Sweden 2026 - Day 7 - Back to Stockholm .. the Viking Museum

We were late leaving out little cabin in the woods because part of the deal is that we had to do a thorough cleaning job after ourselves (vacuuming, moping, wiping all shiny surfaces, etc.), but at last we were off and around 1 pm we parked near the Viking Museum, which we were both interested in seeing. It was very well done, but it was comparatively small and maybe we could have used our time better in the Museum of Nordic Life. You get what you get.

The age of the Vikings generally extends from 700 to 1100, or what was in Central Europe the first half of the medieval age. I mentioned before that the Vikings were Scandinavian people interested in trade, moving merchandise from the west to the markets of the Middle East. One of the most precious commodities were slaves, which is why the Vikings were known as plunderers and pillagers. Most of the time, however, were farmers that only took one or two exploration/trade trips in their lives,

Géraldine, who is blond and has blue eyes, was happy to see that the Vikings had come into northern France and Bretagne (even as far as northern Spain), thus explaining the blondes found in France and Spain, where otherwise people tend to be swarthy in complexion. I think she should do one of those genetic tests to see what percentage in her ancestry comes from Scandinavia.

After the museum we went for a walk along the waterfront, ate a hot dog like everyone else seemed to be doing, and walked to the cathedral, which for some reason we had not visited before. It was decorated with some pretty impressive statuary art (e.g., Saint George laying the dragon) and has a beautiful organ, but seemed a bit small for a town the size of Stockholm.

On the way back, somehow, I took a wrong turn and we ended stranded on a small island facing the Viking Museum. The only way to get there was to take the regular boat bus service, so we got an extra ride through the harbor as part of my mistake.

Finally, we drove to the airport hotel where we are spending the night, I dropped Géraldine off, and went to return the car. I had booked a ride back to the hotel with the hotels shuttle and manage to catch it just in time. By 6:30 pm I was back, we had dinner, and braced for an early ride to the airport to take our 8 am flight to Helsinki. 

Sweden 2026 - Day 6 - The Baltic Sea

Yesterday we got our fill of the grand city of Götborg, so today we drove to the mouth of the estuary, in Langedrag, to put our foot (or Géraldine's foot to be precise) in the Baltic Sea. Everybody seems to have had the same idea, because all parking lots were full, and a stream of people was walking toward what I imagine was the beach. We went around the marina, found a parking spot, and walked along the rocky sides of the marina until the street turned into a hiking path. Some crazy old people were swimming in the sea like it was a warm tub, but when Géraldine dipped her toes in she almost turned blue.

The coast of the Baltic Sea is bound by rounded knobs of granite and gneiss, sculpted by the glaciers, in between which there might here and there be a tiny beach. Swedes of all ages were happily splashing in the water, or stretched over the boulders to catch some sun. Reminded me of the coast of Main or the coast of Brittany in France. For us it was a lovely walk, but the idea of getting in that cold water seemed like insanity (cruel parents tossed their toddlers into the frigid waters like if they were seal pups).

On the way back to the car we stopped at a tiny café, where the chatty owner was full of wisecracks. When we asked for cappuccino he answered he only had Swedish coffee ... then, after some reflection he added that it was not true Swedish coffee because that would imply a cup half full of coffee and half full of vodka. So we took our simple coffee to one of the outside tables and soon the old timer came to sit with us while trying to repair a fan. He encouraged us to look for strange things in the marina, such as someone falling from a boat or rookies getting tangled trying to launch a sailboat. Then he attempted to guess where we were from (failed miserably) and on knowing I was Mexican told me of the years he had spent working by the Mexican border in Texas, and the fun times he had in Cd. Juarez and Matamoros. The conversation then drifted into fish and I mention I had not been able to taste a real Swedish fish, like herring. He jumped up from is chair, went inside, and a few minutes later came back with a small filet of smoked mackerel, which he had smoked himself and two dollops of his self-made mayo. So I finally tried some local fish! Then, as we were saying goodbye he asked me if I wanted to try pickled herring, and on hearing my affirmative answer again went inside and brought out a jar, which he gave me as a present "because you are Mexican and I like you". He was indeed a very kind man.

After our visit to the coast we had to drive 350 km on the way back toward Stockholm (altogether too much driving in this trip). We are spending the night at a horse farm where the owner rents some small cottages. She breeds Icelandic horses, which I always thought were short, but the ones we have seen so far are full size. Tonight we plan to go for pizza to go and bring it to eat in our wonderful terrace.

Sweden 2026 - Day 5 - A long drive to Götborg

Maps are deceptive. Sweden does not look that wide on a map, but getting to Götborg (or Gothenburg as shown in Google Maps) took a good four hours (350 km). Part of the slow progress was the maddening tendency of Swedish highway managers, who keep lowering the speed limit around every crossroads. Fortunately, we can both drive so we took relays.

We only did one stop along the way, at Trollhätte, to take a look at the canyon of the Göta river, which is the outlet of the giant Lake Vänern. The canyon is a good 100 m deep, and was likely carved through glaciated granites and gneisses by large floods as the ice dams of the Ice Age broke down. The city, which announces itself in a large set of tall white letters as "Trollywood", was the playground of hydraulic engineers, who built several dams and canals to take advantage of the gradient to generate hydroelectricity. The Göta river is navigable, so to facilitate the passage of boats between the lake and the river two sets of locks were built (although by the look of them they have not been in use for a long time). It was a welcome way to stretch our legs.

Götborg is Sweden's second largest cities and its most important port. It is a prosperous and modern city, with lots of freeways and complicated turns and turns (happily for me it was Géraldine's turn to drive). The city is located across the estuary formed as the Göta river empties into the Bay of Kattegat. The city has thus developed on both banks of the river, but the southeast bank is where the old city is, and the northwest bank is where most of the port facilities are located.

The "old city" suffers from a modernity wash that has made it as generic as other modern port cities such as Oakland or Rotterdam. We walked all around it looking for quaint corners but mostly found big commercial pedestrian walks bordered by the same swanky brands you find all over the world. The "old city" is crossed by a couple of canals along which green corridors have been preserved, and which are clearly a favorite spot for locals to sit in the grass and enjoy their sack lunches.

Looking at what were the signature dishes of the city we found that seafood is reputed to be very good. I was particularly attracted to the idea of getting some herring. In California we can get pickled herring or herring in cream sauce, but the specialty here is a fermented herring which reputedly has a very strong smell and delicious flavor. So we went out of our way to find a fish restaurant for dinner, but they looked down their noses when I asked for herring (obviously a low-quality fisherman's fare), and we settled for cod fish for Géraldine, and a  shrimp smørrebrød—an open-faced rye sandwich piled high with a small mountain of shrimp—for me. They were very good, but I was still stuck in getting some herring, so I dragged Géraldine to a supermarket to buy myself a can of herring with a zero result. I will have to wait until I get back home to have a proper Swedish fish dinner. 

Sweden 2026 - Day 4 - Uppsala to Ervalla

Today was a driving day through lovely landscapes. The relief of the land is low, with the hills being crystalline basement rocks scoured flat by the passage of the glaciers of the Ice Age. Most of the "hills" support fairly open forests, and in between pasture and wheat are being grown. To me the wheat looks ready for harvest, but I imagine the farmers are letting it get as dry and dense as possible.

Our first stop after leaving Stockholm was at the Dream Park in Enköping (self-proclaimed city of parks). The Dream Park is a smaller portion of a bigger park where a landscape horticulturalist went crazy planting any imaginable flowering plant in Sweden. Not being flower aficionados we limited ourselves to enjoying the kaleidoscope of colors and pushed forward to visit the Church of Notre Dame (Vårfrukyrkan in Danish), which is a 12th century Catholic Church that was converted to Evangelic during the Reformation. The glass windows and wall paintings are very nice.

We then drove to the Ship Museum near Vasteras. This open-air museum is someone's private collection of full-size replicas of boats from the Viking time (which to us looked smaller than what the movies represent--but let's remember that the Vikings were traders, and probably had a greater need for cargo boats than for fighting boats), an amazing replica of a Hansa trading boat that you could visit, and toy versions of trebouchets and other medieval tools and technologies.

We were getting hungry, but before going to Vesteras we stopped at the Anungshög (meaning Anungs Mound) archeologic site. This was a Viking royal burial site, where after the burial folks piled dirt to a height of 10 meters or so, and then planted a dolmen with all sorts of beautiful runes and built fine "ships" by marking the oval outline of ships with large stones. Archaeologists speculate that the mound was the meeting location of the people's council, or Ting, where disputes were aired in public and conflicts were resolved by the elders of the community. 

Vasteras, the largest town in our itinerary, claims to be one of the oldest towns in Sweden, going back to the early medieval period. We thought the center would be defined by narrow alleys but were disappointed. Old houses have the same aspect of heavy log constructions painted in dark red we saw in Viby, but the whole area around the cathedral was rebuilt in later times as public buildings. By this time it was too late to think about lunch, so we stopped for a coffee and Géraldine bought herself a chocolate ball, which is some type of pastry loaded with chocolate and coated with coconut shavings. Great if you are looking for a sugar high!

We took a small detour to see the Hljesta petroglyphs, which we visited taking advantage of an old "law" of Sweden: The Right to Wander. This "law" gives anyone the right to wander through fields and farms (as long as no damage is done) at your will. In this case we wandered behind a barn to look at two granite floors, leveled by the glaciers, where close to 100 petroglyphs have been painted. There are several dozen ships represented, as well as several human figures and all sorts of geometric designs. The site is a registered historical landmark, but I have my suspicions because the red paint looks suspiciously new and bright. The petroglyphs are not scratched unto the rocks but simply painted on them, and I find hard to believe they have withstood several hundreds of years of exposure to sun and rain.

Géraldine booked a B&B at Ervalla, and when we got there our friendly hostess, Christina, welcomed us with open arms. She is so cute. Her English is good but not great, an she has the strong accent that we have heard in the movies, with many interjections of "Ja, ja". But her smile was beautiful and we will spend a very comfortable night here. We have two bedrooms but the flat is pretty much ours because there are no other costumers. Through the windows we have a fabulous view of rural Sweden, which on a sunny day like today would be hard to beat anywhere else.

At the suggestion of Christina we drove 20 minutes to Nora to look for our dinner. Nora is a pretty town, by the side of a lake, and in comparison has a bustling afternoon life. Even though it was already 6:30 pm the sun was shining brightly and people were taking a boat out or simply basking in the sun at the center plaza. We ate on the terrace of one of the restaurants by the plaza, fully enjoying the sun and the people watching.

Sweden 2026 - Day 3 - Sigtuna and Uppsala

Turns out that Uppsala is not that far from Stockholm, so we decided to make a small detour to visit the town of Sigtuna. It is a small town that in some way reminded Géraldine of a cowboy movie set, with its small wooden houses so different from the palatial architecture of the capital. But its current bucolic character belittles the important role it had in Viking and early Christian times, when it vied for supremacy with Uppsala.

The small museum has a good time line connecting the remains that have been found from seal hunters of the stone age, early farmers spanning the bronze and iron age, to Roman times, the early fiefdoms, to the Viking age when trade with the far east increased considerably (500 to 900 AD), to the Middle Ages, and finally to the kingdom of Sweden in the late 1500's. Interestingly, we all think of the Vikings as plunderers, but they were in fact merchants that used their fast ships to move products of Scandinavia through the Baltic and Caspian seas, in exchange of the silver of the far east.

We also saw some fine examples of stone stele covered with runes of pre-Viking times.

To stretch our legs we made a half-hour hike to the hamlet of Viby, which is a frozen in time collection of farms from the 18th century, when rural construction was based on the use of heavy logs painted on a uniform dark red color, animal husbandry in close proximity to the farmers, and little input from the outside world. They built the enclosures for their animals by stabbing young saplings diagonally to the ground and piling them on each other with the guiding help of a couple of stakes every two meters or so. They form a very attractive pattern that extends throughout the hamlet.

We had lunch in Sigtuna (I had a type of Swedish bouillabaisse with fish and shellfish that was very tasty) and after that Géraldine took the wheel and drove us to Uppsala while I dozed by her side. Once in Uppsala it took us a while to find a good parking place where we could park for 4 hours, and from there went directly to visit the cathedral. Sweden was a Catholic country, but during the Reformation the king decreed that the state religion would change to Evangelic-Lutheran, so the cathedral is a peculiar combination of Gothic Catholic and stern Evangelic architecture. The cathedral dates back to the 13th century, but after the Reformation several of the side chapels were converted into tombs for the Swedish kings, and all saints were removed leaving behind empty platforms (more about this later). High bell towers were added in the 15th century, but a fire in 1702 destroyed all the glass windows and the bell towers. The cathedral was reconstructed in the early 1800s, at which time a new pair of towers, this time in harmony with the initial Gothic style were added. On the inside of the cathedral there are some fine mosaic murals.

The cathedral looks a bit empty because of the missing saints, so an enterprising minister decided to use the whole building as a gallery for an exposition by a British sculptor, Sean Henry, who represents the people you might find along the street in metal, and painted in very realistic colors. Very fine exposition, but weird to see a majestic cathedral used for this purpose. 

After that we meandered through the buildings of the University of Uppsala in direction to the castle. Unfortunately the castle itself was closed (Monday closure), but we were able to visit the outside, the fortifications, and the garden (which is now the botanical garden of the university). We ended our walk on a bench at the edge of the Fyris River, to share with many happy locals the fresh calm atmosphere of the afternoon.

Sweden 2026 - Day 2 – Stockholm

I woke up to a message from Lufthansa to the effect that my luggage had been located, giving me the location number, and telling me to await further instructions for pickup. Géraldine once again wanted to go to the airport and shout at them, but I convinced to go do our tourist visit to Stockholm and in the evening, after receiving the pickup instructions, go to the airport. I would have hated to miss one sunny day to visit Stockholm.

A 30 minute drive brought us to the heart of the city, where we found a parking garage and left the car for the day (at a very steep parking fee), and walked to the front of the Royal Palace, where the hop on-hop off tourist bus and boat stops. We started by taking the boat to get a panoramic view of the core of Stockholm. This medieval city grew considerably since the 1500's and the waterfront is now lined with imposing public buildings.

Stockholm is located in the estuary formed by the confluence of two or three rivers with unpronounceable names, so every piece of land is either an island or a peninsula surrounded by water.

Stockholm was part of the Hanseatic League which conducted trade throughout northern Europe, and many German and Dutch people lived here, considerably influencing the medieval architecture of the old town. Prosperity attracted trouble, and from 1200 to 1500 the city was the bone of contention between Swedes, Danes, Dutch, and Polish. In 1520 King Gustav Vasar finally defeated their enemies and a brief period of peace followed, just to be followed by the 30 year war (1618-1648). King Gustav II decided to protect Sweden at all costs and built a large war fleet. But they were not very good at designing ships, and on August 10, 1628, their first two-deck warship, the Vasa, listed shortly after being launched and sank in the harbor (it was too narrow, top heavy, and not properly ballasted).

The sunken ship was forgotten, until the 1960's, when a group of marine archaeologists found it stuck in the mud of the bay. Years of hard work followed, and the Vasa was finally lifted from its mud grave, brought to dock, and for years has been the object of careful reconstruction. We went to see it at its museum, and I was shocked at its enormous size (it would have accommodated 150 sailors and 300 soldiers) and a patina that gave it the impression of being a ghost ship.

The bus tour through the city was informative both about the old history of the city, and its dynamic modernity. It has horrible climate, with short summers and long winters, but the inhabitants seem to enjoy being outside year round. Now it is summer, so everyone seems to be taking the chance to go biking, jogging, or play with the kids in one of many parks. In the winter they like ice skating in the frozen lakes or playing in the snow.

The Swedes are very amiable people, all of who speak perfect English. They have an obsession of charging for parking, however, so I was a bit weary about stopping at random for fear of a traffic ticket (but I think it is more the reputation than the reality, because I saw very few uniformed people). Thank God I have Géraldine with me, who keeps me grounded when I look at prices. The Swedish krone is about 10 cents of a euro, so it is easy to covert prices on the fly, and every time I gasp at a price she assures me that it is not so different from what you pay for the same item in France (still, I think that a 6 euro caffe latte is outrageously expensive). Gasoline is cheap, however, at 1.60 euros per liter compared with 2,20 euros in Germany.

I didn't receive a message from Lufthansa about my luggage, so I finally followed my friend's advice and went to the airport decided to fight for my backpack. Turns out that Lufthansa uses a contractor, Aviator, to handle luggage issues, so after not finding a Lufthansa counter I stopped at the Information desk and was directed to the correct door, which was firmly closed. I had to call Aviator and explain what brought me there, gave the luggage ID number to the guy who answered, and was told to wait by the door. Ten minutes later I was ready to call again when this old guy comes to the door carrying my backpack! I was so happy I forgot to show my displeasure at the whole incident (on getting back to the precariously parked car I got the riot act read to me for not asking for proper compensation from my troubles). But all is well that is well, and I hope I have learnt a valuable lesson from the whole episode.

Sweden 2026 - Day 1 - The village idiot on the way to Stockholm

I woke to my last half day in Germany just in time to say goodbye to my dear Chrissy, who is going on the annual adventure tour several friends organize. One of the couples choses a 2-day itinerary that is fun, and the others follow in their cars without a clear idea of where they are going. They do this once a year on the last weekend of July.

For the rest of the morning I lounged around with Gustav, watching the prior to the last day of Le Tour de France, which is basically a brutal uphill route across the Alps. Those guys are crazy but they are also amazing athletes! We waited for a good stage to be finished and took off for the airport.

Frankfurt airport is huge, so it pays to get there with enough time to wander around. I was just entering the airport around 2 pm, for a 4:30 pm flight, when I get a message from Lufthansa letting me know the flight is full and offering to check-in my hand luggage for free. Cool! Like the idiot I am I went to the automated kiosk, printed the label, and deposited my backpack in an automated container that swallowed it into the depths of the luggage-eating monster. I was feeling very good, ambling myself toward the security check when, imagining I was going through passport control, I realized in a panic that my passport was inside my backpack! I broke in a sweat as I went back to the counter, to look for some human to help me. The nice lady at the counter told me the only thing to do was to call the luggage back. She got busy in the phone, and after 10 minutes wait in the phone she told me that not having my passport would not be a big deal, because there was no passport control in either Frankfurt or Stockholm. But she persisted on the phone, finally got someone, and after talking with him told me that my luggage would be delivered in carousel 3 of the Arrivals hall in about 30 minutes. She gave me precise instructions on how to get there and reminded me that I probably would not have time to check my backpack again so I should carry it with me in order not to miss the plane (it was 2:30 pm by then, so it seemed I had plenty of time).

30 minutes went by. Then another 30 minutes. So I left the hall and went to look for some additional help from the Service Counter of Lufthansa. Another nice lady listened to my plight, and went to check on what was known about my luggage and how much time I had before boarding. She told me the bag had been scanned and I should give it 10 more minutes, but the boarding time was approaching and I would be quite in a hurry.

I went back to the Arrivals hall, and 10 minutes later a nice man called my name and told me his colleague from upstairs had called, and he was going to try to see where my luggage was. Five minutes later he tells me that my bag is by the airplane waiting to be loaded. "Fine", I said, "can you please tell them to load it and I will pick it up in Stockholm". He assured me he would do that, but now I really had to trot to the departure gate, which happened to be the farthest in Hall A. I did have a photo of my passport in my cell phone, and I was ready to beg for understanding from any official who demanded to see my travel document. God protects idiots, and I miraculously boarded a flight to another country without a valid passport on me. I figured I would tell the Swedish officials that my passport was in the arriving luggage, and if they would just let me go retrieve it everything would be in order.

Alas, there is no passport control at the Stockholm airport, at least for flights coming from the EU, and I was starting to relax when I got a message from Lufthansa letting me know that my baggage had been left behind at Frankfurt airport, but "not to worry" we will put it in the next flight to Stockholm arriving at midnight. Somehow I was able to rent the car I had reserved, reached the hotel, and waited for midnight, because I had to pick up Géraldine who was arriving from Paris. Stockholm airport is really screwed up, and only has about 100 m of curb in Terminal 5 where arriving passengers can be picked up. But again we had good luck and met, and then I poured my tale of woe into my friend's ear. Géraldine is a true Parisian, and was ready to go fight with Lufthansa but I convinced her that there was not much we can do at midnight and we will have to come back in the morning to pick up the missing backpack. Of course everything I needed was in that backpack: passport, medicines, emergency money, clothes. It was going to be a rough night, but there was not much to do about it but bare my teeth and grin.