Visit a living shipbuilding museum
Mellemværftet is the country's only shipbuilding museum, giving you an insight into the operation of a shipyard from the 19th century. Mellemværftet is protected and nominated as a cultural monument by the Directorate of Cultural Heritage. Here, you will find three boat yards that can take vessels up to 90 feet and a workshop building with a machine shop and forge. The area also contains a residential building, the home of the four shipyard owners and their families. On the ground floor below, we find a carpentry workshop and a carpenter's hut where the cooper lived. There is a regular activity in Mellemværftet throughout the year. The museum's artisans and the harbour master, as well as the members of the local Ship Protection Association (Fartøyvernforeningen), create the hustle and bustle in the shipyard area.
The trading house Patrick Volckmar
Visit the Patrick Volckmar trading house, and you will find a 150-year-old coffee roaster, probably the oldest still in operation in Norway. This is the place to buy the delicious Varde coffee produced on-site. If you have forgotten your knitting for the occasion, you can find everything you need, plus a little more, in the museum shop.
Smia Fish restaurant
At the fish restaurant Smia, you will find a rustic dining venue with an informal atmosphere. The restaurant has a reputation for serving delicious food based on local traditions. The menu offers various seafood dishes, especially clipfish. Here, you can have a taste of three different types of bacalao!