The small town of Flekkefjord

When driving between the two bigger cities of Kristiansand and Stavanger you will reach Flekkefjord pretty much midway. It is a nice little town with an old center. The city is located around a little harbor and the most attractive buildings seem to be down along the water.

In these small Norwegian towns it seems like everybody has a boat – so down at the water there are several buildings made just to protect the small boats people have parked inside in these river garages.

The town has a history of trading with the Netherlands – back in the beginning of the 19^th century there was a large Dutch presence in the city serving the trade between Flekkefjord area and the Netherlands. This was particularly important during the British blockade of the European continent during the war against Napoleon in the start of the century. The Dutch were a part of France then so they were suffering from the blockade as well.

But the tide around Flekkefjord is peculiar with very little tide so you can sail any time of the day – this was unknown to the British so the blockade runners used this to their advantage and slip through the British blockade and continued the trade.

The Dutch left a mark on the city and there are a quarter of old houses in town today which is named the Dutch quarter. It has a few of the nice old houses.

Fortunately the city is pretty small only around 6,000 people so it is easy to walk around town quickly on a stop on the drive to one of the major cities a bit away.