My mother and father gave us the tip to go here with our daughter. Getting there was easy, then some confusion around the walk way occured. We decided to go to the café at the Vänga Kvarn, which was really nice. The setting was perfect.
After the fika we continued to the main attraction, the bog itself, Vänga Mosse. Very good walk ways, and a nice experience over all. All in all we walked about 5,5 kilometers which I think is quite fair distance.
This is also the second time we visit this place. Last time was maybe 2 years ago. And it was equally hot that day. They had swapped out some of the sculptures in the park so there was something new to watch which was nice. Sadly they had taken away one of the best sculptures, but hey, that’s art for you!
I also made the same mistake as I did last time, should have taken a picture at the old stone age grave field from above so that the monuments would be more visible.
On the way home we also made a quick stop at the petroglyphs in Basteröd (which is less than a kilometer from the Pilane parking lot). Sadly they have not been very well maintained but you can make out most of it anyway.
I’ve been here before, maybe 15 years ago, probably even more. Celebrating the Swedish National Day (6th of June). This time around I came with family and mother in law. The plan was to have a walk in the park and eat lunch at Margaretas kök. The food was great. After that we bought some ice cream and then continued the walk.
We have already visited this place about 2 years ago but then we only had a quick look at the St. Sigfrids spring. This time we made a longer stop, bought some ice cream in the kiosk, then went to have a look at the spring (again) where the English missionary Sigfrid is said to have baptized Olof Skötkonung, the first Swedish king to be christened. Then we walked the short distance to the ruins of the old bishop castle that was built in close proximity to the church. This small castle has an interesting history in itself, partially told by the information signs on site.
Husaby church dates back to the early 1000’s, where the first structure is believed to have been a stave church. Early 1100 the stone tower was constructed, then later during the 1100’s the rest of the church was re-built in stone and the tower extended even further. Historically the church played a significant role in the early Swedish history and is well worth a visit.
I find the most interesting part of Swedish history the part where Sweden becomes Sweden and Husaby church is maybe one of the corner stones in the early Swedish history. To me it made sense to go there and see the location, and imagine the history for a bit.
Took the family and my family in law to Hjo, actually, it was my mother in law that suggested we go there and have an ice-cream at Moster Elins Glass. So we did. I’ve been to Hjo a couple of times before, one time long ago and I do not really remember much, the time after that was with my wife to have lunch and I remember walking along those cozy streets of what is called the “wooden town”. Old houses from the 1700-1800’s which are all very well preserved with their gardens and so on. Sadly I did not take any pictures back then.
I also think we stopped on the outskirts once for lunch on another occasion. However, this time around we had a clear mission, to get ice cream and just enjoy the day in Hjo. We found a small sight seeing train which we rode for a meager cost. Maybe not the best thing in the world but it was something to do, something we also knew our daughter would like. Then we walked around in Hjo for a while before returning home.
The end of the road for this little road trip of ours. The spa Yasuragi in the southern outskirts of Stockholm. We arrived in the afternoon, got checked in, changed in to the swimming gear provided by the spa and off to spa’ing we went.
There were a big pool as a center piece, dotted around it was 2-3 different saunas, bubble pool, cold pool and on the outside was the “onsens” (hot springs).
Later in the evening we had dinner which was very inspired by the Japanese kitchen. I liked it, Sofia was maybe a bit more sceptic. The breakfast was really great with a big selection of both traditional continental breakfast and Japanese breakfast traditions. Over all it was a well needed break from the daily routines and doing the road trip with it’s stops on the way made the stay at the spa well worth the in my opinions maybe slightly overpriced and overhyped spa hotel.
Yet another ruin for this little road trip to Stockholm. To be fair, it was kind of a detour but we had the time for it. To get there we had to travel on some really nice country side roads. At the site, 40 SEK entrance fee and we could walk up to the castle ruin and have an audio guide telling the story of the castle, first time mentioned back in 1310 as Stäkeborg. At a much later stage the castle was rebuilt into a renaissance castle (16th century). Today, it’s just a ruin though, with tons of interesting history. And nice views.
I’ve never been to Norrköping, I’ve only passed through this medium sized Swedish town before. But this time we had planned to stay one night here. Without knowing much about Norrköping we booked a hotel in the southern part of the town. Walking distance from city center, but we still ended up not walking around so much. Ended up having a burger and some beer at Bishops Arms and then a nice walk back to the hotel. At least we got to see the town hall and some old cranes in the harbor. Next day we continued towards Stockholm.
This runestone, maybe one of the most mysterious of all, maybe one of the most debated of them all was a must visit after having been to Alvastra abbey since it’s just a 15 minute drive from Alvastra. I’ve been here before, as a child but I felt I had to go there and see it again.
Next stop on our journey to Stockholm we made a stop at Alvastra abbey. According to history this was one of the first cloisters in Sweden founded in 1143 and was in use for some 400 years until 1530 when it was abandoned due to the Protestant Reformation. Today, all that remains are some ruins of the old buildings, still worth a visit.
After Röttle we made a real rest stop to eat at Brahehus restaurant. Brahehus is an old castle ruin though, once commissioned by Per Brahe (the younger) in 1637. The location is awesome, overlooking both lake Vättern and Visingsö (an island in lake Vättern). Not much to see since the castle is a ruin but it’s well worth visiting for the view!
In the end of May me and Sofia decided to go on a small road trip to Stockholm. On the way we made some tactical stops for resting and exploring. One of those stops were at Röttle, an old historical and cultural village overlooking lake Vättern. Röttle is located in the north of Småland on the east side of lake Vättern. In Röttle there was once two mills and a paper mill that drew it’s energy from the waterfall. A stunning 12 meter high drop.
This is another famous spa on the Swedish west coast, situated not to far away from Lysekil in Bohuslän. Situated at the shores of Gullmarsfjorden the setting is really beautiful. Great spa experience, good food, what more can you want?
Second time coming back to Trieste, this time for a conference. Luckily I had some time at my hands to do a quick sight seeing this time. Surely is a beautiful town with a very nice roman and Habsburg heritage!
During vacation and summer holidays it’s nice to have something to do. So the family went on a small trip to see a waterfall north of Kungälv, just roughly a half hours drive from Gothenburg. It was a little bit tricky to find it since you had to park at the local golf club and then walk about 1 kilometer over the golf course to get there.
The waterfall is almost 40 meters high, so quite impressive. Afterwards we took a hike in the local national park Svartedalen around the small forest lake Korsvattnet.
On the outskirts of the great national park Tividen lies a smaller park called Utnäset. Short walk in the forest presented quite nice views.
Took the family to Jonsereds Trädgårdar on a sunny day. It’s a manor hall just outside of Gothenburg. They have a nice café and a wonderful view over the lake Aspen.
We went to Oslo to celebrate my father in laws birthday in the end of May, early June. We did nothing special really, took the hop on hop of bus to get a good look at the city, ate great food in nice restaurants and just generally had a nice time. And of course we took at walk at Karl Johan street and visited the royal palace.
A quick business trip to Copenhagen. Nothing much happened really, except for a stroll through Strøget and then Nyhavn in search for some place to eat in the evening. Ended up at Broens Gadekøkken on the edge of Freetown Christiania.
It was just a business trip, and I did not really get to see or do anything except from visit some of the restaurants and enjoy the nice architecture.
