Category: EuropePage 2 of 3
This year’s summer roadtrip led me to the beautiful fjords, mountains and coastlines of southern Norway. By now many months have passed since I had the pleasure to experience one of the most breathtaking landscapes in Europa, but this makes it even nicer now to think back of the two beautiful weeks I had.
A day of from work while being abroad in a different country – obviously that calls for a short trip to experience some of the local sights and food. So although time was limited the route map contained a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birth town of Shakespeare, as well as a stopover at Warwick.
…I went there end of April and not in the summer months so I don’t want to paint the picture that it’s always cold in Helsinki. Yet for the German tourist group I joined for an architectural excursion in Helsinki it was quite shocking that they needed to wear mittens, hats and winter jackets at that time of the year – for you Scandinavian readers, in central Europe spring starts according to the calendar mid March and not end of May.
Looking at the pictures it seems rather cold and chilly. For those of you that live in Scandinavia this is quite common, for the rest maybe not. At Easter here in Sweden it was still snowing and at that particular day I was lucky to get a perfectly clear sky mirroring the perfectly clear blue water of the Baltic sea.
…albeit only for several short-term trips loaded with more work than leisure time. I basically spent every other week in the last summer months in the Madrid area.
As I live right next to the prestigious Karolinska university hospital which also undergoes massive construction with plenty of new, modern facilities I tried to combine the modern architecture with some autumn inspiration.
Bergen, old Hanse city, isolated at the west coast of Norway, surrounded by 7 mountains and build alongside lakes and fjords at the bottom of all the mountains like a ants nest is the one city you have to visit in Norway if you only have the chance to choose one. Sorry Oslo but for me you only rank third after Bergen and Trondheim.
According to Wikipedia, Visby is the best preserved medieval city in Scandinavia and as such a UNESCO world heritage. And I have to say it is not only old but also a real beauty.
From Kalmar one could take the direct road back North to Stockholm. But instead we decided to take the bridge over to Öland and spend a day on the island. Instead of much photography the time was well spend at the beautiful sandy beach at the most northern part of the island. At Böda Sand you’ll find kilometre long sandy dunes and beaches inviting you to relax and swim.
Leaving Skåne with a last step-over in Kivik to enjoy the sea and a refreshment in the insanely hot Swedish summer we were heading towards Karlskrona. Most famous outside Sweden nowadays probably for the Soviet submarine diplomatic conflict in the 80’s when a Soviet submarine ran ashore just outside Karlskrona at one of the hundreds islands.
Big words for someone who has only been there once and obviously whatever I will write now is not right for everyone. But as Österlen is one of the favourite holiday destinations for Swedes within Sweden I suppose that the things that I liked most must be at least on the list for all the Österlen veterans as well.
When in Österlen, the most southeastern part of Skåne, I think it should be mandatory to make a stop at Kåseberga if you haven’t been there before. And no, it is not pronounced Kaseberga but Koseberga as the Swedish “å” is pronounced like an “o”.