3 June 2018, Sunday

After spending two nights in Oslo, it was time to head southwest to Stavanger, the fourth largest city in Norway and gateway to one of the country’s most visited natural attractions – Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock. This 604m steep cliff ranked high on my bucket list and it was one of my most anticipated places to visit for the trip. As enjoyable as Oslo was, I was itching to get out of the big city and venture into the countryside, because Norway is known for its spectacular nature and scenery.

As I had to check out early, the full range of buffet breakfast was not ready yet so I only had a bowl of cereal at my hostel before I left at 6:45am and walked to Oslo Sentralstasjon to catch my 7:25am train to Stavanger. At the railway station, I bought three pastries and a banana from 7-Eleven for 56 Kr (S$9.57) and a tandoori chicken baguette for 59 Kr (S$10) to last me through the 7 hour 40 minute journey.

The direct train service 715 from Oslo to Stavanger cost 419 Kr but since it was a long ride, I decided to pay an additional 100 Kr to upgrade to the “Komfort” carriage, so the total fare was 519 Kr (S$89.85). After I boarded the train, I realised it was exactly the same as the normal carriage, except that there was free flow of hot coffee and tea, and newspapers only  in Norwegian. I ended up drinking two cups of coffee and one cup of tea, so the extra 100 Kr (S$17.09) wasn’t that worth it. I spent most of the train journey staring out of the window and admiring the beautiful scenery, working on my blog posts and listening to music. So therapeutic.

At 3:27pm, I finally arrived at Stavanger, about 22 minutes behind schedule. From Stavanger Sentralstasjon, I walked to the bus terminal building (Byterminalen) next door and bought a 24-hour travel ticket from the distinctively green-coloured Kolumbus machine. Kolumbus is the public transport company in Rogaland county, which Stavanger is a part of. The 24-hour ticket cost 90 Kr (S$15.38). I figured it would be cheaper than getting single-trip tickets, which already cost 35 Kr (S$5.98). I then walked around the corner of the building and easily found bus stop 8 (Stavanger hpl. 8), to catch bus service number 4 to my accommodation.

The bus ride from Byterminalen to my accommodation took only five minutes and I alighted at the stop “Sykehuset/tunnel”, right after emerging from the tunnel. My accommodation was the Stavanger St. Svithun Vandrerhjem, a hostel under the Hostelling International (HI) network. It was a bit strange because the hostel was co-located with the St. Svithun Hotell, which was the official patient hotel for the Stavanger University Hospital (SUS). Only a certain number of rooms in the building were allocated to the hostel. It felt more like a hospital than a hostel, with lifts that were large enough for trolley beds to be wheeled in. Nevertheless, it was one of the most affordable accommodation options I could find in Stavanger so I went with it. Besides, there is no safer place than a hospital, right?

Stavanger St. Svithun Vandrerhjem
Address: Gerd-Ragna Bloch Thorsens gate 8, 4011 Stavanger
Room: Single bed in Male Twin Room
Price: 1,065 Kr (S$186.76) for 3 nights
Website: https://www.hihostels.no/hostels/hi-stavanger-st-svithun

When I entered my room, I discovered that it was exactly like a hotel room – bed linen and towels were provided, and it came with an attached bathroom. The only difference was that it had fewer amenities. The room was empty when I checked in, but I would be joined by an Argentinian roommate later.

I headed out at about 5:30pm. As the hostel was located about 3km away from the city centre, I took bus number 4 again back to the city towards Fiskepiren, arriving at 5:50pm. I came to Fiskepiren because I wanted to check out the transport options for my Preikestolen excursion tomorrow.

According to my research, I would have to catch a ferry from Fiskepirterminalen to Tau, and then take a bus from Tau to Preikestolen Mountain Lodge, the starting point for the trek. I enquired with the ticket office staff and they informed me that I did not need to purchase any tickets in advance and I could just come back here tomorrow morning to buy them. I checked the timetable for the ferry and bus, and decided that I would catch the first ferry out at 7:30am tomorrow.

(Update: At the time of writing this post on 7 March 2020, apparently, the ferry from Stavanger to Tau no longer operates and it has been replaced by a sub-sea tunnel)

With the official bit of business resolved, I made my way to the city centre to see what Stavanger had to offer. After a short walk, I arrived at Geoparken, a playground built from components from the oil industry – bright red plastic balls, plastic pipelines and large plastic shelters. The park can be used for recreational activities such as skating, climbing, beach volleyball, performances and more. It was supposed to resemble the Troll oil and gas field in the North Sea, one of the largest oil producing fields on the Norwegian continental shelf. However, it felt more like a post-apocalyptic world to me, with graffiti scrawled all over the walls. It was not the most cheerful playground for sure.

Located right next to Geoparken is the Norsk Oljemuseum (Norwegian Petroleum Museum, click here). Norway is a small player in the global market, producing only about 2% of the global demand for oil and 3% for natural gas. However, nearly all the oil and gas produced on the Norwegian shelf is exported. Combined, oil and gas equals about half of the total value of Norwegian exports of goods. Clearly, the petroleum industry plays a very important role in Norway’s economy, contributing largely to the wealth and high standard of living here.

Across the road from Norsk Oljemuseum were several small streets flanked by beautiful wooden houses with interesting looking shops on the ground floor. However, the whole area was very quiet and all the retail shops were closed as it was Sunday. The only establishments that were open for business were pubs, cafes, restaurants and a few supermarkets.

I soon reached Øvre Holmegate, an attractive street full of wooden houses painted in assorted, vibrant colours. It has been described as being the Notting Hill of Stavanger. The colour combinations, outdoor dining, colourful flowers and even the bicycles parked by the roadside added to the street’s charm.

At about 6:40pm, I decided that I deserved a good dinner after enduring the long train ride earlier. I was quite hungry by then because I didn’t have a proper lunch on the train. I found a hamburger restaurant called The Shack. A quick look at the menu told me that it was inspired by the American burger chain Shake Shack. I ordered a Snickers milkshake (59 Kr / S$10.08) and a burger called Mr. Hangover (118 Kr / S$20.17). The milkshake was thick and sweet, and almost as good as Shake Shack’s, while the burger with the 100g beef patty was very juicy and delicious. It was a good meal but it didn’t fill me up, and left me wanting more.

I then climbed a short way up a hill and reached Valbergtårnet (Valberg tower), an observation tower completed in 1853. It was used by watchmen to detect fire outbreaks up till 1922, when the last guard retired.

As I made my way down the hill, I passed by several more mazy streets but they were all eerily deserted. Finally, I reached Vågen, the harbour, where the row of seahouses by the water provided a nice backdrop against the blue sky and wispy white clouds. These seahouses used to be warehouses where cargo from the boats were stored, very much like our shophouses at Boat Quay in Singapore.  

I then walked over to Byparken, a park surrounding a large lake in the middle of the city. At that 8pm hour, the sun was still shining brightly and it felt like mid-afternoon. I took a relaxing stroll around the lake, admiring the view of many graceful white swans standing by the water’s edge and preening themselves.

Having seen first-hand how expensive food is in Norway, it was not clearly sustainable to eat out for all three meals every day, so my last mission of the day was to go to a supermarket to buy food for the next two days. I found a small supermarket and bought some fresh milk, orange juice (my favourite), a packet of baby spinach, sliced ham, cheese and two bananas for 126 Kr (S$21.53). However, that store didn’t sell bread so I went to another supermarket called Joker (pronounced as “yu-ker”, not “joker”), which was thankfully still open.

The loaf of whole grain bread was selling for half price at only 8 Kr (S$1.37) because it was within an hour of the store’s closing, so I got a good deal. Here, I also learnt how to use the automatic bread slicing machine, which was very cool. I imagine there would be safety concerns if such a machine was allowed in Singapore, as anyone who did not exercise caution could easily get their fingers sliced off. However, there were clear instructions on how to operate the machine and it was pretty fool proof.

With my grocery shopping completed, I took bus number 4 back to my hostel, ending my day at about 8:30pm. It was pretty early by my standards, but there wasn’t much to do anyway because all the shops were closed on Sunday. Anyway, it was good to rest early today because I will be hiking to Preikestolen tomorrow…can’t wait!

Before I end this post, here’s a little Public Service Announcement, but it’s probably less relevant now that I’m writing this post on 7 March 2020: As of 31 May 2018, the 200 Krone note with the face (as shown in the pic below) is no longer accepted in Norway. The Norges Bank has introduced new 200 Krone and 100 Krone notes to make them more secure and harder to counterfeit. I tried paying with the old note but was rejected at many stores, and was told to bring them to a bank to exchange for new ones. Luckily I had only two pieces left.