Day 20–21 – Småland again Jul 30 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

July 27–28 – Store Mosse National Park, Sävsjö and Vetlanda

After some hot yet relaxing days with Annika and Jonas in Sparsör near Fristad Annika and I take the car east again to visit L. in Vetlanda in Småland.

Småland is very well known because of Astrid Lindgren and her books. She grew up there and many of her stories take place in Småland as for example Emil of Lönneberga. We expected many tourists, especially German ones, but even Vimmerby, Astrid Lindgrens place of birth that we passed a week ago was not crowded at all.

We leave Sparsör and Fristad behind and take minor roads that lead east. It’s not easy to navigate. In contrary to Norrland, the Northern part of Sweden there are many ways in Southern Sweden – from big multi-lane roads to small, winding gravel paths that Google Maps try to avoid.

We make a stopover at the Store Mosse National Park, a huge bog that according to our guidebooks looks like as you were in Lapland. We disagree and think, that it looks quite different, but beautiful anyway.

We take a very late lunch in the Café Timjan mellan Värnamo – Vrigstad, then we want to continue non-stop to Vetlanda. Until we see the huge castle ruins on an island in a lake we pass by. It’s Eksjöhovgård, a hunting château from the 17th century. We stop the car and use the wooden bridge to have a closer look.

Shortly after 18 o’clock we arrive at the cosy house of L. in Vetlanda, where we stay for two nights. Just two photos of another castle ruins: Hultaby slott, which is in walking distance of L’s. house.

Day 19 – +30 °C Jul 27 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

July 26 – Crea Diem Bokcafé in Od Kyrkby and Solviken bathing place

It’s really hot weather in Europe and so in Sweden (though not as extreme as e.g. in Germany). Time to focus on drinking lemonade in the shadow in the book café, not moving too much, trying to avoid the wasps, eating ice cream and of course taking long baths in the lake Ärtingen together with our friends and hosts Annika and Jonas.

And with this recipe the day becomes another nice one on Annika’s and my summer holiday.

Later that day – after an abundant dinner – we played music together. Clarinet, viola, double bass and piano. Sorry, no recordings and no photos neither.

Day 15–18 – Meanwhile in Sparsör … Jul 26 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

22–25 July – Sparsör, Öresjö and Borås

It’s already Friday, Annika and I have been in Sparsör near Borås since Sunday afternoon and I have been extraordinary lazy. Today it’s going to be the hottest day yet with temperatures round 30 °C or above, so my laziness will definitely continue and the most exhausting action will be going to the bath place nearby.

23 July – hiking round the Öresjö

The weather is still cloudy and not so warm. Perfect hiking weather. When we have to climb the hill Örekullen we sweet anyway. The way is steep. We meet sheep in a forest by the lake and a sow with her two piglets. When we are at the south tip, we have some lunch and take a bath in the bay of Almenäs.

Later this day we drive to the city Borås and eat extremely delicious tapas and dessert in the fantastic restaurant La Copita.

25 July – a very warm day

-40 ° C I seek, +40 °C i flee. Luckily it’s not as hot as in Germany¹, but even temperatures round 30 °C are too warm for me to feel comfortable. Fortunately there are many bathing places around, one of them in walking distance. I am bathing and snorkelling. I see schools of fish and hundreds of river mussels underwater, but also a half meter long pike. Anyway the pike is much too fast to be photographed.

Bathing place Solviken at the lake Ärtingen

Later the evening we drive to Borås another time. A vivid town, especially when there’s a live concert on the town square and a dance band (far away from playing live …) playing in the city park. The air is cooler, but still round 25 °C and even the statues seem to seek refreshment in the water of the river Viskan.

¹ 42.6 °C were measured in Lingen yesterday, the hottest temperature in Germany ever measured. Even though a single hot day is no proof for the ongoing climate shift it is one of the many, many signs.

Day 14 – Eksjö Jul 24 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

21 July – from Figeholm to Sparsör

After the days in Figeholm we have another “transport day”, where we drive to Sparsör, 3½ hours car drive west. Here we’ll visit our friends Annika and Jonas. After they visited us already two times, this is the long overdue return visit.

We make a short stop in Vimmerby, Astrid Lindgren’s birth place. We do not pay to enter “Astrid Lindgrens Näs” where you can see her birth house, we just take a short look in the shop.

We make a longer stop in Eksjö, a beautiful locality in Småland and one of the few places in Southern Sweden where I have been before – 12 years ago with friends from Munich. A must: Lennarts Konditori, the confectionery!

In Jönköping we cross our own travel route, then we continue west until we stand in front of Annika’s and Jonas’ house where we are warmly welcomed. Here we’ll stay the next days and I will increase my laziness. That’s the reason, why the last few blog articles have become shorter.

Day 13 – sailing Jul 23 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

20 July – Figeholm and Baltic Sea

Saturday, the last day in Figaholm. Hein and Astrid take Annika and me for sailing. First we motor out of the skerries then they the sails are raised and we sail – first between the larger wooded islands, then between the smaller islets and rocky skerries. We anchor in front of an island and have lunch – several kilos of shrimps. Then we continue our cruise, this time farther away from land where the wind is stronger and the waves higher. We can see the island Öland in the distance. After several turns we reach the skärgård (archipelago) again and Hein and Astrid manage to sail back the whole way, even though the wind is very calm and constantly changes direction.

Ten hours later we are back on land – me with cold, wet feet (I wore sandals) and sunburnt, but richer in experience. Thank you, Astrid and Hein for the sailing trip.

Day 11 and 12 – Figeholm and Kalmar Jul 22 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

18–19 July

Three days Annika and I stay with our Friends Astrid and Hein in Figeholm in the historical province Småland. The first two days we make day excursions.

Astrid recommends to visit Stensjö By, an untouched village with houses from the 18th and 19th century, surrounded by an old cultural landscape. We stroll around the wooden houses, where chicken are picking and scratching for food and follow two of the round trails along dry-stone walls or the typical braided fences.

Stensjö by II – braided fences and sheep

From Stensjö by it’s not far away to Figeholm, where we take a stop (and ice cream). A small channel branches from the sea. It looks like a “gracht” in the Netherlands and makes the town look a bit Dutch.

Home again we take a long bath in the lake Frisksjön right behind Astrid’s and Hein’s house together with their children. The photo from the water lilies is taken while swimming.

In the evening I take some photos of another building on the property. It is the old residential building but it has gone to rack. At least it is not in danger of collapsing and I can enter it. Hein, who is a professional carpenter wants to rebuild that house, probably a large-scale project … .

The next day Annika and I drive to Kalmar, a beautiful town on the sea with roots in the middle age. We park by the sea and walk to the cathedral which is open.

After lunch we walk to the old water tower, which contains private flats nowadays. From here we head to the castle grounds, where there is a variety of old trees. I love especially the huge leaf trees and admire them; we don’t have such in Northern Sweden.

Kalmar – in the background the old water tower

Soon we approach the “main attraction”, Kalmar Castle, one of the best-preserved renaissance castles in Europe. Beautiful in the sun!

We go along the castle moat until we reach the sea. Here’s a long bathing jetty – what a pity that we do not have our bathing clothes with us.

We are quite eager to bath, but we decide to choose another place. Just some kilometres east in the Baltic Sea there’s the island Öland. It is 137 km long and has almost 26000 inhabitants. From Kalmar there’s a 6 km long bridge to the island. It takes us just a quarter-hour to reach Öland and another ten minutes to reach the bathing place Präskviksbadet in Lökenäs. Finally we kan take a refreshing bath at the small sandy beach, while we look on the coastal line of the main land.

Prästviksbadet – a bathing place on Öland

Day 10 – leaving Skåne Jul 19 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

17 July – Mälarhusen—Figaholm

Today we leave Skåne and continue to the historical province Småland, home of Astrid Lindgren and many of her characters. But before we start our tour we have breakfast and before breakfast we take a morning bath in the Baltic Sea. 12 °C water temperature – a bit chilly. We lock the tiny, cozy house where we stayed the night and start our car trip north.

We make many small stopovers and bath three other times this day, enjoying the fresh water and the warm sun.

Some photos:

Day 9 – Ystad and Österlen Jul 17 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

16 July – Bjärnum—Ystad—Mälarhusen

After some wonderful relaxing days in Bjärnum Annika and I continue our tour through Southern Sweden. Today we will reach Ystad, our southernmost destination on our journey. From Ystad to Kilpisjärvi in the north it’s almost 2000 km by car.

From Bjärnum to Ystad however it’s less than two hours. Ystad is a beautiful medieval town. We strolled through the streets and alleys and I only took some snapshots because we looked for a place for lunch.

We found a restaurant near the boat harbour where we ate fish and looked at the sea, the small sailing boats and the big ferries. From Ystad you can take the ferry to Bornholm (Denmark) and Świnoujście (Poland).

Next stop: Ales stenar (Ale’s Stones), a megalithic monument east of Ystad. It consists of 59 large boulders formed in a shape of a boat, probably 1400 years old.

Next stop: Sandhammaren. Dunes, a long sandy beach and the clear Baltic Sea invites us to take a bath. Or two. Summer holidays.

We decide to look for an overnight stay. We pass a small wooden sign by car. It says “Stuga for 2” – cabin for two. We are lucky. Although it’s main season the stuga is free and we can stay for a night. It’s in Mälarhusen in the corner of a garden, incredible cozy and the beach is not far away.

We take the car to the next ICA to buy food. After a dinner with pasta and salad we take another promenade along the beach. At the horizon we spot land – the Danish island Bornholm. Finally a reason to fetch the tripod and the huge 150-600mm telephoto lens from the car and make a photo of Bornholm, where I have been more than 40 years ago.

A barley field on the way to the grocery

Day 6 – Finjasjön Jul 15 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

13 July, Hovdala and Finja

When we leave the car at the parking place of the castle Hovdala slott the first think I see and hear are the bees at the beehives. The bees are lucky, they have their own huge flower field, where red poppy, blue cornflowers, white oxeye daisies and many other flowers bloom.

We take some ice cream at the café and start our promenade. We want to go north to the lake Finjasjön, walk along the lake and head south again. It’s quite easy to get lost, because there are zillions of paths, tracks and small roads. Many of them are marked but not necessarily at the important points. Therefore we randomly follow some tracks or roads, trying to use a local paper map and the sun for orientation.

We follow some signs to the Trädhuset – the tree house, a café build on a high wooden platform between the trees. First all people sit outside but that changes with the incoming thunderstorm. It’s raining hard and Annika and I consider how to get back to the car. We don’t have rain clothes with us.

We are lucky, the thunderstorm is moving away and soon the sun is shining again. We walk back, this time using the smartphone for navigation. Although it’s barely 20 °C the air feels damp and hot. With the digital guidning we are soon back at the car, just before it starts raining again.

Since it is raining we cancel our bathing plans. Instead we had north where we take another promenade and visit the Finja Church. Finja itself is a small locality with 600 inhabitants. The church however had great importance in the middle age. It was build in the 12th century and some of the old chalk paintings are created round 1140.

We were lucky that the church was open and we even got a guided tour. The guide mentioned that this church comes from the end of the viking time, long before the existence of nations like Denmark or Sweden.

The weather was still showery, so we decided to postpone bathing and drive back to our hosts house.

Day 5 – Götaland Jul 14 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

12 July, Jogersö—Gränna—Bjärnum

It always seems to be the third night in a tent, when I got used to the camping mat and sleep very well. Nevertheless I’m looking forward to a real bed. Annika and I dry the sleeping bags and the tent in the sun and have breakfast. Half past nine we start our journey farther south. We have to drive 413 km, mostly on the E4, the very same European route, that connects Umeå, Skellefteå, Piteå and Luleå.

Here it connects Nyköping, Norrköping, Linköping and Jönköping. While å stands for river, köping means market town.

We stop in Gränna, a town by the lake Vättern which is Sweden’s second largest lake. Here’s a large campsite, a lovingly designed minigolf course, a ferry to the island Visingsö and – most important for us now: several restaurants and ice cream shops. Children are wading in the water, grown up are sunbathing on the public benches, the place is touristic but not crowded.

There are nice bathing places along the coast of the Vättern, so we bath twice, first in Röttle, then near Sjöbergen. Since the Vättern is so large you can think that you bath in the North Sea or Baltic Sea – until you taste the water. It’s fresh, not brackish or salty.

Swimming in the Vättern (Photo: Annika Kramer)

Röttle has another attraction besides its bathing place: there were severals water mills. Here we stroll around for a while.

After our long break we continue our car trip southwards. We cross the border to Skåne, the southernmost part of Sweden. In the evening we arrive in Bjärnum.

You see the light behind the front window of the house? That’s our place for the next days.

A word to the title of the article: Sweden is divided into three parts: Norrland in the north, Svealand in the middle and Götaland in the south. The population density in Götaland and Svealand is more than ten times as high as in Norrland.