The Swedish siren song lures us back

Full circle in Sweden and Finland

The map is a bit of a spoiler. We haven’t quite got back to Copenhagen just yet, but we will be there in a few days’ time.

We just can’t keep away! Yes, we caught a ferry from Naantali in Finland back to Sweden, to Kapellskär, just north of Stockholm. We arrived at our new home in Lippinge on the outskirts of Knivsta, just after 8pm. Still light of course, and our new hosts were sitting in the garden, waiting to greet us and show us round the stuga (cottage). It’s our dream stuga! We won’t want to leave. How odd that its address is so similar to the stuga our family once owned and loved, in Silpinge. Anyway, take a peek at a few photos and you’ll see what I mean:

Dining table with lovely views to the garden

Wood fired stove in the living room

A very cute wood fired heater cum stove in the kitchen

The altan or conservatory

Garden view from the altan

From our bedroom window

One of the many drifts of harebells – this is what I really love and why I often refer to the countryside here as being gentle

Backtracking a minute: Just before we left Turku we took a stroll round town and came across a really smart cookery utensil shop and then read their windows:

Love the sentiments and also the glide into Finnish, Swedish, Italian and then back to English – that’s Amore

You can’t add to these words…

Now, on with the Swedish story … our first day was a typical sunshine/showers day. Tired after the previous day’s travels we had a very relaxing day unpacking and discovering our new home. Popped out to the nearest shop for some supplies and saw a very healthy looking fox slinking alongside the road on our way back. Which reminds me – still no sightings of hares or a moose (not that I really expect to see a moose but would be super excited if it happened). There are a couple of bikes here and the next day Graham resumed his daily cycle which he has been missing.

Freewheeling – the road in front of the stuga

It was a beautiful day and so we drove to Uppsala to visit the University Botanical Garden. When we lived here in the seventies we actually lived not far from here for a couple of years, but we rarely went to Uppsala. We visited on our trip in 1999 and looked round a garden set out in Linnaeus’ classification order. Linnaeus worked at Uppsala university. The Botanical Garden is the oldest botanical garden in Sweden and was laid out in 1655. Among its directors was Carl Linnaeus. A road runs across the garden dividing it into an older and a more recent part. The old garden consists largely of the castle garden laid out in a baroque style. Straight paths, well tended flowerbeds and pruned hedges greet the eye. Behind the hedges are collections of roses and peonies. There are also extensive collections of trees and shrubs. Apparently in spring the lawns and flower beds are filled with blooming bulbs and tubers. The character of the newer garden is more modern with displays of magnolias, a kitchen garden, perennial borders, rock plants and an arboretum. Scandinavian alpine plants thrive between some huge boulders – I think it’s gneiss rock like at home. There’s a tropical greenhouse in the heart of the new garden and there’s a delightful cafe with tables in the garden under the spreading boughs of some lovely old trees.

The herb garden

Clematis for Ken and Fi

One more beautiful specimen

Sunflowers for Helen

Google photo says this is Ricinus, or Castor Oil Plant

A view of the older garden leading up to the castle

Every tree has this carefully placed retic around its base

The next day started promisingly and G got his cycle ride in just before the heavens opened and it rained the rest of the day. It became quite stormy and we lost power. We were happy to hunker down in our stuga. Luckily the power came back about 4 pm because it’s an all electric house so I was wondering what we’d have for dinner! Sitting here enjoying an after dinner coffee when I saw a movement in the garden – a beautiful young stag emerged from the woodland at the side of the house, but he was gone before I had a chance to take a photo – so you’ll just have to believe me! Sunday night was very stormy and there were bouts of torrential rain. However, by nine o’clock on Monday the sun was out again, presaging a fine day 🌼 We decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit Droppsta, a small farm settlement where we lived for a couple of years over fifty years ago. We’ve been back once, in 1999. This time it was rather different. The old schoolhouse looked good, the front porch has now been enclosed and there’s a front gate. The pathway to where we used to live wasn’t there and so we drove into the farm and viewed our old home from the rear. We lived in one half of what is now a beautifully renovated family home and garden. Unfortunately no one was around. But then, the guys who run the place now were small children when we knew them, so neither would recognise the other … in ‘99 the farm had diversified into B&B and there was a cafe and farm shop. Today the old café building was empty and a bit sad and we don’t think they run the B&B either. However, we saw someone on a tractor, so the farm is presumably still operating.

Droppsta school house

The back of our old house. This used to be two semi-detached farm labourers’ cottages. We lived in the left-hand side one. Now it’s all one home.

A peek at the front garden

Veggies and shrubs in the back garden

One of our favourite places to visit back in the day was Sigtuna. The town of Sigtuna dates all the way back to the 970s – and no, I haven’t missed out a 1 – when it was erected by Eric the Victorious, making it the oldest town in Sweden that is still around today. The street network, church ruins and the abbey all date back to medieval times. There is a beautiful town hall built in the 18th century, low wooden buildings from the 19th century and leafy gardens from the turn of the 20th century. The main street, or Stora Gatan hasn’t changed much since we lived there, but there has been considerable progress and today it is a bustling tourist town. We began at the tourist info centre and strolled down to the waterfront.

The front entrance of the tourist info centre

The back from the lovely gardens

Sigtuna Town Hall

The little town hall is the smallest in Sweden. It was built in the middle of the 18th century and housed both a council chamber and a prison. Today the town hall is a part of the Sigtuna Museum. It is also a popular wedding venue.

Traditional newspaper and magazines kiosk and deli

The following day was wet and cold. We drove to Märsta where G could remember catching the pendeltåg, commuter train, every day to his work at Burroughs in Stockholm. Märsta has grown exponentially in every direction. We popped into the library and had an interesting “remember when …” conversation with one of the librarians. We shouldn’t have been surprised – 50 years is a long time.

Our last full day dawned bright and sunny but rather chilly and we decided to revisit Sigtuna as there was heaps we still wanted to see, starting with the museum. At the entrance stands one of the many Rune Stones. These were erected in the 11th century in memory of relatives. Predecessors of graveyard head stones?

Rune Stone

Sigtuna’s runic inscriptions are the oldest in the Swedish language and no other town boasts as many as Sigtuna, where there are ten complete stones and around twenty fragments. The museum houses a unique collection of archaeological treasures from the late Viking ages and early medieval period.

Stora Gatan

Stora Gatan or Main Street, is the oldest preserved street in Sweden. The original street lies hidden under thick layers of debris, which in some parts are as deep as three metres below the current street. The so-called debris actually contained most of the very old coins and artefacts now on display at the museum. This street was the backbone of the medieval settlement’s town plan – traces of which can still be seen today.

A view down to the waterfront – Lake Mälaren

Augusta Jansson bakery

Afternoon tea in Kristers Konditori

View out of Konditori window

The next morning it was time to move on again. Although sorry to be leaving this cosy stuga, we were excited as we were going to a hotel in Stockholm and linking up with Heidi and Martin. We knew we would have some time to kill before we could check in as our journey time was only about an hour, so we headed back to the atmospheric Kristers Konditori for lunch.

Prawn, dill and mayo roll – Yum!

So good to be back in the centre of Stockholm again! Heidi and Martin flew in from London early evening and we shared a G&T and lots of chat! Brilliant to see them again. Saturday morning we went our separate ways after an extended hotel breakfast, exploring locally. We met up again to catch the 3.30 pm ferry to Fjärdaholmarna, a pretty group of islands in the Stockholm Archipelago. Look how beautiful it is:

On the ferry

Artist’s studio – what a view!

Creative lampshade

Waiting for the 6 o’clock ferry back to the mainland

Back on terra firma

The view down the road from our hotel, 7.30 pm

Saturday morning we were all up and out in good time as Martin and Heidi took part in the Stockholm ParkRun, at Haga Park. This is a world wide weekly event and they regularly turn out every Saturday morning for the 5km run.

Before …

After! Well done the Aussies!

We went our separate ways, exploring our favourite city, meeting up for dinner in the evening. This was a special dinner at a seafood restaurant in the upmarket Östermalms Saluhall.

Funky mall called Mood: wonderful kitchen shop and check out that mini!

Kungsträdgården

Kungsträdgården underground station

Another part of Kungsträdgården underground station. Each Stockholm underground station is different and often quite wacky!

Stylish dress shop

Ooh! A blue and white display!

Östermalms Saluhall

A memorable meal

Sunday was our last full day and as it was sunny and warm we drove out to Mälarhöjden, one of our old favourites; a pretty spot by the lake which is a boat harbour, camping place and cafe. We first camped here in our VW camper in 1999, and whenever we have been lucky enough to be back in Stockholm we drop by. Martin was keen to swim in the lake so we carried on to the bathing place nearby.

A photo of Heidi taking a photo of Martin as he walks into the water!

Come on Mum, nearly there …

Monday morning we shared our last hotel breakfast together and M and H flew off to Madrid to carry on their holiday and we got back in the car and headed south. A night back in the Clarion at Jönköping en route to our last Swedish Airbnb. (for this year …)