Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Province: Skåne
Municipalities: Malmö, Vellinge
Saturday 3rd of April
06.05 Dawn is here. Easter Eve, Holy Saturday has begun. I am in Christer´s apartment in Sundsvall. It will be a new journey for us in Easter time. Last year, we didn't get away at all because of the Corona virus. First we had to cancel the trip to the Faroe Islands and later, the reserve trip to Skåne became hopeless to go through with. This year, like last summer, it will be a domestic trip. We make a new attempt to make an Easter trip to Skåne and aim primarily at what we did not have time for last summer.
06.37 Now that we've finished breakfast, we will put the finishing touches to what is needed.
07.18 Everything should be ready for us to go. Ready or not, we have to go or we will miss the train.
08.01 In a temperature of - 1°C and a rather shy Easter eve sunshine we walked down to Sundsvall railway station. How many times have we embarked on a journey from this station? The station building itself is currently under reconstruction. A new travel centre is emerging.
08.34 The snow on the fields has been replaced by flocks of large birds. We sit and ponder about upcoming trips. Will we cope with the "old" backpacker life when the opportunity is given again after the pandemic? Where will it be possible to travel when the situation stabilizes? Have we been away from the action for too long?
10.18 On the way to, at and now also from the station in Gävle we've had coffee and eaten cheese sandwiches. It may not be classified as something luxurious but it calms hunger and ease craves for coffee.
11.15 We are at the station at Arlanda airport and will not get off. When did it last happen on an Easter trip? When will we get off here for a trip next time?
11.22 By taking a look at old travel journals I have found out that the last time we went past Arlanda in Easter time was 9 years ago. Then we flew instead from Skavsta Airport outside Nyköping.
12.02 The two of us and many more listen to the chimes of Stockholm City Hall. We are at Stockholm Central Station. Here we´ve bought some snacks at Pressbyrån before we are going on the train towards Malmö. We don't have time for a real lunch.
12.19 "This is SJ's fast train 533 that will take us to Malmö" said the voice in the speakers. We are expected to arrive at 16.48. People around us look sad. Or are they smiling under their mouth/face masks?
13.31 Now that we've consumed our food we are once again in Norrköping. We made the journey Stockholm-Malmö in reverse order in August 2005. Then we had travelled in no less than three continents. This time we will not even reach three provinces.
13.49 Our train is going in reduced speed. We've ended up behind a commuter train with engine problems. But as long as we move, we'll get to Malmö sometime.
14.55 The train has temporarily taken us back to Nässjö, which we visited in early August. It was really for temporarily because we are once more on the move.
15.29 Our southern trip continues after a short stop in Alvesta. It's getting more and more spring, even early summer out there. This can be a pleasant journey.
19.45 It was, for sure, a delightful experience. It was simply very tasty. We enjoyed a perfectly cooked entrecote with roasted vegetables alongside. The recommended ale was a perfect partner for dinner. It is a pity, no a tragedy, that restaurants must not be open longer than this. Can this really limit the spread of the Corona/Covid19?
Sunday 4th of April
A morning walk through Sundsvall.
The train to the left is ours.
Peter is in Stockholm for a while.
We have stepped out of the train in Malmö.
Malmö Central Station.
We will stay three nights at Elite Hotel Savoy.
Peter is resting in room 218.
The white corridor outside of our room.
The sculpture Utblick/Insikt (Outlook/Insight) in Malmö harbour.
Malmö inner lighthouse.
The beer is ready at Bishops Arms.
Peter is enjoying a delicious dinner, entrecote.
08.28 Easter Sunday is here and morning TV takes a closer look at the trial after the events surrounding George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. We feel stiff in the legs. What on earth could have caused this? Were we on the train too long? Didn't we manage to walk for half an hour yesterday? Is it our age? Who knows?
09.05 Enough with news. It has become time for us to get down to ground floor and the promised breakfast. Will it be like last summer with various restrictions on account of Corona or is everything as usual? 09.55 Things went well with the breakfast. The only thing that reminded of the pandemic was the hand sanitizer at the entrance to the dining room. A well balanced breakfast with a decent range was offered in the beautiful dining room. Among other things, coffee was offered whose blend, Horns blend, was produced by Zoegas. This was done in 1918 exclusively to the Horn family who then ran this hotel. Enough with history. How was the coffee? Well, no big deal, but no disappointment. If you want to try it, just buy Zoegas Skånerost. Hotel Savoy is a hotel with a proud history. Here in the hotel the conductor and TV host Sten Broman and author Fritiof Nilsson Piraten had their own table. Lenin ate smorgasbord here on the 12th of April 12, 1917, during his journey from Switzerland to Russia. However, I have no record of what he chose to eat. 10.33 Now we cannot postpone this anymore. Out on the Skåne (Scania) soil or in any case out to the concrete and asphalt. There is a lot to see of this city. As mentioned earlier, Malmö is Sweden's third largest city and today there are 324,002 inhabitants. 11.01 It is gray, windy and plenty of sea gulls. We were greeted by a nice sun on arrival yesterday but the nice weather disappeared quickly. We are now heading for a swinging upper body this morning. For information about the area where we are right now, Malmös guest Harbour, just go to https://www.dockanmarina.se. 11.19 One of today's milestones is reached. We are close to the slightly twisted and clearly tall building Turning Torso, a 190,4 meter tall house with offices and apartments. It is designed and constructed by the architect Santiago Calatrava. Two years ago we were with our friend Roberth in Bilbao. Then we saw the bridge Zubizori/Campo Volantin by the same architect. Back to Malmö. Here the seagulls keep on screaming and we continue towards further views.
Breakfast at Hotel Savoy.
Nyhamnen (New Port), Malmö.
The guest harbour Dockan Marina.
Ohboy Hotell, the world´s first bicycle hotel. Every room comes with a bike.
Turning Torso seen from Varvsparken.
The 190 meters high Turning Torso in Västra Hamnen (Western Port).
11.37 We are not far from where the Kockum Shipyard once was. Here at Scaniaplatsen there are views of the strait Öresund and the associated bridge. Regarding our hearing, we mostly hear screaming children in the distance. There are strong winds from the sea today. It's hard to photograph and even harder for Christer to make any video clips here.
11.49 The time has come for further planning of today's activities. We warm up at Espresso House here in the Western Harbour. Heat internally as well as externally is good when things should be planned. Christer managed to put his foot in a water bowl that someone put forward on the floor to some dogs. Fortunately, the dogs had drunk most of the water already. 12.21 Now that we have filled up with caffeine, we will continue our journey of the discovery of Malmö. There's still a lot left to see. We will now leave the port area and move towards more central parts of the city. 12.40 It is time for a new stop with related observations. We are outside Malmöhus Castle. It was built between 1526 and 1539 and is thus the oldest preserved Renaissance castle in the Nordic region. Outside the castle stands one of the White Buses that saved people during the Second World War. You can also listen to recorded interviews with drivers who drove the buses in 1945. 12.52 In Malmöhus there is a museum but as often in these times it is hassle to visit something. The visit should be booked in advance and so on. We were content to look around a little in the courtyard here at the castle. 13.00 When Skåne became Swedish in 1658, the fortifications around Malmöhus needed to be strengthened. That assignment was given to none other than Erik Dahlbergh, a man I mentioned on a few occasions in last summer's diary, among others in Landskrona and Karlskrona. That man appears again in the diary text. He must have done an enormous amount for the country's defence. 13.13 I am now sitting on a low, green railing, fence or whatever it is. We're in Kungsparken. Here it is plenty of blue spring flowers. The name of this flower is Scilla, also known as squills. Some parts of the lawn are bluer than green thanks to this flower.
Walking towards Öresund.
The Öresund bridge can be seen in the mist.
Scaniaplatsen and Turning Torso.
Peter is visiting Espresso House in Västra hamnen.
Malmöhus castle.
One of the white buses used at the end of the war 1945.
13.50 To get rid of excess fluid and to get some heat, we are now inside the mall Triangeln. On the way here we have seen various buildings. We have seen Casino Cosmopol in Kungsparken. The currently Covid19-closed casino is located in the beautiful old restaurant building that King Oscar II inaugurated in 1881. We've also walked past Sankt Petri School and the Malmö opera.
14.11 Despite a large and good breakfast, we also need a lunch. It will be at the coal grill restaurant Rotana (http://www.rotanamalmo.se) on Bergsgatan 37. We're in the Möllevången district. There is a wide range of restaurants from various countries here. It remains only to pick and choose. Do you want to eat Persian, Kurdish, Indian or Chinese? Most of it is here. 15.10 It has been written before, but I'll re-sum with the phrase, delicious. We left the restaurant with fulfilled mission. It is almost always delicious when ordering food from a coal grill. Around and below us is now Möllevångstorget. There is not much beauty here but the season might be the reason. There hasn't been much greenery yet. 15.23 During our walk towards the city centre we've now stopped at the Södra Förstadskanalen for some photography. Next is the city centre. 15.37 Something or someone is/are "Damn good looking" if you are to believe a lady here at Gustav Adolf Square. We are about to end the impression intake of the city of Malmö. Wonder if it's the two of us that the lady intends? No, I don't think so. 15.47 We've decided to save some sights for later this afternoon. Let's go to the hotel. 16.05 It will be Hammarby that face Häcken in the final of the Swedish Cup in football. This became clear after Hammarby beat Djurgården with 1-0 today. Nils Ekman will be a new Brynäs coach together with Josef Boumedienne. Their first task will be to save Brynäs from being regulated from the highest ice hockey league SHL. They'll play against HV 71. The losers in a series of 7 games will have to leave the top league of Swedish ice hockey. We are back in our room at Hotel Savoy. Here we've freshly made coffee so there will be no more writing from now on. 18.08 The short moment in the room has made us lazy but not so hungry. However, we have more to see out in Malmö and something edible should be available. The fact that all restaurants close early due to Covid19 makes it difficult to get any order on the meal routines.
Spring flowers in Kungsparken.
Christer is having lunch at Rotana Restaurang.
Today´s lunch, excellent food.
Möllevångstorget, Malmö.
Flowers at Södra Förstadskanalen.
Peter is writing in his journal on Gustav Adolf Square.
18.16 The evening's first stop was at nearby Stortorget. I'm standing right now by a dry fountain. Out in the Square a man is sitting on horseback. The flags move easily in the wind. Squares are better in the summer. Fountains are better with water. The man on the horse is King Karl X. Here at the square is also the city's beautiful city hall, Malmö City Hall. The city hall began to be built as early as 1546 but has been changed and improved on several occasions during the 1800s. At a flagpole in front of the city hall, a man struggles with a malfunctioning European Union flag.
18.24 Connected with and next to Stortorget is the cosier, more charming and actually also smaller Lilla Torg (Little Square). There are cobbled houses, an old-fashioned telephone booth and the Mello Yello restaurant where it is full of people and good atmosphere. Lilla Torg has ancient ancestry. It was added back in the 1590s and is a reminder of what Malmö used to look like. Our evening stroll in Malmö now continues for a while. 18.49 Saint Petri church is a large and beautiful brick church dating back to the 1300´s. It is not so easy to get on a sensible and good photo. At least we've done our best to perpetuate it. 19.02 We once again stand at yet another version of Reuterswärd's sculpture None-violence, the one with a knotted gun. Last summer we saw another one in Halmstad. Here you can see it at Neptunigatan/Skeppsbron in Malmö's New Port district. 19.53 On the way home we bought some food at ICA supermarket near Gamla Väster and later at Pressbyrån in Malmö Central. Now we are again in the room for a quiet moment. 20.15 Christer has before the trip bought a lottery ticket from a colleague and now follows with some expectation the broadcast of Bingolotto on TV4. It is not common for any of us to play Bingolotto but now it has happened. However, no win so far. 21.31 The simpler purchased evening meal was both satisfying and good. Let's see if we can get some coffee tonight. 22.15 Sure there was strength and room for coffee. Now we will mostly sum up the day and plan for tomorrow.
Malmö City Hall.
Stortorget, Malmö.
Lilla Torg, a more traditional part of Malmö.
It is hard to take a good photo of Saint Petri Church.
Christer and the sculpture The Knotted Gun.
Jöns Filsgatan, a street in the area Gamla Väster (Old West).
Monday 5th of April
08.24 Easter Monday is here and a new week has started. I'm a little stiff in my legs this morning. There is reason this time. We walked quite a few kilometres yesterday. I guess that I am not used to going longer distances. There will be time to practice more starting today, a day when we are going on an excursion to another part of Skåne.
09.28 Fresh air flows into our room. During breakfast, one of the staff wanted to set the table. She pointed out, preschool pedagogically, that Christer was still working on his cookie. Also at the reception we've met staff who speaks to the guests as an educator speak to young children. Have they taken such a course possibly? Now we will download Skånetrafiken´s app to our phones so that it becomes smooth with ticket purchases going forward. Through it we will arrange all tickets in the coming days, whether we choose trains or buses to get us further. 10.32 After problems for me with the app or ordering the ticket, we will now go towards the bus that departs outside the central station. What surprises await us outside our safe room? What will happen today? 10.52 The lady in the lobby asked excessively kindly if we had time to have our breakfast. Is it our northern accent or what has led to this preschool style as we are addressed? With the help of a friendly fellow passenger, I was then able to get my mobile ticket registered on the bus. It was important to keep the mobile phone with the QR code correctly, at the right angle. 11.15 The yellow bus from Skånetrafiken line 100 has just driven into Vellinge municipality. It is another municipality that we did not have time to visit, pass during last summer's journey. 11.29 Next to us is the village Höllviken but also the sea on the other side of the bus. It seems to be low tide at the moment. Between the road and the sea there are some statues that are part of Höllviken's Sculpture Park. It is also known as Falsterbonäset Open Air Museum.
The beautiful breakfast room at Elite Hotel Savoy.
Christer is heading for the bus that will take us to Skanör and Falsterbo.
Södervärnstornet, Malmö.
Christer is taking a rest at Axelssons Torg, Skanör.
Fighting the strong winds at the nature reserve Flommen.
11.43 A sign behind me welcomes us to Skanör. The bus has dropped us off at the bus stop Skanör Centrum and continued. There is no spring weather to talk about. On the contrary, it is rough cold winds here on the peninsula in south-west Sweden. Let's take a look around here in Skanör. Skanör is united with Falsterbo and both resorts belong to Vellinge municipality. Together, there are 7,452 inhabitants in the two villages.
12.04 After having seen some of Flommen nature reserve, we will now walk towards the neighbouring village Falsterbo. We would have liked to see more of the nature reserve but windy is just the first name for the weather out there. It was hard enough to stand upright and to film/photograph something was a real challenge. 12.41 Central Falsterbo is getting closer. I'm in a bus stop and write this. Next to us it is a small pizzeria and we've let out some fluids in the open air. Falsterbo is best known for the horse races at the Falsterbo Horse Show. There is also a large golf course here. 12.49 It's time for a bench break in Falsterbo City Park. It's not wrong to sit down. Here in the forest part of the park are various trees such as yew, bird cherry and black pine. In addition, small information signs that tell a little about the trees we see. 13.22 The two of us passed the white beautiful church here in Falsterbo. The church sometimes called St. Gertrud's church dates from the 1300s. We continued down to the sea and the beautiful white sandy beach at Falsterbo pier. Now I sit on a stump and write this. The sky is clouding. It's not supposed to start raining, is it? Just now it was bright sun. 13.50 Today we will have lunch at the pizzeria we were next to about an hour ago, Mike Arvblom Pizza (https://www.mikearvblompizza.com). We got a vibrating coaster each upon payment. On our way here, we didn't have any rain. Instead, we got snow and hail on us. Mike who gave name to the pizzeria has become the world champion in pizza 2011. He's grown up in Los Angeles and that's where he learned the art to make good pizzas. 14.42 We were lucky to get a table. Guests who came after us did not find any vacancies at this small cozy restaurant. It was really good pizzas with a completely different style and quality than we are used to. Now outdoors we discover that it is snowing and hailing again. The ground is white. Tickets back to Malmö are purchased. Will I manage to scan this time?
We are walking through Falsterbo stadspark on our way to the sea.
The medieval Falsterbo church.
Falsterbo pier.
Peter on a very cold beach.
A hailstorm surprised us at Gamla Torg in Falsterbo.
15.01 There is much that is positive about the bus. There is heat, no snow on board, we sit comfortably and it takes us home. The snow in my hair melts and it drips down on the journal's pages. We thought we would meet warm weather here in Skåne but so far it has rather been a relapse of winter.
15.58 It's nice to come home and into a hotel room. Warm days gives you cool temperatures and it makes you warm on cold days. We have booked the hotel sauna for later tonight. 17.20 It is quiet here in room 218. We've listened an old episode of the radio comedy show Hassan and a new episode of Mammas nya kille via Christer's mobile. 18.16 Soon we will go out to arrange for the rest of the day. There are some things we have to do. 18.44 Have we again been lazy and wasted the time we need? Will stress and failure follow? 19.05 At the city's main square, Stortorget there is a branch of Espresso House. That's where we are right now. Imagine how seldom coffee feels wrong. 20.14 Umeå is behind 35-38 in the match against Luleå. It is the question of women's basketball. The political party Moderaterna want to lower the monetary support to immigrants in order for them to start working. In ice hockey, the allsvenskan semi final, Timrå leads 3-2 against Västervik. We've been to ICA Supermarket Hansa and bought something edible for tonight. The fact that the restaurants close at 20.00 makes it difficult with our meals. We are simply not hungry when the restaurants are open. 20.56 It became over time for Timrå but they won their match. We're about to go to the sauna. It will actually only be the second time on all with diary documented trips that we visit a sauna. The premiere was in Suijavaara last summer. We sat in a sauna on New Year's Eve when we were in Stockholm but the short trip is not documented in words.
The nenu at Mike Arvblom Pizza.
Christer´s pizza looked like this.
Suddenly it was winter outside the restaurant.
Christer is having evening coffee at Espresso House, Stortorget.
Our stay in Malmö ended with an hour in the hotel sauna.
21.21 The sauna is warm and good. It's nice to get heat in the body and sweat out some. Adjacent to the sauna is a small gym. It is probably not possible to reserve the sauna and gym for private use but there are few guests in the hotel, I guess we will be left alone here.
21.38 The heat in the sauna releases different types of thoughts. We've compared how we set up the teaching at our schools and some other topics of conversation that the brains picked up in the heat. 21.57 Sauna is nice but sometimes it gets warm. After some hassle in the lift with several wrong stops so we got to the right floor. Tomorrow's departure and activities will now be planned. 22.43 Now tomorrow is planned and structured as best it can be done. Situations that arise can of course change what we thought but experience tells us that it has its advantages to have some thought with what to do and when to do it. 23.31 The last Malmö evening is coming to an end. The last night in our lovely room should now be prepared.
You can see 42 photos from April 3 in this photoalbum.
You can see 112 photos from April 4 in this photoalbum.
You can see 82 photos from April 5 in this photoalbum.