Posts tagged with "Öland"

The Swedish provinces: Götaland

Posted by jennie No Comments
Jun 29 2010

After a Midsummer’s weekend filled with “Helan går”, herring and homesickness, let’s get back to business and end our journey through the Swedish provinces. The third and final region is Götaland, known as the south part and consists of the provinces Blekinge, Bohuslän, Dalsland, Halland, Skåne, Småland, Västergötland, Östergötland, Gotland och Öland.

16. Östergötland is the home of several famous canals, amongst them the popular Göta kanal, a heavily trafficked tourist boat route that starts in Västergötland and holds 58 sea locks. Another popular tourist attraction is Kolmårdens djurpark, a big zoo with a famous tiger safari and dolphinarium.
Province animal: Knölsvan (swan)
Province flower: Blåklint (blue bottle)

17. Dalsland is a small province, often called “A miniature Sweden” because of its varied scenery with lakes, flats and even a mountain (Kopplefjäll). The province has one city, Åmål, a place made famous from the movie “Fucking Åmål” (Lukas Modysson) from 1999.
Province animal: Korp (raven)
Province flower: Förgätmigej (forget-me-not)

18. Bohuslän – my beloved home in Sweden – is famous for its amazing rocky scenery, its many small sea side resorts and its fishing industry. Göteborg partly belongs to Bohuslän, other cities are my old hometown of Kungälv and the coastal town of Uddevalla. Marstrand is popular place for tourists, read about Tibor’s visit here.
Province animal: Knubbsäl (seal) Province flower: Kaprifol (honeysuckle)

19. Västergötland is home to Göteborg, the second biggest city in Sweden, the famous knight Arn, the popular amusement park Skara sommarland and the amazing crane’s mating dance at the lake Hornborgarsjön. Once evey year, thousands of cranes meet here to mate, a spectacular event that attracts tourists from all over.
Province animal: Trana (crane)
Province flower: Ljung (heather)

20. Småland has nurtured many worldwide known Swedes, such as Carl von Linné, Ingvar Kamprad – the founder of IKEA, Astrid Lindgren, the tennis player Stefan Edberg and the ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog.  The head office of IKEA is still located Ingvar’s hometown of Älmhult and Astrid Lindgrens värld (The world of Astrid Lindgren) is a very popular tourist attraction for Astrid-lovers, both young and old. Småland is also worldwide famous for its many glassworks, such as Kosta Boda.
Province animal: Utter (otter)
Province flower: Linnea (twin flower)

21. Gotland is the place to visit if you are after sunshine; Gotland is the most sunny place in all of Sweden. Because of that – and it’s amazing beaches and rich history – Gotland is a hugely popular place for tourists, both Swedish and foreign. Gotland was the home of the late director Ingmar Bergman and several movies has been filmed on the little island. Ferrys to Gotland leave from Nynäshamn (Södermanland) and Oskarshamn (Småland), although Visby has an airport.
Province animal: Igelkott (hedgehog)
Province flower: Murgröna (ivy)

22. Öland is Sweden’s second biggest island but its smallest province. Like Gotland, it’s a famous destination for tourists and the retreat for the Swedish royal family, who has a place called Solliden on Öland. Öland is linked to the mainland since 1972 via Ölandsbron and Kalmar.
Province animal: Näktergal (nightingale)
Province flower: Solvända (sun rose)

23. Halland’s beautiful coastline and beaches has made it a popular tourist destination – especially the seaside resorts Varberg and Falkenberg. Halland is also known as a surfing province due to its beaches and waves. The biggest city is Halmstad, the hometown of Roxette’s Per Gessle.
Province animal: Lax (salmon)
Province flower: Hårginst (hairy greenweed) 

24. Blekinge is often called “The garden of Sweden” and its many picturesque fishing villages are popular tourist destinations. Fishing is a  big thing  in Blekinge and the town and river Mörrum is the place to be if you want to catch a salmon or five. The biggest city in Blekinge is Karlskrona
Province animal: Ekoxe (stag beetle)
Province flower: Ek (oak)

25. Skåne, the most southern place in Scandinavia, is since 2001 linked together with Denmark by Öresundsbron. The biggest city is Malmö, Sweden’s third biggest city, known as youthful, cultural and continental place. Lund is a very popular student town and lately Ystad has become a big tourist destination, mainly due to the books and movies about Kurt Wallander.
Province animal: Kronhjort (red deer)
Province flower: Prästkrage (marguerite)

Can you guess the provinces??

Right, there we have it. All the way through Sweden, from Happaranda to Ystad in three blog posts. I know, I have probably missed out on several equally important facts, places, persons or tourist attractions (although I have used “popular” and “famous” about a million times), but feel free to add whatever you think is important. Or, let us know if there’s anything particular you want to know more about. Your wish – our command, as always.

Photo: Peter Grant, Kjell Holmér/Sweden.se

Fun Places in Sweden – Öland

Posted by Transparent Language 8 Comments
Aug 21 2009

If you read with some regularity what I write here on this blog, you might have gotten the impression my most favorite places in Sweden are all in the north. True, many of them are, but not all. Take Öland, for example. Definitely not in the north. In fact, as far as Sweden goes, it’s positively down south. Very south.

What? You’re surprised that I like Öland? And what’s there not to like? The place has everything – history, culture, nature, beaches (yes, beaches, and as far as Sweden goes, they’re quite OK), it’s sweet and charming and it’s definitely worth a visit. Or two. Or three. And the best part? It’s totally on the way from Kalmar, which just happens to be one of my favorite Swedish towns NOT located in the north.

I’ll never forget the first time I was traveling to Öland. I was a kid and had a massive panic attack while crossing the bridge (Ölandsbron) linking the island with the Swedish mainland. The bridge is six kilometers long, and while it might not be all that impressive by today’s standards, it was a feat of engineering back in 1972 when it was opened.

Oh, didn’t I tell you? Öland is an island. It’s pretty much self-explanatory when you look carefully at the name:

  • Ö + land = Ölan
  • ö (def.: ön, pl.: öar, def.pl.: öarna) landområde med vatten på alla sidor – in other words – an island.

And by the way, don’t you just love those one-letter words? I know I do.

But where were we? Ah yes, visiting Öland. Personally, I think that the Öland Tourism website does not do the place justice.

It fails to stress that while most of its info is indeed very summer oriented (and in Sweden, for all intents and purposes the summer season ended on August 16th this year), Öland is a very nice year-round destination, especially if you’re not a beach person (but then again, if you were, you’d go to Greece or Spain, not to Öland) and prefer history and nature.

Yeah history… can you believe that people settled on Öland back in 6000 BC? Isn’t it when the dudes in Egypt were busy carving sphinxes and building pyramids? It just boggles my mind when I realize that during that time things were also going on in other parts of the world. Namely – in Sweden.

But the ruins you can see on Öland these days are positively modern when compared to those very ancient times – they come from the Viking era. So if you’re into Viking stuff, then Öland should definitely be on your itinerary.

And if you like harvest festivals and pumpkins, then Ölands Skördefest will be right up your alley. This year it’s scheduled to take place on September 24 through the 27th. And even though I don’t like pumpkins, this event sounds like a lot of fun.

So, if you’ve been to Öland before, please tell us what you thought of the place. Would you recommend it as an interesting destination for a visit? (I’m asking, because I know that my opinion might not necessarily be for everybody).

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