Swedish Language Blog

The Swedish midnight sun

Posted on 15. Jun, 2010 by Katja in Geography

Most of you have heard of the famous midnight sun. Well it’s as wonderful as people say. And takes some getting used to every year. In the areas where you get to experience the midnight sun you also have the really long winter, and the really short hours of daylight. In the spring when all the snow is melting the days get longer and longer you can wake up all of a sudden and realize that it isn’t dark even though it is in the middle of the night.

Many a time I have been at friends houses and looked out the window thinking “it’s only nine PM” when actually it was one or two AM. It is truly a wonderful experience to cycle home at two in the morning and there isn’t a soul outside when it could just as well have been two in the afternoon when it comes to the light.

Sweden is sometimes even referred to as the “land of the midnight sun”. What have you heard about the midnight sun of the north?

Is it a lifelong dream to see it?

All copyright belongs to Tomas Utsi the photographer

Styrsö

Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Tibor in Culture, Geography

Church from 1752 and cemetery

Summer cottage on a small rock

: View over Tången

Villa with gazebo.

I want to share with you my other trip that I have recently made. I wasn´t that lucky with the weather as when I went to Marstrand. I took one of the local boats to Styrsö the other day. If you live in Gothenburg your month card (månadskort) would do it (so you don´t have to buy any tickets since the southern archipelago belongs to Gothenburg). Let´s say it is an old part of town. There are families who have lived here for generations, but also many people decide to buy their villas here on the islands. It feels almost like time stands still out here. And that was exactly the feeling and mood I was looking for.

The ferry takes 20 minutes from Saltholmen´s tram stop to Styrsö. To Saltholmen you can take tram number 11 from the city centre either from Brunnsparken or Centralstationen. Be aware of the fact that in low season you should prepare food because the few cafés and restaurants they have are closed. Finding a toilet is also quite problematic. Take a long walk around the island because the views are amazingly beautiful. It is a great place to get spiritual, philosophical at and clear your head from all thoughts and city noise. During the summer the sea can get quite warm here since many of the small bays are hidden and secluded. If you chose to rent a motor boat then you might have a chance to take a sunbath on one of the hundereds of tiny islands/rocks among the bigger ones and not on the small and crowded beaches. The locals are very friendly. Since almost everyone knows each other out here they usually greet you with a big smile on their faces whenever passing by.

The house prices are quite high. But if you are “lucky” you can find houses for in between around 270 000-500 000 euros sometimes even some renovation objects for lower prices. Otherwise count upwords…and then count a little bit more…

Marstrand

Posted on 12. May, 2010 by Tibor in Culture, Geography

I have recently done some long walks on the Swedish west coast (västkusten aka. bästkusten). just to clear my head out. One of my all time favourites is Marstrand which is a small town situated on two islands named Marstrand and Koön. I was lucky with the weather and there weren´t many people there since the season begins around the beginning of June. Then the place is packed with tourists not only from foreign countries and neighbouring countries but from other Swedish cities as well. Marstrand is also an important sailing spot for people who are sailing on the Skagerrak. You can take bus 312 from Gothenburg Central to the island, it is around 50 minutes. Another option is (since they have one bus in every hour) to take either a bus or train to Ytterby Central and from there you can take another bus to the island. This would take you 1h 15 minutes. The ticket for an adult is approx. 80 SEK.