My childhood kingdom

I've referred to my childhood coast quite a few times, and thought I'd finally show you some pictures. I now live on the southeastern coast in a nice little place with lots of wondeful people, but where the landscape is very different, and I miss the openness and drama of North sea. My childhood coast is what really makes my heart beat faster and what has shaped me into who I am. I guess we are all different in how we feel connected to places, I never seem to be able to let go of my longing for the place I grew up.

 I grew up on the southwestern rim of Norway, where I guess you could say the landscape is quite similar to the danish westcoast. A half hours drive inland is where your Figgjo is made! You won't find images of this place in a tourism brouchure, they tend to only show what's considered typical norwegian, fjords surrounded by mountains and blooming apple trees. That's an image that has stuck ever since the poets of the romantic period of the late 1800s considered the southwestern flat and windy coast a very gloomy place with low ground- hugging houses made of timber from shipwrecks on the rugged coast.

Above is an old traditional farmhouse, low and ground- hugging, shaped to let the wind pass over it. Below is a beautiful old vicorage by the ocean, which has been turned into a great gallery for modern art.

 

I'm happy to observe these days that there's a growing amount of young people seeking the wonderful surfing conditions this stretch of coast has, and thereby treasuring the beautiful landscape. The tough guys come in the winter when the largest waves roll in from the North Sea, in summer when everything has calmed down, you can take surfing classes.

The climate is mild and the differences between winter and summer are not as great as in other parts of the country. There is rarely snow in the winter, mostly rain and wind. The landscape is very flat and there are long stretches of sandy beach, altogether 70 kilometres, the rest is filled with stones that the glaciers of the ice age left there. Today this is one of this country's largest farm regions. When I walk the stoney stretches of coast that are now protected by law, knowing the whole region was once like this, I'm always in awe of all the hard labour that was put into removing all that stone from the ground. Of course, a beautiful result of this labour is that the area is overstrewn with amazing stone fences.

Along the stoney coast there are a lot of bronze age and iron age grave sites, that look like slightly more geometric clusters of stone. Many of these have contained artefacts from the other side of the North sea, showing the degree of interaction our seafaring ancestors had. Much more than with the inland parts of Norway. I guess growing up on the coast always makes you curious of what's on the other side of the ocean.

A great number of WW2 bunkers can be seen along the beaches. These were part of the german Atlantic wall and were meant to stop allied forces from the UK.

The focus on this region in modern times has mostly been on Stavanger as Norway's oil capital. My coastal home town grew rapidly from the late 60s when oil was discovered off our shore, and turned into an international city, very different from our other cities at that time. Until then, the city was shaped by its shipping, fishery and canning industry. We experiensed some pretty amazing times when the oil rigs built there became part of the cityscape and dwarfed the historic wooden houses. When they were ready, we found a good viewpoint and watched the giants start their journey out to the oil fields in the North sea. 

Ocean vessels then and now. The green one is a supply ship for North sea oil rigs. Below are images from the old town, that once housed employees of the canning factories.

 

My childhood kingdom is rugged, often stormy and grey, but to me, it's the most beautiful place on earth! I miss it so much and hope one day I can move back:-) I'm sure you all come from amazing places too, whether you feel closest to where you spent your childhood or where you live now. Feel like sharing?