Travel Notes, Chapter#9, Stavanger&surroundings

Located in the south-western corner of Norway, the Stavanger region is indeed the shortcut to the Norwegian fjords.  In our second day there, we started our round tour by car. 

The ferry from Stavanger to Tau is a car ferry running all year, we selected that option to start our round tour. 

 The ferry leaves from Fiskepiren in Stavanger, and the crossing takes around 35-40 minutes. New part of the city which is close to Fiskepiren have new style with elegant homes. They have private marines, lux conditions.

When we left Stavanger, the weather was cloudy but afterwords the sky was so clear. 

I though there was a submarine there, but, after zooming I noticed that it is a rocky place!

The ferry is mostly one of the starting points to Preikestolen  when travelling from Stavanger. From Tau you go to Preikestolen Mountain Lodge,  directly or visiting other small villages, too. I believe that they are worth to visit but if you have time limitation, you need a precise time management to see everything in a day! Otherwise, you may skip most of those amazing landscape scenery. 

Jorpeland is the administrative centre of Strand municipality, and a commercial and service hub for southern Ryfylke. Jorpeland is often referred to as “the Ryfylke town”. It was established early in the 20th century, as local waterfalls were being exploited for hydroelectric power, and the steelworks were founded. The National Tourist Route Ryfylke, Rv13, passes Jørpeland, so, it is worth to visit that lovely place.

We had some snacks at Rosehagen Cafe and got a change to visit its gallery section, the exhibition of ceramic and paintings were a real surprise for me, I paid a long time there.  Also, all those  modern steel sculptures in their large garden is worth to visit if you’re in that area as well as the other sculptures around the town center. 

In a lovely sun shine to have a break there and review wonderful view was so enjoyable part of our tour. I believe that Jorpeland is an excellent base for excursions to Preikestolen, Oanes, as well as other scenic highlights.  

There are  many  shops including a wine shop, cafés, a guest harbor with a popular promenade, golf course and camping center, too. 

By the way, if you like flea markets or thrift stores, there are two of them here. Especially one of them were carrying lovely pieces with unbelievable cheap prices. I have an antique coffee cup set from circa 40’s and several vintage wall plates,  now. 

Preikestolen, in English known as Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, is a cliff that hangs 600 meters above Lysefjorden, East of Stavanger. Even though a two-hour hike is required to get there, but we didn’t have well dressed for that activity and also our time was limited just hang around its valley. 

It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway. 

Those building with green grasses on their roofs were so typical and neat in that beautiful scenery. 

Green grasses, may be a newer phenomenon in many places, but Norwegians have been planting greenery a top their houses for hundreds of years. Some have flowers mixed in with grass, creating a lush garden that just happens to keep the house below well insulated. The verdant roofs have many advantages, from maintaining regular temperatures within the dwellings to actually stabilizing the houses themselves.

After our short tour and taking photos we had to go to  Oanes  for the  Hogsfjord ferry which  is ferry connection the whole year across the Hogsfjord between Lauvvik and Oanes. The crossing time is  just 8 minutes and departure is 2 times per hour in each direction. After this mentioned short ferry crossing we reached to Hole. 

It was so quiet place with so nice houses.

 We passed through so many little villages, most of them wonderful fjords views. Especially there were several peninsulas with adorable, nice houses. I couldn’t figure out if they were summer houses or people were lives there whole year. It looks so nice but I wonder how is the life during cold and dark winter time.

According to my observations, Norwegians pay a special attention to their front doors and windows, they like to decorate their windows with various items, such as lovely candles, vases and nightshades and other decorative objects. 
So we completed another long tour between, Stavanger-Tau-Jorpeland-Preikestolen-Oanes-Lauvvik-Hole-Stavanger during  a Norwegian long summer day. 
I'll share details our next destination Kristiansand, later.