Sweden

Malmö town hall & fountain, Marg

Leaving Copenhagen we drove across the amazing 16 km long Øresund Bridge into Sweden. 

We paid a horrendously expensive toll for the privilege of taking this short but spectacular trip.

The bridge led us into Malmö, an attractive coastal city. Malmö has lots of attractive buildings, squares and churches. 

Swedish  Red Wooden House

We had a lovely wander around, before heading back to Vanni and onwards.

Travelling north, we drove through Växjö where we saw lots of wooden houses which were painted a deep red, with white trim on the windows and eves. 

At this stage, we realized that nine out of ten country house that we had seen on our Sweden route so far, were painted in the same red with white.

As we went on through Sweden we saw lots more, but never did find out why they were all the same.

Moving on, we arrived in Jönköping. This is a pretty city on Lake Vättern, Sweden's second largest lake. 

It has lots of modern apartment blocks along part of the lake, an old town centre and lots more red houses. 

Gränna-polkagrisar-candy shop, Leigh

We had originally planned to stay in Jönköping but found the local camping ground had closed for the season, so we drove a short distance further north to Gränna. 

Following the shores of Lake Vättern, we reached Gränna and spotted signs for camping. 

This led us to a camping ground that had closed for the night! 

Luckily, there was a stellplatz right beside it (a stellplatz is an automated overnight parking place for campervans). 

After Marg cleverly figured out the Swedish instructions, the gate opened and we managed to get in.

The next morning we wandered around the very cute little village of Gränna which is famous for its polkagrisar (candy) shops, some of which show how polkagrisar is made. 

In fact, there were so many polkagrisar shops that we wondered how they all survived. 

Gränna-polkagrisar-candy shop, Marg

We resisted the urge to buy so much sugar, but we did buy a lovely lunch at the local café - and experienced just how expensive it is to buy things here in Sweden!

Gränna was an absolutely delightful place to explore. 

Gränna view

After enjoying its old houses and shops, we had an enjoyable walk to the top of a rocky hill for a great view of the town and lake, then a downhill walk to the lake wharf.

Although it was late afternoon by this time, we decided to head to Stockholm instead of spending another night in the stellplatz.

The drive to Stockholm was all on the motorway with few towns and light traffic. 

We easily found our campsite and snuggled in to prepare for a cold night. 

Stockholm-ABBA studio, Leigh

The first day in Stockholm was wet and cold, so we relaxed in Vanni. 

However, the next day was fine so we headed into the city on the metro which was an easy walk from the camp.  

Our first stop was the new ABBA Museum. 

Stockholm waterfront

Now that was HUGE fun! 

There were heaps of interactive displays and lots of information about the group. 

You could dance, sing, and answer quizzes and download your results. 

We watched “ABBA The Movie” which was about their Australian tour, and had a quiet giggle at the Aussie accents! 

Days later we were still humming ABBA tunes.

Stockholm is made up of a series of islands so there are lots of bridges. 

From the ABBA Museum we walked back across a bridge, along a pretty waterfront lined with trees, grand buildings, and a huge range of boats (many of them quite old). 

We then crossed another bridge into the Old Town - Gamla Stan. 

This has an interesting mix of coloured houses, small cobbled streets, pedestrian ways, and some traffic roads - very interesting to walk around.

Stockholm street, Leigh

After that, we walked to the Royal Palace which is the home of the Swedish Royal family, and found that the changing of the guard was the next day at 12 noon, so planned to go to that. 

We then found our way back to the metro and headed back to camp. 

The next day we got back in to see the changing of the guard,.

Unfortunately it seemed a bit long as we were standing for ages in the shade with a cold wind blowing. 

Not very pleasant!

We needed to warm up so found a cute restaurant nearby and had a nice traditional meal. 

Leigh had meatballs and Marg had fried herring - both very tasty.

Afterwards, we walked around more of the city before finding our way to the metro and back to camp.

Stockholm-GATT store, Leigh

A few days later, we went to see the Globe Arena which is the world's largest spherical building. 

There was a shopping centre nearby and lo-and-behold, we found a GATT shop! 

Apparently the GATT brand, which sells men’s fashion clothing, is big in Sweden! 

Leigh asked about the owner’s name, finding that they had an American background.

We then headed back to camp, quite satisfied that we had seen a huge range of things on offer in Stockholm. 

The temperatures are definitely getting cooler...for example, about 10 o in the day and 2 o at night...brrr! 

We are wearing more layers to keep warm.

Travelling west to Karlstad, our next destination, we drove through some lovely villages such as Mariefred which is on a lake and has a stunning fortress.

Stockholm-Globe Arena & elevator

We saw Arboga which has some amazing frescoes in its ancient church, and then Orebro, another town with a stunning fortress. 

In Karlstad, we stayed at a gorgeous camp site right on the edge Lake Vanern.

Mariefred Fortress

Because it was late in the season there were very few people there, and it was so peaceful looking straight across the lake, and so quiet not having to share it with many others. 

We really enjoyed the peacefulness and not many other people.

Although, we did have one noisy neighbour in a local woodpecker.

Initially we didn't know what the tapping noise was, but then we found him up a close by tree.

Karlstad camp & Vanni

He just kept busy tapping away on and off throughout the day – we loved it!

We relaxed there for two days, and then drove through Karlstad which was a nice looking city.

We then started to head across country to enter Norway, our next destination.

Karlstad camp woodpecker

Initially we had found Sweden to be a very flat country with few hills rather like Denmark. 

Although further inland we found it to be more hilly. 

It has an amazing amount of rocks; in fact the whole country is very rocky!

It has lots and lots of trees and masses of lakes everywhere, some of them very large. 

Most people seemed to speak English or at least understand it, and were friendly, but perhaps not quite as friendly as the Danes. 

We have seen only a little bit of this country as we will not get to the far north especially at this time of the year. 

However, we’re glad that we have done as much as we have.

We are now looking forward to Norway and more adventures.