Advertisement
Published: February 14th 2023
It was time to head back home- we had a rental car to return and a 6 hour journey, south bound on highway E6 towards Malmö, Sweden. We took a little break and trekked up to explore a bit of the Swedish countryside to view the magnificent coast line! As highway E6 ran parallel to the coast we were never too far away from the water! Most of the countryside in Sweden and Norway had the classic red painted barns and vast expanses of agricultural land. Also along the highway were numerous windmills fulfilling the need for green Eco-sustainability
We reached Malmö and had dinner at an Indian restaurant called Urban Turban, to overcome our spice withdrawal 😊
and then walked around the city to see Malmö’s pride — the Turning Torso, the tallest skyscraper in Scandinavia. Malmö was an immigrant rich city with 35 percent of its population foreign born. Mild summers and not too terrible winters made this a favorable destination for immigrants looking for better pastures. I learnt that the city underwent transformation after the opening of the Oresund bridge in 2000 as it facilitated easy traffic flow between Sweden and Denmark. It is now
Great meal and a Good vibe!
The Nordic smorrebrod, open faced sandwiches - home to many Danes who chose to live here to escape Copenhagen’s pricy real estate. For the tourist, Malmo came across as idyllic and laid back - the people seemed happy with less! As with all cities visited on our Nordic vacation thus far, here too we decided to take the canal boat ride called the Kanalrundtur - a guided boat tour along canals and under bridges to get an up close and personal look at Malmo from the waters! Our guide hopped onto the boat as it was just pulling out of the dock, dressed in flip flops and carried her pet dog in a little knapsack who was interestingly, the star attraction on the boat! She pointed out to us the landmarks along the waterline but what I loved was the green expanse in pockets of the city!
All in all, this was the last leg of our Nordic adventure, our flight back home was through Copenhagen airport. We’d seen so much during the past week but there was yet another famous landmark, for us to visit - the Kronborg slott, a UNESCO World Heritage site, but first “break ke baad” - we needed to
break for lunch!
We stopped at a beachside restaurant called Badhytten, by the village of Skanor Falsterbo. Located on the southernmost tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, the region boasts of best weather in all of Sweden and its maritime position makes it’s seafood the freshest. Needless to say, we were on a seafood diet, when ‘we see-food’ we eat it! ( punch line, courtesy - from the restaurant’s menu card!)
It was a beautiful, mild spring day in June and people were out by the beach lounging around. It was so beautiful that we took too long a lunch break and then decided to hurry if we had to get to Kronborg castle in time!
We reached Helsingor (Shakespear's Elsinore); parked our car and walked in the direction of Kronborg Slott, home to Shakespeare’s character Hamlet, the imaginary prince of Denmark. . It was interesting to learn about its history and its transformation from a fortress in the 1400s to a renaissance castle. As with other castles/slott’s this too had its share of fire outbreaks and renovations which were completed by none other than King Christian IV. It is now open
to the public and its refurbished rooms are a treat for our eyes! Hamlet, Shakespeare’s play was enacted in the castle to mark the 200th anniversary of the playwright’s death. Today, Kronborg Slott/castle stands testimony to the architectural and strategic prowess of the Danes, a must see on every tourist’s bucket-list.
And this sums up our week long vacation to the Nordics. Our vacation was characterized by family time, long sun- drenched days, beautiful locales, museum explorations, castle visits and a hugely insatiable desire to see more!
Keep Travelling! Cheers!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 16; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0771s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb
