Sweden - part 1

 We had a quick visit back to the UK at the end of May to say our final farewells to Mark's aunt Rose, the last of the Spanish born relations.

On our return to Denmark we started touring properly. We decided to bypass Copenhagen this time as we'll be back again later in the year when the weather is more clement. Over the Oresund bridge and to Malmö.

The bridge is across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden and is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects central and western Europe to Sweden. It is nearly 8kms (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to an island in the middle of the strait and then there is a 4km (2.5 mi) tunnel the rest of the way. The tunnel was dug for part of the way, rather than raising that section of the bridge so as to avoid interfering with air traffic from the nearby Copenhagen Airport, to provide a clear channel for ships in good weather or bad, and to prevent ice floes from blocking the strait. Construction began in 1995, with the bridge opening to traffic on 1 July 2000.

We discovered RV parking close to city centres which makes them far more accessible. Sweden seems to have motorhome parking close to marinas and shares the facilities thereby making it very easy to see the cities without being on a campground miles out of town. In Malmö we were about 5kms away, an easy walk through parks along the coast. We walked our feet off discovering the city. A mix of old and new architecture, some fun sculptures and excellent sunsets 

The tallest building in Sweden 

From Malmö we headed 250kms around the coast to Karlskrona which is known as Sweden's only baroque city. It also has Sweden's largest naval base and the headquarters of the Swedish Coast Guard. The city, named after King Karl XI, was founded in 1680 when the Royal Swedish Navy was relocated here as ships tended to get stuck in the ice in winter further north in Stockholm Karlskrona was intended as a future capital and its large open piazza where the church, town hall and state administration are located in the outer edges of the square follows the baroque style. It was a very interesting city and we were lucky to have sunny days to walk around and also visit the maritime museum.

The 'German' church

The 'Swedish' church

Pretty coloured houses

The large coast guard ship that moored just along from the RVs.

Next stop 300kms north to the small town of Söderköping and the Göta Canal. The canal is a part of a waterway 390 km (240 mi) long, linking a number of lakes and rivers from Gothenburg on the west coast to Mem/Söderköping on the Baltic Sea. Our campground was on the canal so we could watch boats pass by and we decided to walk along the side of it to the start at Mem 7kms away. We then needed to walk back again to we were a little footsore that day.

Stockholm was our next stop, a short 185kms away. Another parking place close to the city meant it was only a 30 minute walk away, so off we went again on foot. There was so much to see and we used the open top hop on/hop off buses to get our bearings and as transport.

The Royal palace

The opera house

Inside the opera house

Inside the opera house

There be trolls living under this bridge 

and here they are 😀 

I also visited the ABBA museum and had a great time looking at their journey together, the costumes, memorabilia and what happened after the group faded away. I am looking forward to seeing the Voyage when it eventually comes to Spain

We decided to try the smorgasbord at The Grand Hotel and were not disappointed. It gave us the opportunity to try the herring (4 types of pickled and 4 types of marinated), different types of smoked, marinated and poached salmon together with a selection of cold meats and hot dishes, not to mention all the desserts. Needless to say we certainly got our monies worth and waddled out of there and the hour's walk back to the camper.  If we visit Stockholm again we will certainly come back for a re-match

Another night we went to restaurant Ekstedt, which has a Michelin star. We chose that restaurant as we had seen the chef on BBC TV's Saturday Kitchen and we were intrigued by his style of cooking. There are no electric or gas stoves in the kitchen and everything is prepared over wood fires and smoke. We were given a tour of the tiny kitchen to see how the plates are prepared which was really interesting. As for the food, even though each plate was exquisite, there was only one bite and it was gone. Given he worked at El Bulli and the Fat Duck his style is molecular gastronomy, so lots of very small  ingredients on one plate and not enough for us to decide whether or not we liked what was served. Our palates got tired very quickly so at the end of the night it was all rather disappointing. I'm glad we tried it but won't be rushing back.

Next for the long drive north, first to Ornsköldsvik (530kms) for an overnight, then on to Töre at the northern end of the Baltic (420kms) the following day. There was and excellent 'sunset'. This photo was taken just after 11pm, and the sun was due to set at 00.15 and rise again at 00.41

It is getting harder and harder to sleep at night as it's not getting dark so the body clock is very confused. It will get worse as we head further north.

Another 100kms on from Tore, we crossed into the Arctic circle

Now on to Norway and the land of the midnight sun