Sweden Summer Vacation 2013

Sweden, Sweet Sweden, welcome to our Sweden Summer Holiday report =) Every year, I drive or fly to Gothenburg, where I lived in 2007. On the one hand, I still feel „somewhat at home“ there, and on the other hand, I visit friends there and enjoy the quiet time one can spend in this big city. Anyway, this time we started again in Gothenburg, but first went on a road trip.

First, we had to stock up on our equipment a bit. From nothing to a tent, grill, camping chairs, and all sorts of accessories needed for a successful camping vacation in the wilderness. Our destination was uncertain, as we wanted to drive north and just see where we ended up.

Armed with tents and gear, we set off and stopped wherever we pleased, staying for a night or two. For example, at Silver Lake in Bengtsfors, in the Dalsland region. It was super romantic. We were practically alone, apart from a few tents at the campsite. Here we found a cool spot for our tent after hiking along the shore for about 40 minutes. We spent two nights on a tiny island that just had enough space for our tent and could be reached by a few stones submerged in the water. It's incredibly relaxing when you jump into the lake first thing in the morning when it's light – at this time of year, it gets light as early as 4 AM – even though it's freezing cold. Great refreshment.

We rented a canoe at the campsite later. With it, we brought groceries to our little island so we didn't have to carry them so far. Sometimes life can be really exhausting. 🙂 Canoeing is also something super relaxing, especially on a huge, deserted lake.

Afterwards, we continued north, where we eventually arrived in Östersund, a small town surrounded by huge lakes. From there, we continued to Åre, the St. Moritz of Sweden. We decided to take the gondola one station higher and hike there. The view was magnificent. From there, you can see countless lakes and rivers, surrounded by dense forests, simply breathtaking.

From there we continued towards Norway, apparently =) We only realized later that the road had no turn-off beforehand. And it's a loooooong road, on which we'd already traveled longer the day before. So...why not. Norway! On the way there, we visited a moose farm, called „Kiss a moose“ 🙂 So we did that. We kissed a moose :-* It was funny that so far north and so far away from any civilization, a Swiss woman ran this moose farm, although she had emigrated to Sweden as a child. But it was funny when the supposed Swede suddenly turned around and spoke to us in Swiss German. After a delicious liqueur made from elk herb (quite special), we continued on to Trondheim in Norway. We crossed the border, which is actually on a pass road, and spent two days in Trondheim. It was relatively cold here, as we had driven quite far north. And it was also raining. The city lies in a bay.

After eating our most expensive tapas ever there – a few small portions including a beer and a glass of wine – for a whopping 120 EUR, we felt like we were back home again LOL We packed our 7 or 70 belongings and sped off towards the south. The landscape in Norway is completely different from Sweden again. Rocky, mountainous, military (!), especially in the mountain regions you pass on the way to Oslo. Of course, it's beautiful and you can hike and relax wonderfully there.

We continued to Lillehammer, where we checked out the Olympic Center. It's quite impressive when you stand at the very top of the ski jump and look down :-O As an experienced skier, I can say I would NEVER ski down there. No way. The next day, we went to Oslo after setting up our tent again in Lillehammer.

There, a good buddy showed us the local ski resort, and we spent the day in the city. Pretty cool city, by the way, with a great harbor promenade. Next stop Gothenburg, where we explored the city with another buddy. There's always something new to discover. What you shouldn't miss on a visit to Gothenburg is a trip to the archipelago islands. You can conveniently take tram 11 to Saltholmen (wow, I still know all of this by heart!) and from there take a ferry to one of the islands. They are all great and all more or less the same size. The next day, we made a detour to Tjöloholm Castle, a fairytale-like little castle located right by the sea.

Our vacation we spent in Heaven23 in Gothenburg with a delicious dinner and started our way home the next day. Rather, we flew to Frankfurt and drove from there to the Saarland to recover from our relaxing vacation *g*