the benches of Fredriksvern Verft

Fredriksvern Verft is a park in Stavern, Norway that historically was a naval base back in the days of wooden sailing ships. it is now a wonderful historical and cultural site with lots of activity in the summer. many of the original military buildings are now art galleries along with a couple of museums, craft workshops, a theater, a cafe, an event center and more. the newer buildings away from the seashore house a police academy while the military still is still responsible for the maintenance of the original old buildings by the sea.

it's a popular place to visit so accordingly there are plenty of benches in the park. the first one is just inside the entrance with the text VELKOMMEN TIL FREDRIKSVERN VERFT - welcome to Fredriksvern Verft. the gate house is now a visitors center combined with a small gallery. of course you could sit on the steps instead of the bench.

from the entrance there is a nice shady alle with several benches facing the sea. i spotted a friend of mine sitting on one of them deeply engaged with his mobile phone as people were passing by.

Ooops! it looks like i placed my finger over the corner of the phone lens

toward the sea a little farther along the alle there's an exhibition of 4 vertical old wooden rowboats. this area is called beddingen, approaching the boats triggers an audio featuring sounds from life at sea. the area was originally used for building the ships but only this shack remains from that time. there's a simple rustic bench at the backside of the shack

the shady alle extends from the entrance to the canal. just before the canal one one side of the alle there.s a nice bench and table beside a huge anchor. on the other side is a red shack called the plankekokeriet, where certain boards were boiled in seawater it order to allow them to be bent and shaped as required for building of the ships. outside the little red house that is now a gallery w there's aa couple of benches with a table.

the curved bench has the design of the other placed along the alle and canal while the simpler one is a design provided by Forsvarbygg, the branch of the military responsible for the maintenance of the buildings. benches with variations of this design are also placed at various spots on the other side of the canal.

while a direct translation may well be 'It is not permitted to consume alcohol brought from home' the Norwegian word nyte entails an element of enjoying such consumption

one of several benches and tables across the canal with the footbridge in the background

just over the footbridge is a meeting point with the M sign and a rustic log bench. beside that there's a four sided structure with a flagpole and built in benches on each side. though this structure is now an eyesore clearly in need of maintenance or perhaps removal it is a rather recent addition to the park. but the benches are fully functional and i was lucky to find them empty.

in one of the wharves there's a maritime museum with a bench of exceptionally simple design that seems out of place considering that the wharf buildings are from the mid 1700s and of significant historic value. fortunately it is easy to overlook given the features of the line-up of wharf buildings with the unique mustard yellow color the town is famous for

one of the series of buildings houses a theater/concert hall with another overly simple but practical bench and table set. outside the roped in area is a ticket booth/ice cream stand with a more cozy touch covering the wooden planks with a couple of bedsheets and some colorful pillows.

while i admire the workmanship of the doors and guard post of this old barracks, unfortunately far less consideration of design went into the bench standing outside. fortunately it is so insignificant that it can be easily overlooked while focusing on the awesome doors. meanwhile the bench does indicate the mindset of those who placed it there, clearly they were in need of a place to sit and were not fussy about appearances.

the bunch of picnic tables at the other end of the barracks is clearly meant for some sort of gathering. i assume they are connected to the group Tordenskiolds Soldater but they are open to the general public when there is no other activity going on there.

at the far end of the wharf closest to the canal there's a cafe that has placed a bunch of benches and tables overlooking the sound. while the unpretentious benches belong to the cafe, the area outside the building is public so though the cafe may prefer that their customers occupy them, at most any given time there are more benches than customers so anyone can relax and enjoy the scene. the spot has access from the sea as well as from land and the benches face different directions providing different views.

here looking back towards town

and here facing the outer section of the park with the floating sauna and a small boat launching crane

and here across the sound toward the island with the red Kikut on top.

so that is my summary of the benches of Fredriksvern Verft. i hope you enjoyed them as much as i do. if not the all the benches themselves at least the placement of them providing some wonderful relaxing spots to enjoy the moment.