Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Provinces: Skåne
Municipalities: Helsingborg, Landskrona, Kävlinge, Lomma, Lund
Saturday 25th of July
08.27 It's morning at City Hotel (https://city-helsingborg.worhot.com) in Helsingborg. Christer just replaced me in the bathroom. We will, as he has done his business there, later pay a visit to the breakfast room. As mentioned in the previous chapter, this is not among the best hotels we visited but a breakfast is always a breakfast.
09.39 This is a hotel of the simpler kind and with an interior that belongs in a bygone era. However, the bed has been comfortable and everything has worked as it should. That's the main thing after all. The breakfast room was a bit cramped but it was a good hotel breakfast.
09.47 We feel done with this hotel and are now ready for a Saturday here in Helsingborg. We'll try to see as much as we can before we roll towards the next destination in the afternoon.
10.26 Gustav Adolfs Torg near our hotel is a square that offers a beautiful church (Gustav Adolf church) and a fountain. We have recently been away to the car with most of the belongings. Now that we have returned, the city will be seen and experienced. The district we are in is now called Söder (South).
10.34 Gulls are heard screaming a bit away, cars pass quietly by, there are splashes from a fountain and the socialist leader August Palm stands still as a statue. We'll take a break at Mäster Palm's Plats. Here are photographs that show what it looked like here before. Helsingborg is Sweden's ninth largest urban area and the second largest in Skåne. The city has a population of 112,496 inhabitants.
10.50 Here in the city park we sit pretty well right now. It's a sunny Saturday today. Green is the dominant colour of the park. This applies for of course foliage and grass but also the exhibited benches. Nearby we also have Helsingborg City Library. In addition to enjoying life here in the park, we have examined where we should go next and why.
11.09 Today it was Lina who arranged our eleven o´clock coffee at Espresso House. It's nice to sit down for a while. This particular Espresso House is located on the pedestrian street Bruksgatan. This part of the city is really cozy and it feels more like you are somewhere on the European continent than in Sweden.
14.06 After the visit to Olympia we went downhill back down to sea level. It was a bit surprising to find such level differences here in Skåne. Dunkers kulturhus was passed and we went further towards the sea (Öresund). Just now we saw the tugboat Svitzer Valand from Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. We didn't get there at Easter, but at least now we get to see a boat from there. Well, at least it's registered in that port.
16.27 Now it's time to continue our journey through Skåne. Helsingborg certainly has more to offer than we have seen today but the next night will be spent in another city. We need to get moving.
19.48 Now we know the road and walk the time down to the port and the boat to Ven. It's good information to have and to know tomorrow morning. We have also seen a sign that has given us the knowledge that it is not OK to feed birds in Wrangelska parken.
Sunday 26th of July
City Hotel, Helsingborg.
The green pedestrian and bicycle tunnel under Malmöleden.
Gustav Adolf Church in Helsingborg.
August Palm on the square bearing his name.
The two travelers in Stadsparken.
Bruksgatan, Helsingborg.
Peter is visiting another Espresso House.
Konsul Trapps plats.
Kärnan, a 35 meter high defense tower from medieval times.
The terrace stairs at Kärnan.
You can see all the way to Denmark.
Memorial stone for the victims of the plague in 1711.
Olympia. Helsingborgs IF (HIF) plays their football here.
"Rio-Kalle" outside Olympia stadium.
Jacob Hansen's house, a half-timbered house on Norra Storgatan.
Sundstorget, Helsingborg.
Helsingborgs Glassfabrik sells ice cream from this school bus.
The Nordic flags are waving on Parapeten.
We are by the water along Öresund.
The city hall in Helsingborg.
The Eat Meat restaurant with two of its guests' mirror images.
We are traveling south on the E6 road.
Peter has arrived to Landskrona.
The catholic church in Landskrona.
STF Landskrona Hostel.
Our hostel is white on the inside.
Sofia Albertina Church, Landskrona.
Landskrona's municipal coat of arms at Stadskajen.
Landskrona Town Hall.
07.47 We have slept well in our spacious room. It is overcast on the day of our planned island excursion to Ven. What about the promised rain?
08.40 Here at the hostel we have eaten our own composed breakfast. So far, there's no rain. We'll see how long it lasts. It's almost time to check out and walk towards the car. 08.53 Although we checked out at the same time as a family with children, it was easy to leave the key and on foot start walking down towards Landskrona city centre and the car. 09.09 Everything except the essential for the day is now left in the green Golf that will remain being parked here in Central Landskrona during the day. We pause a little during the walk towards the port terminal. We're pretty early. The sky is overcast above us here where we sit in the Teaterparken. We sit by a fountain with some fish spraying water. 09.36 After collecting our pre-ordered tickets at Ventrafiken (https://ventrafiken.se) we are now waiting to board. Ven will it be our turn to board. How will we be greeted? 09.53 Out there in the sea is the island of Ven. That is where we are today. Some facts about the island are that Ven is located in the sea between Sweden and Denmark. It belongs to Landskrona municipality and is located about 4,5 kilometres from the Skåne West Coast and 8,5 kilometres from the nearest point On Zealand in Denmark. It has an area of 7,5 km² and has 370 permanent inhabitants.
We have collected our tickets.
Time to enter M/S Uraniborg.
We are saying good bye to Landskrona for a while.
Öresundsbron (Öresund bridge) can be seen at the horizon.
We are on our way to Ven.
The harbour at Bäckviken on Ven island.
10.04 The engines are started, information has been given in the speakers and M/S Uraniborg is on the way with its passengers out from Landskrona harbour.
10.20 It is a short trip to Ven. There are places indoors but we have chosen to stand out on deck to photograph and scout the horizon where we have seen the contours of both the Öresund bridge and the now defunct nuclear power plant in Barsebäck. 10.47 The greeting was of a good class. Once ashore we looked around in the cozy Bäckviken as the settlement at the harbour is called. Then we each bought an ice cream at Veninnans Hvenglass. It is from Hvens Ice Cream Factory and locally produced. Next, we will pick up our bikes that we booked and will rent for a number of hours. 11.12 We have visited Ven's bike rental located on the hillside above Bäckviken. My bike has number 474 and Christer's has 488. Both of them, the bikes, are yellow. Let's start pedalling around here on the island. 11.27 We aim to bike the longest marked trail on the map we have got with us. There should be no problem as long as the weather is stable. We are now on the southwest of the island and looking out over the strait. It is quiet and peaceful on the island. Nearby, some horses wander around. Vens Backafall is the name of the area between the sea and the higher situated terrain of the island. It is designated as a nature reserve. 11.45 On the way to the central parts of the island we have just cycled through and photographed Kärleksstigen (Love Trail), a lush cozy alley, like a tunnel of greenery. 11.52 Now we have come to the place where the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's underground observatory Stjärneborg was located. From here he and his disciples studied the firmament for about 21 years. During that time, he recorded 777 new stars and their positions. Everything was done with the naked eye then lenses and binoculars were not invented. It was built around 1581, when Tycho Brahe considered the castle of Uraniborg insufficient for his studies.
Bäckviken, Ven.
Peter is tasting the local icecream.
Vens Cykeluthyrning. Here is a sea of yellow bicycles.
A map of the island Ven.
A first stop during our bike tour.
Horses on southwest Ven.
12.10 We continue on our bikes, now towards the east of the island. We are surrounded by lovely scents, beautiful nature and now all of a sudden a golf course and a driving range.
12.23 The tour around Ven continues. It feels unusual for me riding a bike. Nearby we now have Spirit of Hven, a hotel with its own distillery. Here whisky is being made. 12.53 After for the second time on the trip shopping at the retail chain Handlar'n, we will now lunch some of the purchased. The first visit to Handlar'n was in Karesuando on the 29th of June. It feels like even longer. The store we visited, Sankt Ibbs General Store, had limited goods but we found enough for a lighter lunch. We've also seen some deer out in a field. 13.26 We had our lunch along with many other cyclists at a few tables along Kyrkvägen up to St. Ibbs church. Next to us was a family with an angry teenage girl whose world just collapsed because she had problems with her mobile. She managed to spoil the mood on the family bike tour. We ourselves have looked closely at the church that is white and similar to the churches you see in Greece's island world. It is a beautiful church looking out over the sea. Here it is popular to get married. From above, the rain clouds look down on us more and more angrily. Every now and then the rain falls. It doesn't look promising. 13.39 We rolled in a downhill slope down to Kyrkbacken harbour which is located below the church. Here we have bought coffee in the kiosk and desperately looked somewhere where we can sit under cover. The rain has begun to pour down and we stand under the roof at the kiosk garbage cans. How do we proceed from this? The rain does not seem to subside. 14.07 Our small backpacks have sought shelter. Mine is inside a plastic bag and Christer's under his raincoat, the one he bought earlier during the trip in Borlänge. We have sought shelter in a grove, a small forest. We are at the farthest from Bäckviken where we started and are going to finish. There is nothing else to do but to bite the bullet and cycle further despite the raining. A pity for us that the weather forecasts for today turned out to be absolutely correct.
Peter has temporarily jumped off his bike.
The love trail, a wonderful passage on this bike ride.
The observatory of the astronomer Tycho Brahe was built here in the 16th century.
We are buying some lunch items at Sankt Ibbs Lanthandel.
Sankt Ibb church, Ven.
A view towards Kyrkbacken harbour.
15.08 We found a shortcut with foliage above the gravel path we are standing on now. The trees protect reasonably from the rain. We are near Norreborg boat harbour. While we were standing here in the shelter, we've seen an animal. That's what my maternal grandfather called German Hare, another name is European Hare. The wild animals show up every now and then and show up to us. We're about to take the chance and leave. The rain seems to lighten slightly.
15.28 It was a nice end to the bike tour. The rain stopped and it was quite easy to bike along the sea the last bit back to Bäckviken. 15.54 The bicycles and associated keys are now returned to Ven's bicycle rental. Our backpacks, reasonably dry, are freed from their rain shelters. We celebrate the finish of this bike adventure with coffee and Daim cake/carrot cake at Agnes Tapas, the restauran /café located in Bäckviken near the harbour. 16.47 Once again the ferry has cast away. It is time for the security message. We will pay attention and listen to what is said about the Covid19 code of conduct. Because of the weather, we've been sitting indoors in a salon. Some of the sofas are suspended and marked with tape, all in order for passengers to keep distance. 17.13 One of the younger fellow passengers, a Polish (?) boy, is sad, angry or if possible possessed by a demon. He screams and screams. Where does he get air from? Why doesn't the voice crack? 17.33 We are back in Landskrona. Here on the mainland, the weather is significantly better. We are right now on Kasernplan and are planning the remainder of this day. 18.20 Now we have wandered around the city Citadel. A few people were fishing at the moat. A fishing inspector/police officer walked around and mostly smoked. The citadel dates back to the 1400´s. When the city became Swedish in the 1600s king Karl X and his developer Erik Dahlberg were here to rebuild the Citadel. Once again we come across Mr Dahlberg. Most recently it was in Uddevalla on July 17. When will we see you next time? 18.36 The Italian restaurant where we intended dine, Mamma Teresa, was well attended to say the least. The question is, if there were a queue to get a table? Sure, we can wait, but there are other things that awaits. These include a drive to Lund, a visit to a grocery store and check-in at a hotel. We sit on a bench on Rådshustorget and now it rains on us again. Are there other dining options possibly?
Time to end the visit to Ven with a visit at Agnes Tapas.
We are sitting indoors on the journey back.
Peter is sitting down at Kasernplan, Landskrona.
The citadel/castle in Landskrona.
Christer´s tasty pizza.
Peter is having dinner at La Perla Restaurang & Pizzeria.
18.48 It will instead be dinner at the pizzeria La Perla as it says on the windows or Vera as it says on the receipt. Anyway, it's pizza again.
19.12 Christer claims that his pizza was so good that it was one of the trip's best meals so far. Maybe it wasn't entirely wrong that we had dinner at La Perla instead of Mamma Teresa? In addition, the prices were really good here. 19.31 Christer's car has during the day been public toilet for Landskrona's, yes perhaps the whole of Skåne´s bird world. Its big doings stuck on the car. Our next problem is whether we go directly to the hotel or shop for food before check-in. First, the car must be cleaned in any case. Good thing we have a can of water with us. 19.42 We have decided to shop when we arrive at Lund. We need to get out of here soon. To get there we have to go there and that is what we do from now on. 20.00 We're out on the E6 again. Out to the right, right by the sea is Barsebäck. The reactors of the nuclear power plant were closed in 1999 and 2005. 20.31 Another short transfer here in Skåne is completed. We have reached the outskirts of a new city, Lund. We will stay for two nights at Good Morning Lund (https://ligula.se/goodmorninghotels/lund), a hotel in the chain Good Morning Hotels. Our room will be 205. The woman who checked us in had a very bright voice and sounded like she was talking to preschool kids when she helped us. We turned down paying for the expensive hotel breakfast. Let's unpack a little before we go shopping. 21.51 Now that we have taken an evening walk and bought breakfast and evening beverages at ICA Kvantum Mobilia, we will mostly lower the pace and plan for tomorrow. Should we see one or more cities? According to the plan, we will first see Lund and then make an afternoon excursion to Malmö.
Good Morning Lund, our home for two nights.
Darkness descends over Lund.
Monday 27th of July
08.31 The morning has returned to Lund. During that we watched SVT1's news broadcast and a story about a spontaneous car meeting in Rättvik it suddenly became quiet. There were also silence from the studio and then the sign temporary disruption was shown. It's been a long time since I saw such a sign.
08.35 The sound and picture just got back. The questions are the, why did sound and picture disappear, as well as, do we ever get answers to these questions? 09.42 After some thinking, we have come to the conclusion that we´ll take a walk down to central Lund. There were initial plans to take a bus but can we spontaneously buy our tickets on the bus or do they have to be booked before? Easiest then to just walk. Moreover, we will see the more of the city that way. 10.03 Our walk has begun. We have passed the mall Nova Lund and now walk along Fjelievägen. 10.27 Pigeons coo and birds chirp. We've sat down on a bench in Mästers Park. A short distance away, a mother brought her child to the park's playground. 11.04 I must, although it attracts to go directly to the coffee at Espresso House, do some writing. There has been some drama since last time. We have made the decision not to go to Malmö this afternoon. It feels wrong to both Lund and Malmö to rush us through both cities. After that, it happened. On the sidewalk/walkway lay a postcard. It was written, addressed, postaged and subsequently probably dropped. Kind as we are we have now posted it. It was going to Kiruna and was written by some who were visiting Lund to visit a child studying here. Soon we leave the bench below St. Peter's monastery church. 11.31 A happy Olivia has given us our first coffee for today. Of course we are still in Lund and at Espresso House along Bangatan opposite the railway station. It feels good that we´ll "only" will see Lund today. We can take things a lot calmer.
Christer is ready to explore Lund.
Walking to central Lund.
Peter has found a lost postcard.
We have stopped near St. Peter's medieval abbey church.
Christer is looking at people from a chair at Espresso House on Bangatan.
The railway station in Lund.
11.50 Our eleven o´clock coffee is finished and now we will discover Lund. We were both here in 1996 when we quickly made a few stops here in Skåne before we went on to northern Germany. It was part of the course Geography B at Umeå University. However, there is not much we remember from that visit. Lund is one of Sweden's university cities and has a long history. The city was founded in approximately 990 and became Danish Bishop's seat in 1060. The Cathedral School was founded in 1085 and is thus the oldest school in the Nordic region. During the first half of the 1100s the cathedral in Lund was built along with a monastery and several smaller churches. Lund was Denmark's most important city, but in the early 1300s, Lund lost importance to Malmö. In 1425, Studium Generale was established in Lund, the first university in Denmark and the Nordic countries (Source: Wikipedia). Today the city is home for 93 577 inhabitants.
12.05 Lundagård is the name of the park where we now discuss various problems. How should we fairly and wisely distribute experiences, reading moments and meals during the day? It is sparse with restaurants around the hotel where we live. We really need to eat both lunch and dinner before we return home. 12.18 Two female ducks rest in the grass at the fountain at Universitetsplatsen. On a bench a bit away, two women of Asian descent change from high-heeled shoes to shoes of a more walk friendly model. I myself seem to have trouble standing up. 12.35 A less dramatic update. Only one of the women changed shoes. However, we have changed our place of residence. Now we are on Domkyrkoplatsen. We plan to step into the beautiful cathedral here shortly. 12.47 We are once again in front of a cathedral. I think this is the fourth on the trip. Looks like it's popular to go in. There's a long line to get in. Due to Covid19, only a limited number of visitors are allowed to be in the church at the same time. We sit down on a bench in the sun to see if queue get shorter soon. 13.04 We got tired of waiting and instead went to Stortorget. I'm sitting right now on a plinth in front of four pink letters. These four letters form the word LUND. Here on Stortorget there is also a kind of outdoor armchairs for the square visitors, an idea we have also seen in other cities this summer.
The university house in Lund.
The water fountain at Universitetsplatsen.
Regia Academia Carolina (Royal Carolingian Academy),
the original name of the city university.
Lund Cathedral, built in the 12th century.
It is quite obvious which city Peter is visiting.
Stortorget, Lund.
13.18 Back at Lund Cathedral it was quite quick to get in. It's beautiful in here but not so big. The cathedral was built in Romanesque style by stonemasons from the Rhine area and Italy. It is unclear when the cathedral construction began. However, much indicates that the current church began to be built in the early 1100's, after Lund became Archbishop Seat of the Nordic region.
13.35 The stay ended in the underworld of the church, The Crypt. There were tombs and statues. Unfortunately, there were no information signs about who rested there. Possibly we also found the stone figure which according to one version is claimed to be the giant Finn who according to one legend built the cathedral. 14.00 There are some different things happening on our Lund walk. In a stroller we have seen a small child with a pacifier. Eagerly and concentrated, the little one tapped on an Iphone. In a house we just passed the author August Strindberg lived when he wrote the book Inferno. It's +21 C now. We sit on a park bench in Observatorieparken. I think this is part of Lund City Park. We've just seen Lund's old observatory. 14.51 Time is flying and we got in a hurry to find a lunch restaurant. There won't be an advanced lunch today. It will be a classic pizza at Pizzeria Viking. 15.14 The pizzeria is small but the staff nice. When the man at the cashier learned that we do not live in Lund, he wanted us to spread information about this pizzeria. I guess that's what we're doing now in this travel journal. 15.45 The individual feeling is collective, is written in green on the bench we sat down at. Above us a European nettle tree Celtis Occidentalis, stretches its branches. We are in the Botanic Garden just outside the city centre. Time for us to get literary for a while. 16.29 It has come time for a break in our reading. Soon we'll be moving again. A mother and her son have been running in circles around us for a while. It's good when parents have their inner child in mint condition. 16.45 We move on foot again and have just passed the University Library. Now we stand at Lund's Allhelgonakyrka. A cycling woman passes us and shouts for Björn.
Inside Lund cathedral.
The astronomical clock from the 15th century.
The altar in Lund cathedral.
This can be the oldest room in Sweden.
We are happy to have been able to see this fantastic cathedral.
Bumblebee sex in the botanic garden.
17.07 Christer has missed a call on his mobile from a country number starting with 38. It is a number belonging to countries in Eastern Europe. We rest on a bench in a park not far from the memorial monument of the Battle of Lund in 1676. I think this is part of the Monument Park. We sit here and feel the calm. We read on for a while in our books. We rarely find time for it this intense summer.
18.24 I sit on a yellow bench below a memorial monument erected in 1883. The initiative for a monument was taken in 1876, when 200 years have passed since the Battle of Lund in December 4, 1676. It is one of the bloodiest battles that have stood on Nordic soil. The losses were about 70 percent on sides, 9,000 Danish soldiers and 5,000 Swedish. The battle took place because the Danes tried to take back Skåne, Halland and Blekinge which they had lost in 1658. Yesterday we wondered when Erik Dahlberg would show up again. In fact, he attended this battle. On the monument we read that in 1676 on December 4 people of the same tribe fought and bled here. Reconciled descendants erected the memorial. Right next door is the hill where the Danish kings were proclaimed. 18.33 Now we have been up on the hill Lerbäckshög but none of us was crowned. The hill is an ancient Bronze Age tomb. The mound also occupies a central position in Skåne's medieval history when it served as a tribute pile, where the newly elected Danish kings received the tribute of the Skåne county councils. No one was considered a real Danish king before he was proclaimed such at the councils in Vyborg in Jutland, in Ringsted on Zealand and at Lerbäckshög in Lund. In the early 1600's, Lerbäckshög lost its function and the county council instead gathered in Lund town hall until 1683, when it was abolished (source: Wikipedia). 18.57 After the visits to the historical sites, we have walked through less interesting villa areas in an attempt to find the nearest road to the hotel. 19.26 It has been a long hike home but now we finally see our hotel. No goals are scored so far in today's matches in Allsvenskan. Christer keeps track of this in his mobile. 19.51 We finally got home again. Coffee was arranged with in the lobby/restaurant. Now we look at the weather forecast on the TV in the room. It seems to get both warm and wet in the future.
The botanic garden in Lund.
We are walking beneath Valvet which used to be a part of the hospital in Lund.
Peter is reading on a sign near Lunds Allhelgonakyrka (Lund All Saints Church).
This monument from 1883 is in memory of the Battle of Lund.
Facts about the Battle of Lund 4th of December 1676.
Christer on Lerbäckshög.
21.00 Now we have seen a sports memory program on Swedish television. What was brought up tonight was Sweden's gold in ice hockey world cup 1987 and Kajsa Bergqvist's World Athletic Championship gold in high jump 2005. Next we need to find something that could be called a lighter dinner or an evening snack. The pizzas were eaten so late that there will be no real dinner tonight.
21.50 Since last time we have got into the car and been to ICA Kvantum where we bought baguette each for 30 SEK, below US$4, really cheap. We then managed to drive wrong in a complicated roundabout but quickly found our way back. After that we were and washed the car on Glimra. We didn't use all tokens and have saved them for an upcoming wash at the same company but in another locality. The car needed this after many travel days and bird poop attack in Landskrona. 23.44 With some thoughts and more, we have got an idea on what tomorrow should look like for us. It will, as it seems, have a slight southern touch. Tomorrow will be the last day we travel further south. Then the rest of our journey will be a slow journey back north.
You can see 85 photos from July 25 in this photoalbum.
You can see 88 photos from July 26 in this photoalbum.
You can see 99 photos from July 27 in this photoalbum.