During our visit to the Lund Botanical Garden we came across a small exhibition at the far end of one of the tropical greenhouses. The display was part of Lund’s 350 years celebration and was dedicated to the selection of plants found in the coffin of former Bishop of Lund, Peder Winstrup.
Lund is a small, compact city so it was easy to walk round to all the principle sites. The map leaflet was very handy to ensure we didn’t miss anything. We included some window-shopping and book shop browsing and a bit of eating and tea drinking throughout the day. The route starts at Lund Cathedral where we joined a tour in English.
Lund Cathedral
After breakfast on Monday 3 July at precisely 9.30am as predicted our taxi transfer arrived to pick us up and transport us to Simrishamn train station and at 10am (also on the dot!) our holiday with Macs Adventure came to end. And so the final couple of days of my Big Adventure were to be spent in the cultured and historic university city of Lund.
The train journey involved a change of train and we decided to take the bus instead; a journey of about an hour and a half.
Lilla Hotellet, Lund
Most of our walk along the Österlen Way was along pretty level paths – always looking out for those orange route markers (sometimes just a dash of paint on a post) to confirm we were on the right track – mostly hugging the coastline but as we neared the end we had to pass through Stenshuvud National Park (Stenshuvud Naturrum). Here there were good facilities and plenty of printed information in English.
Day One
The most ‘commercial’ ancient monument along our route was the Ales Stenar preserved stone ship on the cliffs above Kåseberga harbour almost at the end of our first day’s walking. It is the largest preserved stone ship in Sweden and, on this occasion, we were not the only visitors. I say ‘commercial’ as there were probably about 20 other people on the site. There is no charge to view and the stones just sit there as they have for centuries (carbon 14 dating puts it at 500 – 1000 AD).
After a day of orientation in Ystad we began our walk along the Osterlen Way; a footpath along the southern coast of Sweden. Our section, which would take us 4 days of walking to cover the distance from Ystad to Kivik. Kivik is beyond Simrishamn. As with all my previous walking holidays we walked from hotel/B&B to hotel/B&B and our luggage was transported for us. The holiday is part of Macs Adventure‘s huge portfolio. Unlike with ATG we had no manager to meet us at the beginning and end and be at the end of the phone line in case of difficulties. Macs provide you with a local phone number and contact but you never actually meet that person. The walk notes are not as detailed as in the booklet supplied by ATG but were more or less sufficient for our needs. In a couple of places we found incorrect or contradictory advice between the notes and the map supplied but we managed to find the correct route (or at least a route that worked) for ourselves. I should say though that help and advice from the office in Glasgow, by telephone or by email, was very efficient, friendly and helpful. Continue reading
The first stop on our Historical Walk Through Ystad should have been at Charlotte Berlin’s Museum but when we arrived the Museum hadn’t opened so we resolved to return a bit later and reserve places on the 11 o’clock tour. This largely intact ‘mansion’ [according to the leaflet; but really it’s just a typical Ystad brightly painted, single storey house with first floor rooms in the high-pitched roof] offers an opportunity to view and gain insight into a Swedish 19th century home and its owner.
The final country of my Big Adventure this year was Sweden. I’ve visited Germany and Denmark several times before (although I’d never been to any of the places I visited on this occasion) but this was my first ever trip to Sweden.
Very early in the morning of 27th June Bärbel and I left the Alte Strandvogtei and drove back to the port at Rønne – the capital of Bornholm. Bärbel’s ferry left at 8.00 and mine at 10.30.
Where to begin? Where to begin? I arrived home on Wednesday after my wonderful visit to Germany and Scandinavia and now comes the hardest part – sifting through photographs and deciding which to include and which to discard.
Here is just a taster selection and I hope to expand on some of the visits and walks during the next couple of weeks.
At Buddenbrooks House, Lübeck
miladysboudoir 