Sweden 2012 - part 4

Friday 15th June - leaving our holiday cottage, we are driving west, to a large town of Skovde. We will be spending weekend with old friends we have know for some 30 years. We met during our first ever trip to Sweden, or rather, our children met on a campsite's playground. We visited each other many times since, but this time, for the first time, we will not only see their children, but also all 6 grandchildren together.

It is  sunny day and we arrive just in time for BBQ.

The advantage of having friends living locally is that they show us places we might not find ourselves.

Like this fantastic wild flower meadow,

 

on the way to a wild garlic woodland area. Yes, we have wild garlic in UK, but I have never seen it to cover such a large area. Unfortunately, the picture did not come out......On the way back stopping at a village hall for coffee and a home made cake.

Next, visit to a craft village of Hallekis.

Two rows of cottages, rented to crafts people during the summer, who exhibit and sell their products here.

A wonderful idea, athough a little overwhelming to see so much skill in one place.

One needs to go more then once to take it all in, but no time...

My favourite was a traditional local embroidery, similar to the one we saw in our first cottage.

With a typical attitude " I can make that" (and a shortage of funds by now), I did not buy a ready product, but a couple of pattern cards.

Of course, this could be a long time in making :-)

We had a lovely weekend. Thank you Maj and Jan!

Monday morning and we are on the road again, going south, back to the province of Halland, where we started from.

A short stop in Laholm for last minute shopping. If you go far back in the history, this area of Sweden changed owners many time, from Sweden to Denmark and back, depending who won a battle on the day. The Danish influence can still be seen in Laholm's architecture.

It was raining, so no great picture.

                                                    

   But in the local Red Cross shop I found this little embroidery, which just wanted to come home with me.

We spent the night in a motel, close to Helsinborg's ferry and in the morning crossed to

Denmark. Driving direct west, the day was warm and pleasant, a chance for last pictures

We arrived in the port of Esbjerg with enough time to look around the town,

before boarding the 18 hour ferry back to UK, together with a group of vintage cars, back from a rally around Scandinavia.

The evening was warm and calm. The ship's captain suggested to see the sunset from the deck at around 22.00. If I was the suspicious kind, I would say that this was all arranged!

                     Best night sleep I had in a long time. How different from 3 weeks ago!

I hope you enjoyed at least some of the pictures. If you would like to see different part of Sweden, you can click on Sweden 2010, under my Labels

 

Sweden 2012 - part 3

Pretty wooden town of Askersund on the top of lake Vattern.

Having coffee at this charming old-fashioned cafe.

And then here is the little town of Hjo, also on the shores of lake Vattern.

 Every Swede I know loves this place. It even has its own slogan,

I Love Hjo (Hjo being pronounced as "you").

Hjo used to be a spa town, its beautiful wooden houses are dotted in the park which follows the lake's shore.

 

 

We could not resist a lunch of localy cought and smoked fish with new potatoes in Hjo's harbour.

Some shopping along the way.

Earlier that week I came across Panduro shop. Just to have a look around...we can get everything in UK in their online shop. But the minute you pick up a shopping basket, it is not so simple, is it?

Result of "just looking around".

Our second week is up, but it is not the end of our holiday.

We have a wonderful weekend to look forward to.

Sweden 2012 - part 2

Friday 8th June - time to pack and move on. A half a day's drive and we are getting close to our home for the next week.

This holiday cottage is more modern and spacious.

We are now in the area close to the Tiveden National Park, between two Sweden's larges lakes, Vanern to the north and Vattern to the south of us. They are so large that the Swedes call them seas.

The weather has not been wonderful. Despite the sunshine in my last pictures, most of the time we had a very cold, strong winds.

Here in the forest it feels much calmer. And after what we hear about the horrendous weather back in UK, we are not complaining. We can always turn the heating up.

Some of the pictures from our walks close to the cottage.

 

Not far from us is a place called Forsvik, on the Gota Canal. Gota Canal links number of lakes and rivers to create a route from the west coast to the east coast of Sweden. There is an interesting Industrial Museum in Forsvik, which we visited in the past,

                                 you can see this little steam boat in the lake opposite.

 

This time we have  come here just to sit and watch the traffic on the canal, on the warm sunny day. The locks can get quite busy in the summer,

 

as can numerous road bridges.

Wooden houses of Mariestad

and Gota Canal joining lake Vanern in Sjotorp,

                                                overlooked by more pretty wooden houses.