General: Sweden

My boyfriend and I currently live in Sweden (see my review 'Living in Sweden' if you want to know why!) and for 7 days this summer we decided to head off on an adventure driving and camping along the south coast of Sweden. I have a trusty Rough Guide book of Sweden which has been like a bible whilst living here, as I am constantly referring to it. Before we left for our trip I had a read through to check which places we should visit along the way, ...
...we would be going and what we would see….

So come and join us on our 'Southern Sweden Adventure 2005' as we seemed to keep calling it for some reason!! There are photos and a map below too.

**Day 1**

We were supposed to set off early but after we had hauled all of our bags of camping gear, boxes of food, clothes, deckchairs, BBQ etc down five flights of stairs to the car it was a little later than we had ... more

My boyfriend and I currently live in Sweden (see my review 'Living in Sweden' if you want to know why!) and for 7 days this summer we decided to head off on an adventure driving and camping along the south coast of Sweden. I have a trusty Rough Guide book of Sweden which has been like a bible whilst living here, as I am constantly referring to it. Before we left for our trip I had a read through to check which places we should visit along the way, but other than that we had no idea of where we would be going and what we would see….

So come and join us on our 'Southern Sweden Adventure 2005' as we seemed to keep calling it for some reason!! There are photos and a map below too.

**Day 1**

We were supposed to set off early but after we had hauled all of our bags of camping gear, boxes of food, clothes, deckchairs, BBQ etc down five flights of stairs to the car it was a little later than we had planed! The sun was shining for the first time that summer, so feeling like we might get a whole week of sunshine we set off with high hopes! With the population of Sweden being only nine million in an area twice the size of Britain, there is very little traffic and we zoomed (though not too fast!) along the motorway down to the coast. With only stopping for a quick toilet break, we made it to Arild in about 3 hours.

Arild is situated on a small peninsular just north of Helsingborg and is a little, pretty fishing village, made up of a harbour full of boats and then on the hills behind the harbour, beautiful little thatched cottages. We sat by the quayside eating our picnic and admiring the picture postcard scene around us. As it was still sunny we went for a wander around the village, all the time pointing out pretty cottages and saying 'ooh, I'd like that one!' 'no, that one!'

Leaving Arild we drove for a few kilometres along the road to Himmelstorp which is an 18th century farmstead. Expecting something amazing we were a bit disappointed to find an old farm house which didn't really look any different to an old farm you'd find in England, but as there are very few old wooden structures still standing in Sweden I guess they thought it was worth making it a tourist attraction! After a homemade ice-cream at the farm we set off in search of Nimis. I had read about Nimis in my guidebook and was intrigued to see what it was. The book said it was 'a living sculpture comprising of a tower and corridors, built out of driftwood and odd items of furniture, which looks as though it could collapse at any moment, yet visitors can clamber inside it.' Setting off following a signpost we entered a dark forest, which then continued to signpost the way by marking large N's on the trees. Gradually the N's vanished and we were wandering along with no idea of which way to head. After several attempts at walking back and attempting to find the N's again and feeling like we were in The Blair Witch Project we gave up and went back to the car!! So we'll never know what this amazing structure looked like! (Though I've added a photo below for those of you who are curious!)

After a quick stop at the supermarket we followed a signpost to a camp site. There are over 600 campsites in Sweden, most of which are located along the coast, so the chances of finding a campsite nearby are always fairly high. We didn't book any of our campsites in advance as we only had a tent, but it would probably be worth checking in advance if you had a caravan, as the sites were all quite busy. We were pleased to discover that the campsite we had chosen (Lerbergets Camping) was right on the beach, and if you looked carefully along the horizon you could see Denmark. After pitching the tent we went in search of a drink and found a lovely little bar by the side of the campsite. I had the largest glass of wine I've ever seen in my life - I'm sure it held a whole bottle of wine! With a big smile on my face after all the wine, we returned to the tent for a BBQ and then to bed.

**Day 2**

We woke up to pouring rain and my boyfriend subsequently decided he didn't like camping, so he spent the whole morning moping around as we packed up our stuff. We were going to carry driving along the coast and visit Malmö but as the weather was so horrible we though we'd keep driving until we found some sunshine. We eventually found some sunshine in Ystad, so headed to the nearest campsite which was once again next to the beach. Leaving Sandskogen Campsite we walked along the coastal path into Ystad town.

Ystad is a medieval market town with little cobbled lanes lined with timbered houses. Finding a little café on the beach front we stopped for some lunch. It is at this point that I should probably tell you about the accent spoken in the South of Sweden. The most southerly part of Sweden is called Skåne which until 1678 was a part of Denmark rather than Sweden. Due to this people from Skåne have a more Danish than Swedish accent, which is often described as sounding as though they are speaking with a mouthful of porridge!! My boyfriend and I both speak Swedish but really struggled throughout this holiday to understand anything that was being said to us!! Ystad was a very picturesque town and we enjoyed just having a wander around the shops and along the harbour front. We were also lucky enough to see a Swedish film being made - the Swedish author Henning Mankell has written a number of thrillers about a fictional policeman named Kurt Wallander from Ystad, many of which have been made into films. Having studied one of these books in my Swedish lessons it was great to see the film being made and also to recognise street names and places mentioned in the book.

Once back at the campsite we had a lazy evening sitting in our deckchairs reading and deciding where to head to next.

**Day 3**

Despite a huge thunderstorm during the night, we woke up to find it dry, if a little cloudy. We managed to squeeze in quite a few visits to places on our third day, the first visit being to Ales Stenar. Ales Stenar is Sweden's version of Stonehenge and is believed to have been a Viking meeting place. It consists of 56 stones forming a 67 metre long boat shaped creation set high up on a cliff top. A guided tour was just starting at we reached the stones, so we stayed to listen. From what we could gather through the strange Swedish/Danish accent of our guide the stones act as a giant sundial, with the sun rising and setting behind each stone during the year.

From Ales Stenar we followed the coast road to Sandhammaren. This is a beautiful beach which stretches for miles with white sand backed by dunes and lapped by turquoise waters. Except by the time we'd spread out our towels and got comfy the sky and water had turned dark grey and the heavens opened!! We managed to run back to the car without getting too wet, but sadly missed out on a day at what is described as Sweden most glorious beach.

After giving up on a day on the beach we drove to Simrishamn for lunch. There wasn't much to this little fishing town other than a few nice cafes along the high street and a 12th century church, but it was very nice none the less. At the café where we ate our lunch, we spied these huge meringue like structures. I say structures as it looked as though someone had dribbled pink and yellow coloured meringue all over a traffic cone, left it to set and then removed the cone!! We asked in the café and were told they were called 'spettkaka' and they were a traditional cake from the region. We bought a little one and sat in the car to try it. Reading the ingredients we were a bit put off before we had already started - the ingredients were 'potato flour, eggs and sugar.' Potato flour in a cake?! Breaking a piece off we both tried it - bluueerghh - it tasted like wallpaper paste that had been left to set!!

In need of something to wash this horrible taste out of our mouths we headed off to Kivik, which is Sweden's cider making district. There is a large cider factory in Kivik, although sadly you can't go in and sample any, so we settled for having a look round the museum which was called The Apple House. The museum is made up of a series of rooms which tell the story of apples and cider making, with each room also accompanied by an apple smell, for example, apple pie or cider! There wasn't a huge amount to see in the museum but the shop did have lots of nice juices and jams to try.

Our last stop of the day was at Nogersunds campsite. We had picked up a leaflet for it earlier in the day and were excited to see there was a heated pool there, but by the time we arrived it was pouring with rain again, so we had to settle for eating dinner in the car and an early night.

**Day 4**

We woke up to pouring rain, and my boyfriend declaring once again that he didn't like camping! Leaving the campsite we drove to the nearby town of Karlshamn. Karlshamn is fairly industrial with not a lot to see, but luckily the town festival was taking place when we visited, so the high street was lined with market stalls and handcrafts. We bought a few bits and pieces and then noticed the sun was finally coming out, so thought we should make the most of it and do a bit of sunbathing. Along with the numerous signposts to campsites, every swimming spot is also signposted. So we simply followed the first sign we saw and then found ourselves at a beautiful, secluded area by the sea. Making the most of the first bit of really hot sunshine all holiday, we laid out for several hours, reading and dozing off. Bliss.

After a few hours lazing around with not another person in sight, yet again the heavens opened and we fled back to the car. When we arrived at our next campsite (Skonstaviks Camping) it was still raining and my boyfriend declared he couldn't face another night in a wet tent. So instead of the tent we booked a little wooden camping cottage. The cottage was small and basic, but actually having our own beds and a little stove of our own was luxury! Plus there was finally a fridge to keep my boyfriends beers cold - another reason why he didn't like camping in tents! After setting up our little cottage we drove to the nearby town of Karlskrona.

Karlskrona is a naval town, spread out of several islands and linked by bridges (a bit like a mini Stockholm for anyone who has been). It was founded by King Karl XI in 1680, as it was the only part of the coastline where the water didn't freeze in the winter. It is now home to a large naval base and maritime museum. As it was getting late in the day we didn't have time to visit the museum, but settled instead on a ride round town on a little 'train' pulled round by a tractor! The train drove through the centre of town, along the quayside and the over bridges toward the outer islands. There were some beautiful holiday cottages along the waterside and once again we were pointing them out saying 'I'd have that one!'

Back at our camping cottage we dined (I say 'dined' as the cottage felt like luxury after our damp tent!) on spaghetti carbonara prepared on our little one ring stove and drank chilled wine and beer! We were very happy snuggling into our warm bunk beds, hearing the sound of the rain pouring down outside!

**Day 5**

Leaving our little cottage with a tear in our eye we set off for the tiny town of Kristianopel. There are only 38 inhabitants in Kristianopel, although this number rises to around two thousand in the summer! Kristianopel is surrounded by three kilometres of three metre thick fortification walls. The current walls are a reconstruction, but the original walls were built in 1600 by the Danish King Christian IV to protect the then Danish owned town from Sweden. The walls are about 6 feet high and flat enough to wall on, so after a walk along the walls around the town we were ready for 'fika'. Fika is a Swedish word which means coffee and cake, and it cannot be fika unless you have both the cake and the coffee. So forced to keep with the Swedish way of doing things we ate the most gigantic piece of chocolate cake I've ever seen!! Mmm.

We then continued to drive up the coast, which had now tuned from the South Coast to the East Coast. Our next stop was Kalmar, which is also set of a number of small islands. We didn't spend long in Kalmar as we knew we would be returning in a few days. The island of Öland lies just off Kalmar's coast, so we drove over the adjoining 6km long bridge to reach the island.

Öland is Sweden's second largest island and is about 200km long but only 10 km wide. Driving in Öland is very easy as there is only one main road which runs through the centre of the island. Having decided that he liked the cottage life better than the camping life, my boyfriend had called ahead and booked a cottage for us. Following the directions we had been given we passed literally hundreds of wooden windmills before finally reaching our destination at Böda Sand. We met the lady who my boyfriend had spoken to on the phone, only to find that the little cottage we though we would be staying in was actually a huge old Victorian school! We were staying in one of the old classrooms, which had now been converted into a holiday cottage, complete with a full kitchen and bathroom, plus an entire school field! Upstairs in the attic was also a billiard table and table tennis table. Amazed at our great fortune in finding this place, we spent several hours just lazing around the cottage and playing billiards. In the evening we braved the miserable weather and sat outside in the school field for a BBQ. In bed that night I'm sure I heard ghostly noises from the old school teacher who used to live in the attic!!

**Day 6**

Yet another wet day but we braved it by having a brisk walk along the beach and building some sandcastles. The beach stretched for miles in either direction and would have been lovely in the sun, but sadly we only got to experience it in the wind and rain - it was just like an English summer holiday! Saying goodbye to our school we headed to Borgholm, which is Öland's biggest town. Borgholm is centred around a large harbour and made up of lots of seasidy shops and restaurants. Borgholm is also home to the Swedish Royal family's summer residence and a old stone castle which looms over the town from a nearby hill. It was market day in the town, so despite the bad weather it was fairly busy.

Unbeknown to me, as a special treat my boyfriend had booked us into a nearby hotel (Guntorps Herrgård), so we headed off there. The surprise was lovely, especially as we had gone from a tent, to a cottage, to a school, to a hotel in the space of a week!! Making the most of the wet weather and the lovely comfy beds we spent the afternoon lazing about watching TV.

Later in the evening we took a taxi into Borgholm for a few drinks and a meal - making the most of the fact that we didn't have to cook for ourselves on a little camping stove. Returning back to the hotel after maybe one drink too many we sunk into our comfy beds.

**Day 7**

Our stay in the hotel included breakfast, so we made the most of this! Swedish breakfast includes just about everything - cereal, bread, cheese, ham, eggs, salad, pastries etc, so we filled up for the day. In the middle of the breakfast room was a huge swimming pool surrounded by stuffed animals, which was very peculiar and probably would have been put to better use just as a swimming pool.

On our last day of our holiday we met returned to Kalmar, back over the bridge from Öland. Once in Kalmar we visited the town museum which we were told is home to an exhibition on the sunken warship, Kronan. We had visited the Vasa museum in Stockholm the previous summer (which is restored 17th century ship) so were expecting something similar. We were very disappointed to find out after a 2 hour guided tour in Swedish that they had only recovered relics from the warship, as the actual boat was still underwater!

It was now time for us to make our way home. Four hours later we were finally home and it was time to end our Southern Sweden Adventure.

**Prices**

Sweden is thought to be an expensive country, but I don't think it's any more expensive than London, Manchester or Edinburgh. We camp sites we stayed at were around 150 kronor (£12), the camping cottage was 400 kronor (£30), the converted school was 500 kronor (£38) and the hotel in Borgholm was 900 kronor (£70). Eating and drinking prices are much the same as in England, although alcoholic drinks are slightly more. A beer or glass of wine is about 40 kronor (£3).

**Doing the trip yourself**

If you fancy following this adventure too, or trying something similar I would recommend flying with Ryanair to Gothenburg and then following the same route as us. You could then either return to Gothenburg, or continue from Kalmar to Stockholm, where Ryanair also fly to. The entire trip was 1506km door to door, which is a long way, but the trip could be split up into smaller chunks and more time could be spent in each of the towns we visited. We saw lots of people on bikes along the coastal roads which would be a lovely holiday if the weather was nice. I haven't mentioned road names, telephone numbers etc, as these would easily be found in a guidebook and often change.

**Overall**

I'm sure you can gather from reading this that we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and managed to see a great deal of the South of Sweden in a short space of time. Although the weather wasn't fantastic, I think we visited more places because of this as we weren't stuck in one spot lying on the beach. Flights to Sweden with Ryanair can be very cheap so I would highly recommend the South of Sweden as a great holiday for someone who is looking for something a little bit different. Let me know if you decide to visit and I'll come and join you for a 'fika'!

Helen

 

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