We enjoyed another long weekend for another Swedish holiday. Thursday, May 18 was Kristi Himmelsfärdag (to celebrate Christ's ascension into heaven). No school or work on Thursday or Friday! We didn't encounter any traditions specific to this holiday. More just a chance to get outside and enjoy nature now that spring has really come. There were tons of people out walking, picnicking and camping.
Our Swedish tutor offered to take us on a tour through the area where he grew up-- along the southeast coast of Sweden. He and his wife graciously spent the day showing us around. We revisited some sites we'd already seen and were introduced to some new places.
The weather didn't look very cooperative. We'd had some beautiful days, but Thursday was cold and cloudy. We bundled up warm and packed umbrellas. We avoided the motorways as we headed south. Instead we traveled through narrow village and forest roads.
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| A pretty tree-lined road through farmland |
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| The bright green leaves in the beech forests were beautiful. |
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| Vittskövle--a beautiful castle still lived in by minor royalty. | | | |
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We stopped in Degeberga and went for a hike to the waterfalls there. We hiked there once before but had taken the upper trail. This time we hiked along the bottom of the ravine by the stream so we had a slightly different view. Skåne (the southern part of Sweden) is mostly very flat. The steep sides and rock faces of this little ravine remind us of southwestern Virginia.
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| There were several places where the creek had once been dammed |
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| The falls-- with drops of 8m and 10 m, these are the two highest falls in Skåne. |
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We lucked out and the rain didn't start until we were almost back to the car. So we only got a little wet on that stop. The farmland we drove through was full of blooming rape seed fields. They are just amazingly beautiful. So bright with color! Especially with a green field next to it. We're told it is a wonderful time to fly over the area.
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| Stone barn and more rape seed. |
The terrain became a little hillier as we drove through Brösarp. We stopped in Haväng to see some ancient burial sites. Throughout Scandanavia are standing stone monuments. The stones are arranged in the shape of a ship.
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| This stone burial monument was in someone's cow pasture |
We looked at one from the car and then parked and walked out along the coast to see another. It was interesting because it still had the stone burial chamber in the center of the formation.
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| Stones on the beach at Haväng |
This looked like it would be a really fun area in good weather. Beautiful views of the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, when we stopped, it was raining quite hard and blowing even harder. So we didn't stay long.
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| Baltic Sea |
We continued on to Kivik and were excited to find blue skies and sunshine. We stopped and visited the King's Grave. A large burial mound. You can see all the rocks that cover the top of the mound. Apparently it was originally much larger. Over time, stones were taken away to build other buildings. It is believed that it dates from around 1000 BC
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| Kings Grave in Kivik |
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| The burial chamber has been excavated and reinforced for visitors. |
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| Here are the stone slabs they found inside the burial chamber. |
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| It's amazing to see carvings like these and realize how old they are. |
Our host also took us to another, less publicized site in Kivik. In this field there were several standing stone formations. You could also see indentations where houses had stood long ago.
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| This shot gives you a little idea of the scale of the area . |
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| A bonus at this site was the beautiful wildflowers in the meadow |
One of the formations was a little different than the others. The rocks were arranged in a circle rather than in the boat shape and in the center was a large rock. It is believed that it was an altar of sorts for sacrifices and offerings. It is still known as a "wishing rock." We're told people will sometimes leave coins there for luck.
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| The "wishing rock" |
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| Part of the circular formation |
As you can see from the pictures, it was beautiful and sunny as we looked at these stones. Then when we were as far from the car as possible, the rain storm caught back up with us. And the umbrellas were back in the car. We were completely soaked through by the time we climbed in the van.
So we were very happy that the next stop was for fika. Fika is a coffee break and is very important in Swedish culture--usually involves coffee and a treat. The English have tea time. Swedes have fika. We went to a little cafe called Annorlunda--that means "different" in Swedish. For their fika, you pay for your drink (since we aren't coffee drinkers, we ordered hot chocolate) and then you can help yourself to all the cookies, cakes and rolls that you would like. Yummy! They had some warm, sweet buns that were particularly good. We ate too much, warmed up and dried out a little.
The next planned stop was to climb up Stenshuvud. Since it was still raining when we went in for fika, we thought we'd have to skip that. When we came out, however, the sun was back so we decided to take the hike. This time we brought the umbrellas even though it did look sunny.
Stenshuvud is a hill overlooking the Baltic Sea. Since their aren't many hills in the area, it is a well-known landmark. It is one of Sweden's National Parks. It's name means Sten's head-- folklore says its named after a giant named Sten.
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| Ruins of a 5th-6th century fortress that used to stand on the hill |
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| More of the fortress ruin |
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| View from the top |
Since we brought our umbrellas, it didn't rain while we were on the hill. :-) After our nice hike, we drove on to Simrishamn-- a fishing town on the coast.
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| A beautiful stone church in Simrishamn |
The churches in the fishing areas usually have model boats hanging in them. I imagine it is invoking a blessing on the sailors.
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| Two boats hanging from the ceiling. |
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| Close-up of a boat |
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| You can also see a boat embroidered on the altar cloth |
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| Anchor in the church grounds |
Just outside of Simrishamn, we stopped and looked at some bronze-age rock carvings. We found it amazing how much they looked like the ones we saw in western Sweden--and those two places would have been a long way apart with bronze age transportation. It is not surprising that they would all carve boats and animals, but it was interesting that they drew them the same way.
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| You can see several boats in this section of the rock |
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| A man holding a very large axe |
These carvings were right across the street from this beach. We enjoyed climbing around the rocks and skipping stones. No sea shells. I'm not sure why that is but I have yet to find seashells on any Swedish beach.
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| Baltic Sea |
Our next stop was another repeat, but since we'd loved it the first time we didn't mind. We visited Glimmingehus--a wonderful castle built in 1499. Thick stone walls, arrow slits, a moat, holes to pour hot oil down on your enemies and best of all-- you're free to roam around and explore it all at your own pace.
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| Glimmingehus |
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| View of the surrounding fields from a castle window |
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| One of many window seats in the castle |
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| Some scarily big fish in the moat-- keep in mind this picture was taken looking down from the top floor! |
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| A carving of the Danish knight who owned the castle |
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| Arrow and chain mail |
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| We really liked this period drawing showing what a battle would be like |
We were all getting tired so we started making our way back north towards Kristianstad.
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| Another burial mound we could see from the road |
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| Rape seed fields with the Baltic Sea in the background |
We stopped at a turkey farm in Tomelilla for dinner. They had a little store and also a restaraunt. Turkey isn't very popular here and when they do have it, they tend to cook it differently than in the U.S. At the store they sold lots of different forms of turkey--different sausages and such-- but I didn't see any whole turkey for sale (did have turkey breasts-- at least now I know where I could find one of those). At the restaraunt we had breaded turkey (think turkey fish sticks) and a slice of turkey cooked with barbecue sauce. But not the roasted turkey with potatoes and gravy we think of when we hear "turkey." Then we headed for home. It was a nice day and gave us a great feel for the area.
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| They also had a wide selection of locally made rape seed oil. That's what all those pretty fields lead to-- oils and margarine. |
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| A beautiful old church. Less symmetrical than normal. |
