However it is pronounced, Stavanger is Norway’s fourth-largest city, and is the first place – since Reykjavik – which looked anything like we might expect a city to look.

The hot topic of conversation over breakfast was the weather. Not because this was the first morning we’d seen any real sun since our departure from Southampton, but on account of the wind. There was a real gale blowing, hardly ideal when you consider that the main activity we had planned for the day was a three-hour visit to the Lysefjord… by small passenger boat!!

We’d already paid – maybe we’d have found another way to spend the day if we hadn’t. But as it turns out, I’m glad that we stuck to the original plan, because for some reason, the high winds caused turbulence for just the first few hundreds yards of our tour. Once we were away from the dockside and on our way down the coast, it was more-or-less smooth sailing, and – with the sun continuing to shine – meant we had a very pleasant three hours out on the water.

Lysefjord is considered once of the most scenic fjords in Norway, so our’s was by no means the only boat ferrying tourists down its 40 kilometre length.

In fact, we didn’t go anything like the full length of the fjord because it took us almost an hour to reach the mouth, with plenty of stops (not to disembark… but opportunities to take photos while the engines were cut) en route.

The ultimate goal of our trip was a large waterfall. On reaching the falls, our boat was manoeuvred close enough to the water’s edge for the captain to fill a bucket from the spray, with passengers invited to take a drink. And pretty good it tasted too!

However, perhaps the most interesting sight en route was the so-called Pulpit Rock: an almost perfectly rectangular rock formation high up on the cliffs which leans out the water and presents some particularly spectacular view for anyone who makes the two-hour ascent to the top (and has a head for heights!).

Back in Stavanger, we strolled ‘the long way’ back to the Eclipse, taking in Stavanger’s Old Town. It’s certainly a pretty place to live… but – as it is located right alongside the quay – I do wonder how frustrating it must be to have hundreds of cruise passengers sticking their noses through your front window all summer long!!