Rogaland Fylke = Rogaland County.
Rogaland County is located on the Southwestern part of the country. While I was there, I was lucky enough to see Stavanger, Sandnes, Sola, and Preikestolen.
Entertainment: Beaches, Hiking/Camping, Bars/Clubs, Fjords
Preikestolen:
A great day hike! View the pictures from top to bottom HERE!
Night Life:
The city of Stavanger has a lot to offer at night: bars, live music, clubs, etc. and it was all very fun. However, what surprised me was how very clean and peaceful Stavanger is in the day time, but come night time when everyone is out downtown, and the place is a complete disaster. I couldn’t believe it. Drunk kids throwing cups and papers on the ground and no one caring to walk 3 meters to the garbage can. This was kind of a buzz kill for me. I like having a good time, but I also like not littering and not disrespecting property. I thought it was very uncharacteristic for Scandinavia because all my other experiences I thought of Scandinavian countries as being very “green.”
Read about how “GREEN” I thought Denmark was!
Prices:
Stavanger is very expensive. I read on Yahoo Travel that Stavanger is ranked as the #4 most expensive city in the world! New York City and San Francisco weren’t even on the list of the top ten [to give you some comparison]. A beer here in the States [regular light beer that isn’t during happy hour] is about $3 on average [New York and Boston at about $6 and Virginia at 62¢] but in Stavanger a beer is about $15! Now I’ve spent $10 on a beer before that was out-of-this-world good, flavorful, came in a fancy glass, and lasted me 2 hours, but there is not a chance on Earth that a light beer like Bud Light in a small glass should cost $15!
Getting Around:
When I was there, I didn’t have to rely on public transportation, but I am told that it is very easy to catch a bus from just about anywhere in Stavanger. At night, however, public transportation was required after being at the bars downtown. The taxis on insanely expensive! I’m used to a taxi being a few dollars… maybe at most $20 or so for longer distances [even in NYC!], but in Stavanger it was over $100! Next time, I’m bringing a tent to the bars and sleeping in a park!
Food:
Lamb. “Those crazy Norwegians and their lamb!” … is the statement I told my Norwegian friends, in jest, that I was going to tell everyone back home. When I was there, I had an abnormal amount of lamb/mutton. It was the main course of about 90% of the dinners I ate. However, I was also told that this was not normal but was a weird coincidence that the majority of dinners I had just so happened to be lamb. I didn’t mind; I love meat and it was good, so I was happy!
Kumla – is a popular/traditional dish of Norway. It consists of dumplings, a side of meat, potatoes, and mashed rutabagas. At the time, I was told to eat it was some sugar on the top, but I liked it without the sugar. Afterwards, I was told by other Norwegians that eating it with sugar is a “no-no” but I’ve heard of people putting some syrup on it.
Did You Know? … Karmøy [a city in Rogaland] has large deposits of copper that was used in the construction of the Statue of Liberty.
Quick tip: Hurtigruten operates working ships that make deliveries all up and down the coast of Norway. There are cabins, food is excellent (try the reinideer), scenery is breathtaking and the crew is helpful and friendly. Although not a luxury cruise, it is such an adventure, stopping at more than 35 ports. Depending on the amount to be off-loaded, stops can be 15 minutes or 3 hours. We saved a lot of money this way b/c everything is so expensive in Scandinavia (transportation as well as food) and got to see unusual places, like the northernmost point in Europe.
The pictures alone make me want to go and visit Norway myself (perhaps a less expensive part of the country, though), and the description you gave about the place helps me to know what to expect if I do ever get to visit this beautiful place.