Just a few steps into the old town, and you'll find yourself in a fairytale setting, among the best-preserved wooden houses in Norway. You can take your local guide's word for it!
From here, you'll head to the Norwegian Canning Museum: an old sardine or “brisling” canning factory, which is now a museum. A perfect reconstruction of the history of the canning industry, which changed this part of Norway between the 19th and 20th centuries.
You'll soon see for yourself, as you walk among the hundreds of old tins, discovering the process used to conserve sardines and getting a sense of what life was like in the factory in those times. Do you feel peckish? We'll soon fix that, with a tasting of smoked salmon and sardines, to be enjoyed among the souvenirs of these old Nordic traditions.
They aren't the only ones around here: step inside the merchant buildings of the Stavanger Maritime Museum and dive into the last 200 years of its maritime history, with model ships, ship owners' supplies and historic sailing ships.
If making so many discoveries is working up an appetite, don't worry: dried mutton, ham and “lefse”, the typical Norwegian flatbread, are waiting to be devoured, accompanied by tea and coffee. Now you can really say you've filled up on stories and flavors!