Drop Anchor

The fascinating city of Stavanger is a regular stopping-offpoint on Norwegian cruise-ship itineraries, but it’s definitely worth a longer stay than a day trip.

- Jeanine Williamson

You need to stack nose to tail with six in a can,’ instructs Piers Crocker as I sit on a bench facing a pile of headless rubber sardines. He starts the clock and for one minute we fill as many tins as possible.

Dithering over which side of the sardine is which, I’m just finishing my second can when my time is up. Piers, a former British university lecturer who’s now the entertaining curator of the Norwegian Canning Museum, announces that Stavanger’s female sardine packers completed a tin in less than five seconds.

From the 1890s to 1960, canning was Stavanger’s most important industry, with 350 canneries. The museum is in one of the original buildings, and with its authentic equipment and colourful display of sardine brand labels – 300,000 in Norway’s sardine heyday – it’s one of the unique attractions we experience during our stay.

Boom town

Situated on the southwestern coast, Stavanger is a popular cruise-ship port. But you need to stay awhile to get a real taste of what Norway’s third largest city has to offer.