Advertisement
Published: July 16th 2010
South Sweden: Days 1-7
I guess you can call South Sweden one of the Rivieras of Scandinavia, and in our experience it really lived up to this description. In the sweltering heat wave that consumed the region (highs of 95 F, and 34 C) during our stay, the beaches of Malmo were packed with sun bathers, and the waters of the Oresund, most inviting: water temp 74 deg.
The province of Scane is a distinct region of Sweden that has traditionally been part of the Danish Kingdom. Malmo is its center and has been our first stop in this summer trip to scandinavia. The land is relatively flat with undulating gentle hills, if you can even call it that. Within a few minutes driving outside the city you find yourself in farmland. The city itself is very compact filled with old buildings and squares, lined with shops and restaurants. Dedicated bike lanes are every where. The city and the neighborhoods are designed such that such lanes are accommodated, and the bike lanes are heavily used.
Malmo Day 1.
After a visit to the beach we rented paddle boats and powered through through the canals of the inner center
of the Malmo, a great way the see the city and get some exercise at the same time. Since Faye and I were keen on getting our muscles working again after the long plane ride, we took my mother and step-father for a 1.5 hour joy ride of the Malmo canal system. The rest of our time was spent in visiting family members, bicycle riding exploring Malmo, and watching World cup soccer in the downtown square Malmo Bars.
Day 3
Roskilde
This is a small town just 30 min to the west of Kopehagen, situated on a long fjord, the narrow inlet that opens to the oresund, the thin waterway that separates Denmark and Norway. A newly build bridge connects the the two countries very conveniently.
Roskilde houses a large viking ship museum, which is a big attraction in the city. This is a great museum with guided tours, and work shops offered all related to viking style ship building.
The ships on display are not replicas but actual ships that from around a 1000 years ago that were deliberately sunk to block the passage into the fjord from potential invaders. The ships were carefully
preserved using a special ethelynglycol mixture, and carefully reconstructed. The Highlight of the trip was sailing briefly on the viking ship replica, which included rowing the boat viking style, and setting up the sail.
Malmo Day 3-4
Canoeing is a common pass time in Sweden. Usually you can rent canoes at two major sites. My Swedish step father, Lennart, who along with my mother is a veteran down stream canoer, takes charge of organizing the tour. He spends half the day before we leave organizing and gathering all the provisions we need for an overnight canoeing trip down the X river.
All cooking supplies, food, tents, blankets and sleeping bags are packed into four mid size water proof barrels, ready for transport in the rented boats.
The plan is to head for the nearest renting station to rent the two canoes that will carry my mother Nahid and Lennart in one, and Faye and I in the other. An hour drive through the Skane country side brings us to the rental and launch station. Since all the good canoes are rented by the time we get there, we end up with two large aluminum
canoes.
We paddled down for roughly an hour down stream in the sweltering humid heat, 95 deg f. River takes us thru mainly green dairy pastures with a few country houses here and there. By the time we reach the camping area, we find that we forgot the 20 gallon water container at home. From then on we rely on the kindness of our boisterous neighbors in the campsite for our basic water needs. After pitching the tent we prepare a fire and Lennart and my mother prepared a most delicious meal while the local chapter of Hell's Angles (scane) entertained us with greco-roman wrestling. (Note to Hell's Angels: Please sew up the big hole in your underwear.)
Apparently our tough neighbors were not so tough and seemed intimidated as we rammed them with our canoe passed them the following day. Considering Faye and I together weigh less than a mid sized member of their group, it was heartening to know we have some intimidation factor.
Overnight train to Malmo to Oslo.
This is A nice way to travel if you can sleep on the train. You can reserve a single room in
which there are three beds. It is surprisingly comfortable, and a great way to save money on hotel.
The night of our departure, we headed to the city center to have indian food in the main old town square and watch world cup final.
The square is very lively and filled with restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating, surrounded by magnificent buildings dating back to probably many years back. Soon a torrential rain started that would end up disrupting Swedish train travel later that night.
When we we headed to the station where we faced a 4 hour plus delay in our departure, which according to the Norwegians was definitely due to Swedish in adequacies.
Bergen:
This is a city with spectacular scenery, set on one of the fjords of Norway next to the atlantic ocean. This is the gateway to the most of the viking expeditions to England, Dublin, and Iceland more than a thousand years ago.
On the way to the fish market we stopped by a fortress which has a fascinating exhibit on the social history of the region. We now know how to distribute our property according to medieval law
after our death. This is attributed to a Norwegian king Magnus who reigned in the 1500's.
We also know what they would have done with the person who stole our bag when we left it in the hotel luggage room. Public whipping if it is the first offense, and capital punishment if it is a repeated attempt.
After breakfast we head to the fish market. This is a lively corner of the city where free samples of fish and caviar are gladly given out with the hope of selling their nicely packaged 40 US dollar smoked salmon--which I should say tastes great. The sales people are usually very friendly and charismatic people recruited from Spain or Italy. The reason being, most tourists to the area come from that region.
Climbing the adjacent hills, over looking the city, is well worth the walk. But for those who prefer a lift, there is a funicular which takes you all the way to the top. The hills are heavily wooded and rise up to 1500 feet, and they resemble some of the costal towns of south east Alaska, like Ketchican. The houses or apartment are compact buildings nestled tightly on
Lennart's Lounge
By far the best cock-tail in town.the hills.
At 4pm we board the speed ferry headed for Balestrand.
Balestrand Day 1
This is a very small town that is in the highly visited Songfjord and a gateway to explore the mountains surrounding the fjord and the expeditions to the adjacent glaciers.
The closest comparison i can come up with is that it highly resembles the scenery you see traveling thru the inner passage heading for south east alaska from Seattle. The similarity is striking. No wonder most norwegians chose to settle in the Pacific Northwest when they migrated to the US.Balestrand is a small city situated in the middle of the Songfjord, a frequently visited
fjord by tourists. IT is one the largest. The Fjord itself is a large body of water about 2-3 miles wide with many finger like extensions of narrow inlets that extend into the inland area surrounded by very tall mountains. The town is quiet and the views of the fjord spectacular. THe sun does not set until about 11pm as the town has the same latitude as Anchorage Alaska.
Hike to the top of the Raudhenlen, 1.2 km, or about 3600 feet.
The hike is not
On board
Train from Malmo to Oslo difficult but takes its toll on your legs after the four hour mark. The views are great. At the peak you almost get an airplane views of the song fjord.
On our final full day, we enjoyed a three hour kayak tour with a great guide. Views of the fjords and glaciers melting with waterfalls running down was truly spectacular. Thanks Janick!
Back to Oslo-
Saturday we returned by ferry to Bergen and headed immediately for Olso. After checking into our hotel, we explored the local neighborhoods and headed out for some live music at one of the only two venues we could find. Apparently, July is the month everyone leaves. At first we wondered why, but apparently it's the local music. We had no idea jazz could be played that badly. The lead pianist seemed to be doing an impression of Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart prior to sobering up. This did not help the music. I would also suggest tuning the piano once or twice a century.
Oslo Cont- Day 16
Very nice sunny day in Oslo. The city has an ingenious public bicycle renting program. For 80 K or 15 dollars, you can get
a one year pass for free bicycle riding. You are issued a card which you scan in at the numerous bicycle stations around town and the take a bike and return it at any station near where you need to go. You can ride a bike anywhere, anytime, and park it anywhere without have to own one. So we rented two of those for the day and headed to Vigeland sculpture park, which is an amazing park full of great sculptures.
Also all over Oslo there are amazing public art displays, ranging from the absurd and the amusing, such as scuba divers in mid air, to serious and reflective tributes to historical figures.
Oslo is also a very cosmopolitan and diverse city. We very much enjoyed spending a lot of our time in the immigrant (Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, Ethiopian, district full of restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores catering to these populations but frequented my many local native Norwegians.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0765s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Orang
non-member comment
Awesome
Great pics Navid. Sounds like a really fun trip - but one question: How come Leonard never wears a shirt :-)