Drive through Sweden

August 3 - 8, 2019

Our drive through Sweden was beautiful. The first day we drove on the highest road in Sweden. We worked our way south through the moutains, high tundra plateau and river valleys to farmland and eventually the coast. A very scenic route.

We drove Flatruetvagen, the highest public road in Sweden. It is about 100 km of good dirt road across a high mountain plateau populated with lots of reindeer.

Road art on Flatruetvagan.

We stopped along the drive to follow the trail you see in the distance. 

View along the trail.

View along the trail.

High point on the trail.

We drove Hwy 535 passing many lakes.

Fishing boats were available on a lot of the lakes.

We camped beside this lake.

Another free camping spot on a lake.

Rest area next to a river.

Campground on Lake Siljan in Rattvik. They had a very long pier out to a small island. The water was very shallow so the pier was needed to get out to deep water for swimming.

Malmo, Sweden

 July 13, 2019

We crossed the channel via a ferry from Dover to Dunkirk. It's so easy to travel between countries in Europe compared to the challenges we encountered in Africa. When we arrived in England from the USA we cleared immigration in 5 minutes. They now have an electronic system that is very fast. All you do is stand on the footprints facing the camera and place you passport in the scanner. The gate opens and off you go. No long lines😊 It was even easier to enter France. Drive up to the booth, the officer found a blank page in our passports and stamped the entry date. We need the stamped date because of the 90 day travel time limit for US citizens.

Once we landed in France we spent our time driving instead of seeing the sights until we reached Sweden. Then we slowed our pace. Our first stop was Malmo. It is a very pleasant city. Not crowded with tourists and very pedestrian friendly.

Oresundsbron - A bridge/tunnel between Copenhaugen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden. An expensive toll, but very scenic. It is 16 km long with a bridge span, man made island, and a tunnel.

Harbor view in Malmo.

Fountain in Malmo.

There are beautiful planters everywhere.

Lots of pedestrian friendly streets.

One of the top attractions is the Turning Torso. It has commercial office space at the bottom and top and apartments in between.

Another view of the Turning Torso.

World Maritime University building.

Malmo Live - Symphony Orchestra and Concert Hall

Malmo Castle

St. Peter's Church

Inside St. Peter's Church

The original organ in St. Peter's Church.

The new organ in St. Peter's Church.

Sweden - post 2 - Stockholm

May 9-10, 2018

Stockholm is a big city, but very easy to get around and see the sights. Not everything you want to visit is in one small area, but they have an excellent subway and electric tram system. You buy a pass for a couple of days and you are good to go. As usual we found a free walking tour to get familiar with the city. This tour was different in that we did a modern history tour, things that have happened in the last 100 years, so no old town tour. Stockholm is on the water and is made up of many islands so we also took a Hop On Hop Off Boat. A water view is a good way to see the city.

   Plaza in front of the Riksdag, Parliament House.

 Views from the Hop On Hop Off boat tour.

 More buildings along the water front.

Stadshuset - The City Hall.

 Jakobs kyrka - Saint James's Church

 Riddarholmen Church - The burial church of the Swedish monarchs.

 Another water front view.

 Hop On Hop Off boat

Old boats in front of the Vasa Museum.

 The Vasa Museum displays the salvaged 17th century warship Vasa. It sank on its' maiden voyage. This is a model of the ship. The original ship is in the background.

 The Vasa is huge and covered in carved figures. A bit over the top, but it was a royal warship.

 Skansen is an open-air museum. These are preserved buildings of a village from the 1800's.

 An old farmstead in Skansen.

Inside the farm house.

 Pastures around the farm house. 

 Hallestad Belfry - an old church bell tower saved from the 1800's.

 They had a folk dancing demostration while we were there.

Statue on the waterfront.

Sweden - Post 1

May 4 - 11, 2018

We really liked Sweden. Only visited the southern part of the country, but what we saw was beautiful. We also had perfect weather. The locals said we were very lucky to have warm sunny weather.

Ronneby - One of the small towns we parked for the night in. Our campsite was associated with the local golf course.

 The Cathedral in Vaxjo, Sweden.

 A building in Vaxjo. 

The glass museum in Vaxjo.

Spring flowers in Vaxjo.

 Kalmar Castle in Kalmar, Sweden.

 Gateway thru the castle wall.

 A resident of the castle.

View from the castle wall.

One of the old windmills on Olands Island.

 Old light house in the Olands Nature Reserve.

 Views of the nature reserve from the top of the light house.

The view from our Park4Night camping spot.

Olands Island is a stop for migrating birds. There were all kinds of birds everywhere. 

 Vasteras - another parking spot for the night.

The church in Vasteras.