Sweden 2020
Due to the Corona pandemic Swedes have to stay in Sweden during their holiday. My wife and I decided to go to Skåne, the southernmost province of Sweden. Skåne is also the most beautiful province in Sweden. We also turfed a lot and visited as many municipalities as possible in order to color a map of Sweden with green. The map can be found at turf.lundkvist.se.
On Monday June 29 we went to a Scandic hotel in Stockholm. The day after included highlights like Vingåker, the monastery of Alvastra, Sweden's most famous runestone at the church of Rök, and a lot of municipalities in the province of Jönköping, before we arrived in the Vox Hotel in Jönköping, a design hotel.
July 1 we took in municipalities between Jönköping and Varberg. On the spur of the moment we decided to go to Sweden's second biggest city, Gothenburg. It was a pleasant surprise and we took a walk from the statue of Poseidon on the Avenue to Nordstan with its famous cathedral and back. In the evening we met Stefan and had a fantastic hamburger, almost as good as those served in Five Guys in London. Lizette and I walked to the castle Varbergs fästning in the evening. The Hotel Gästis was also a design hotel, but in a completely different way from the Hotel Vox in Jönköping.
On the morning of July 2 we visited one of Sweden's most famous department stores, GeKås Ullared. In the afternoon we dropped Stefan off in Malmö and visited the Emporia Shopping Center before heading to our friends Dan and Mona in Ljunghusen. We had a barbeque and stayed there for the night.
The next day we were in the central parts of Malmö enjoying the most beautiful city in Sweden. I used a voi scooter and toured the Västra hamnen, a part of the city, while Lizette and Stefan were walking. Afterwards we met in Stortorget and had a wonderful lunch. After that we walked in the city, including the Kungsparken, which seemed to be almost as nice as St James's Park and Green Park in London. In the afternoon we had a blast going from Malmö to the Bed & Breakfast Österlen's Karlsgård north of Ystad along the southern coast of Skåne, taking in Smygehuk, which is the southernmost point in Sweden. Stefan took in at a Bed & Breakfast at Borrby. In the evening we visited Simrishamn, a wonderful city on the coast.
According to the weather forecast it would rain the whole day, but it did not do so in Tomelilla, Sjöbo, and Ystad, the last one being a picturesque city, where we walked a lot and had lunch. The wind was brisk when visiting Ales stenar, Ale's stones, formed as a ship. After that we made a visit to Karl Fredrik at Eklaholm, a florist seen on TV. He had a wonderful shop with all kinds of flowers and accessories. Shortly after that it began to rain, but we had ice cream in an ice cream shop close to our B&B before heading to Kivik, known for its many apples. After that we went to the national park of Stenshuvud and Simrishamn again, and then I saw the place I think is the most beautful place in Sweden, fields slanting towards the sea at Skillinge. The picture can be found here.
Also the day after we thought it would rain, but on the morning of July 5, we saw it would only be windy in Malmö, and no rain, so the three of us went there and Stefan borrowed a bicycle and used it most of the day and turfed. Lizette and I headed for the Kungsparken and enjoyed the park and after that we used voi scooters in Västra hamnen and turfed together. In the afternoon before picking up Stefan in the central parts we went to Limhamn and Klagshamn and had wonderful views of the Öresund Bridge from both north and south of the bridge. In the evening we had dinner in Lund, and afterwards we went to our hotels in Helsingborg, Stefan staying in the hotel closest to ours.
The next day was spent taking in municipalities in the provinces of Kronoberg and Jönköping. In the evening we visited the A6 Shopping Center, before we arrived at Blommenhof Hotel in Nyköping. On July 7 we dropped Stefan off at the Centralen, the main railroad station in Stockholm. We walked in Hagaparken north of Stockholm, with sights like the Palace of Haga and the Ekotemplet, the temple of the Echo. The park is also famous for housing the crown princess Victoria and her family. In the afternoon we met my sister at Mall of Scandinavia, the biggest shopping center in Sweden. We drove to her apartment and had a look at it, and afterwards we turfed on the way to a restaurant, where we had a wonderful dinner. In the evening we went to Djursholm and had a look at big houses and mansions.The night was spent at Scandic Nord Uppsala.
Normally we go to Umeå along the E4, the main highway along the coast of Norrland, but this time we wanted to color the municipalities of the hinterland green. We went to the provinces of Västmanland, Dalarna, Örebro, and Värmland. More or less by mistake we happened to visit Ludvika two times more than we had planned. The first time was on purpose, but the second time we realized that we should have taken Smedjebacken before Ludvika, as the GPS sent us back to Ludvika after Smedjebacken in order to go south. We had thought of taking Vansbro, Leksand, and Gagnef in the evening after Hällefors in Örebro, but there was not enough time left, so the GPS once again sent us via Ludvika to Falun, where we took in at Scandic Lugnet.
On the morning of July 9 we colored the rest of the municipalities green with the exception of Vansbro, which was too far away from our northerly route to Umeå via Östersund. At Nusnäs, I saw a Dalecarlian horse, which I wanted instantly. All horses are painted in the traditional Dalecarlian style, but every horse is differently painted. Normally people buy their horses from the shop, but the one I wanted was in the factory and not in the shop. I asked the shop assistant to accompany me to the factory, and she had to ask someone there if I could have it, which was possible. So the Dalecarlian horse in the factory skipped being on the shelves in the shop before going with us to Umeå.
The municipality of Åre goes from the Norwegian border to the shores of Storsjön, the big lake in the province of Jämtland, and there were four zones for us to take close to Storsjön if we wanted to color Åre green. We took one of them but then decided to go to the center of Åre, which neither of us had ever visited before. We also realized that we would have to stay one more night in a hotel if we went there. We phoned Hotel Hallstaberget in Sollefteå and booked a room. Åre was nice and after that we colored the municipalities of Krokom and Bräcke. In Pilgrimstad, a part of Bräcke, I met a pilgrim from Germany, and we talked for a while in German. He wanted to go to Östersund and possibly Åre. On our way to the hotel Lizette colored Ragunda green, which I had already done in 2014. The next day we took ten zones to celebrate Turf being 10 years, and thereby getting the Cakeday medal before arriving in Umeå.
Length of Stay: Monday 29 June-Friday 10 July 2020
June 29 Scandic, Upplands Väsby, Stockholm
June 30 Vox Hotel, Jönköping
July 1 Hotel Gästis, Varberg
July 2 Ljunghusen
July 3-5 Österlens Karlsgård, Löderup
July 5 Radisson Blu Metropol Hotel, Helsingborg
July 6 Blommenhof Hotel, Nyköping
July 7 Scandic Uppsala Nord, Uppsala
July 8 Scandic Lugnet, Falun
July 9 Hotell Hallstaberget, Sollefteå
Means of Transportation: Mercedes V222
To my pictures of Sweden June 29-July 10>>
To Lizette's pictures of Sweden June 29-July 10>>
