Crowded.

Sometimes it is quite crowded at the harbour.
Another nice hot day today.
+30C

Steve and Marion.

STEVE and MARION are visiting Stavanger today.
They are from Boston / Massachusatts / USA.
Now they are lucky to travel around with the cruise ship VIKING SEA.

They told me that they had been on a trip to Voss yesterday, and had a great Constitution Day.

Marion is also a volunteer on the cruise ship, giving lectures on places they are going to visit.
Nice meeting them both.

The cruise tourists arrived today.

Another cold sunny day.

Today we had a big cruise ship visiting Stavanger with British tourist who were on a 12 days trip up to Tromsø and Alta (North of Norway) before the last stop, Stavanger.

We noticed lots of the passengers out and about with their cameras.

This afternoon they left for Southampton, where they will arrive on Monday.

Rainbow.

A morningwalk in the rain in Stavanger.
Suddenly we saw the rainbow framing the arriving cruise ship.

AIDAbella

Afternoon sunshine and rain.
AIDA looks like a big beauty!
She came from Ulvik and is heading for Kiel after a stop in Stavanger.

Cruise ships.

There are so many cruise ships visiting our city, and sometimes thousands of tourist in the city centre.
This is an image taken from the east side of the harbour, Skagenkaien, looking over to the west side, named Strandkaien.

(Le Soleal, next to me, and on the other side it was Costa Magica.)

Anton and Margareth.

What a lovely sunny day!

This couple ANTON and MARGARETH from the Netherlands were passengers on one of the cruise ships that visited our city today.
They had been visiting Stavanger 10 years ago, and thought it had changed. Difficult for me to say what has changed, but this time they had no rain, so that was good.
They will continue the cruise to Kristiansand and Oslo before heading back home via a few more stops.
Home is "Sweet lake city,"as  ZOETERMEER is called, and it is situated half way between The Hague and Rotterdam.

Why do all Dutch people speak English so well?
I don't know.

Anyway, have a nice holiday Anton and Margareth.

Sunshine and rain.

We have had sunshine and rain today.
I guess the season for cruise ships will soon be over.
Today I saw AIDA at the harbour.

Happy Weekend!

Old Stavanger.

Old Stavanger is close to the harbour, and has some picturesque small white old wooden houses.
Here is a big cruise ship arriving.

At the harbour....

Busy day in town.
New tourists have arrived.

English Gentlemen.

These 3 English gentlemen told me that they had had a wonderful time on the great cruise ship; "Viking Sea".
They had visited St. Petersburg and Copenhagen. Now it was Stavanger and then up to Bergen.
They were going back to the ship to have their international lunch, before going on a tour around Stavanger. Well, I hope you were ok.
There was plenty of rain, thunder and even some hail just a few hours after this photo was taken....

QUEEN VICTORIA arrives in Stavanger

QUEEN VICTORIA arrived in Stavanger yesterday..... well...the cruise ship..
Nearly 2000 passengers and more than 900 crew members looked like they were happy to see our city.

It felt a bit crowded from time to time in the narrow little streets in the centre of the city.

I spoke with a couple from Devon/England, who needed help to read the map and find Old Stavanger.
They had had a fantastic trip, seen the FJORDS, several days  of sun, and "even got a bit of a nice tan" as the wife put it.

(I did not say a word about the rain, the wind and the temperatures we sometimes call summer....)

The day was to be enjoyed!

Late afternoon, Queen Victoria headed out the fjord again to go back to Southampton.

Sorry...

Sorry to show you this place, so empty and with not much to offer.

It used to be a colourful busy market place, with HAND MADE items and also fruit, flowers and vegetables from local farmers for sale.

From time to time there have been some salespeople selling mass-produced items from far far away.
A few concerts, some demonstrations, and also openings of the annual food festival.

Over the years there have been competitions, school classes and even (architect) students from abroad who came up with good ideas. I met some from Istanbul one summer who told me about this.

A daughter of some friends won, together with others pupils, a trip to Barcelona.... after a competition with suggestions on what could be done. She is now a young woman, and their winning solutions are probably stuck in a drawer and long forgotten.

This is Stavanger on a cold rainy day......

The good news is that it will be warmer and a bit of sunshine next week.

BALMORAL visiting Stavanger.

It is the first cruise ship I have seen this year.
Mainly British passenger who visited Norway, as far north as Alta. But today it was not the Northern Lights, but our town Stavanger they visited,  before heading back to Southampton this afternoon.

A bright sunny day, and I guess they have seen plenty of places with snow up in the mountains.

She has STYLE

Yesterday's arrival of LE SOLEAL made me think that design has much to do with STYLE.

Today bloggers from many countries have posted "something to do with style".

Take a look here if you want.....

LE SOLEAL.

It has been a beautiful sunny day today.
And the tourists on LE SOLEAL, which arrived earlier today, have had the opportunity to explore our city and also to watch the cyclists from TOUR DES FJORDS (link: http://www.tourdesfjords.no/?lang=en_GB)
The man in the photo is working for the port authority.
He told me that it was the first time LE SOLEAL has arrived in Stavanger, and she will be back again later this summer.

BLACK WATCH,- Fred Olsen Cruise Lines.

BLACK WATCH was visiting Stavanger today, and left for Liverpool / UK about an hour ago.
It is a cruise ship made in Finland, and it was first named "Royal Viking Star".
It can take 804 passengers and 330 crew members.

The yacht FUNCHAL visited Stavanger today.

I guess the passengers on "Funchal" were having a good time , even with the rain and wind.
A nice old cruise ship, old-fashioned looking, but when I googled the name, I saw that it has had a long and interesting life, different owners and plenty of new things to replace the old, including the engine.
The link is here:

http://www.ssmaritime.com/funchal.htm

MS Legend of the Seas.

They are HUGE these "floating hotels" arriving during the summer.
Today it has been a windy day, and the few people I saw, were dressed in thick anoraks.
Well, I hope that one day I will have the opportunity to see the cruise ship from the inside as a proper tourist.

I read about it .... here

...... and had a quick look before heading home this afternoon.

Costa Luminosa passengers.

Passengers from the cruise ship "Costa Luminosa" ready to explore Stavanger, on their own,
or in group tour number 36?
I hope they enjoyed the day here!