Yddal

Yddal is one of the biggest and finest pine forest areas in the county. The rich forest resources provided an important foundation for the settlement of Yddal. Up until about the 1950s, there were three farms here. Where the lumberjacks couldn't get to, the trees grew very big and can be over 300 years old.

Raudlia

Møkstrafjordøyane

The sea keeps the bedrock in the outer skerries smooth and clean. When the bedrock is also varied and interesting, the setting is perfect for a discovery tour of these bare-faced outcrops.

Ånuglo

Take a tour to Ånuglo on a warm summer's day. You can anchor up in Skipavågen and go exploring along the beach. Or, you can find giant holly trees and ivy inland on the island. If you take a trip to the small farms on the west side - one of which is still in operation - you can experience colourful flower meadows from a time most dream of, but few can still remember.

Grønafjellet

Mountain plants with their beautiful, colourful flowers are common in high altitude areas in Norway. On the coast there are not so many of them. But, here and there one nonetheless finds mountain plants, and this makes some coastal mountainsides a little bit different. Perhaps the growth on these mountainsides gives us a little glimpse of a distant past?

Tveit Mine

Brandvikneset

Storsøya Island

On Storsøya Island, English ivy grows nearly everywhere. It creeps along the ground and climbs all the way to the top of the tree trunks. Together with holly, the trees of juniper, yew and an unusual pine forest keep the island green the whole year 'round.

Hisøya

"I am going to prove to you that I am right". That is what the idealist and county doctor Christian Heitmann is supposed to have said in the early 1890s. He sat together with the parish priest, Kullmann, at Heitmann's home in Stord and discussed whether the islands in western Norway could have been forested or not. The priest thought that the area was too barren and weather-beaten for forest to have been able to grow so far out in the sea. But, Heitmann was sure he was right. He challenged the scepticism and set off to work.

Lykling- gold

During the summer of 1979 a rock was found at Lykling in Bømlo that contained 450 grams of gold, and at the end of the 1980s a great many gold samples were laid out for sale. In the old mining area there are still gold miners hunting for the precious metal. But, the big adventure stories are a thing of the past.