Welcome to the Petroleum Captial of Norway!
Stavanger was the most "modern" of the cities we visited due to the discovery of oil in the 1960's. It is not old enough of a city to have burned down several times, but the locals are hoping this will be their year. Otherwise, the city was quite Ballard-like with the exception of older people who cannot see over a steering wheel driving real slowly. Oh... wait... All those people were on our ship.
Anyway, Stavanger also used to be the "Sardine Capital of the World." Yes, we truly do only visit the best places...
Oh, and it was designated as the "European Capital of Culture" for 2008. We knew we were in a special place when we saw the 7-Eleven right next to the McDonald's in the center of town where the fake Gucci sunglasses were being sold.
Ah... and this high honor is shared with Liverpool.
