarion, where dinner is also included. We enjoyed a great hot and cold buffet in a cosy lounge. On the last day, we decided to check out the terrace upstairs and found another large room It made the trickiness of traipsing up a spiral staircase with a loaded plate, cutlery and drink worthwhile. The hot food, salads and soup varied each day and desserts and drinks could be bought separately. We went out for those afterwards, although one day we were clever and caught the end of Fika (3-5pm) and grabbed some cake for the room. These were eastern later with the endless hot chocolate (or you could have tea or coffee) from the machine in the foyer.
So all of this not only saved us a small scandic fortune, it took away all the decision-making of where to eat for all but 2 nights in Stavanger. That was pretty easy. I had a salmon burger at Dognville one night and Indian food at Spisoh the next.
Stavanger has transformed from a small town to a thriving city due to the oil industry, as we learned in the fascinating Norwegian Petroleum Museum. It seems Norway recognises its role in climate change and is taking steps to address it. A tiny country of just over 5 million should be able to change the behaviour of its inhabitants pretty quickly. We are told there is little crime and no poverty, which seemed quite evident. Incidentally, Norway is similar in size to Scotland which hasn’t benefited from the riches of the oil industry in the same way.
We arrived in Stavanger in the late evening and spent the next morning taking in the view, particularly enjoying watching the cruise ships. A habit I developed in Vancouver and Rotterdam in the main. We enjoyed our cruise to the fjords which aided my relaxation. Something about being forced to sit and watch the world go by is pretty calming.
Stavanger is big on street art and I became quite obsessed with some brutalist architecture amongst the colourful old houses.
Coffee is enjoyed at Helmer, Steam Café, Kokko coffee and sitting outside Kaffe Trykkeri in a quiet street plus a salt and lime beer at Lervig.
And then it was time to catch the train to Oslo. As you will have seen, we love train travel, especially aboard where we get a chance to see the country from the comfort of our seat. Given the Norwegian prices, we invested a little extra in our ticket and it included unlimited hot drinks and snacks. This turned out to be a big bowl of complimentary chocolates, the same as we had on the Moomins ship from Stockholm to Helsinki. There is a cafe on board too so we bought some hot dogs which were only a little overpriced.
The journey took longer than it should but it was still preferable to any other mode of transport and we arrived in Oslo on a warm day and headed straight out. The first stop is the Oslo Opera House which is one of those impactful buildings that draws the eye. The bonus is the gentle climb up gives you views over the city.
In Oslo, we purchased a card that give us unlimited travel as well as entry to museums, so we maxed out. The two highlights for me we the Nobel Prize Museum and Munch, another stunning building next to the Opera House. I learn so much about creating art and the artist, as well as seeing a huge body of work. We also visited the Strip Fearley in what felt to be a pretty exclusive neighbourhood.
Our card included boat travel so we decided to go island hopping one evening only to learn the boats weren’t that frequent. We didn’t mind waiting 20 minutes for the return trip although were mightily relieved to see the boat dock to pick us up. On the return journey, we noticed the Mela festival was in full swing so stopped to have a look at the closing night's entertainment. The day before, we’d stopped at the adjoining Asian food market for an affordable lunch. It turns out the Indian community is pretty small in Oslo, but that didn't stop people from coming from far and wide to enjoy it.
We headed all the way out to Holmenkollne to see the ski jump. Having had a look around the museum, we saw the queue to the top of the ski jump - for the view - was snaked around the whole ticket hall so after a few minutes, we decided we didn’t need to climb to the top. It felt like a tourist trap, so we enjoyed the view we had and headed to Major Stuen instead. This turned out to be a delightful neighbourhood and we found a food court to enjoy a good burger from Shadys and then unbelievably added to our ridiculous mug collection. But we love our 70s-style orange Norwegian mugs and have used them loads. Unsurprisingly, this is where we came across the royal palace, set in an unassuming park which many locals were enjoying. So very Norwegian.
In the evening, we grabbed a bus out to the sculpture park for more fantastic views across the city before coming back into town and sitting on a seafront bench to take in the sunset.
We found a local Mikkeller bar for beers. Coffees enjoyed at Porche Studio (bizarrely, an actual Porche place with a coffee shop), Solberg & Hansen, Tim Windlebow (a pilgrimage for the beloved), Fuglem and on the last day, the delightful Papegoye coffee local to us and when it started raining, we ended the trip at a branch of local chain, Stockfleths coffee.
After enduring too many uncomfortably warm trips, I decided to stop wasting time and energy on tolerating the heat during summer vacations, unless it was in a cool place. It turned out, Norway is the cool place.
August 2024
