Scandinavian Kitchen

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Go hide in Scandinavia

Fancy getting away from it all:  Try these little hiding places in Scandinavia.

Our Louise loves the idea fo this hotel near Stockholm - it is in the middle of a lake and you  have to sail to get there.  It's called Utter Inn.

Jonas likes the idea of getting away from it all in this beautiful Lighthouse hotel in Norway - and Henrik would love to stay in theis fancy pancy igloo in Finland.

Denmark didn't have any unusual hotels, so Bronte got in a bit of a huff, but she did say that if you ever get stuck about 7 KM south-west outside Slagelse on Zealand in Denmark, you can waste the time waiting for the next bus by visiting Trelleborg, the site of an old Viking fortress.  There's not much there now, except some sheep and a few huts (not the real ones, dummy).    Potential hotel?

Who dunnit?

Easter time in Norway is the time of year for reading crime novels.  Yes, really.  Nobody is really sure why this is the case, but every year at Easter, the book stores are filled with all the latest "who dunnits" and people flock to the store to get hold of the newest books.  Our Norwegian freinds then pack their rucksacks with books, kvikklunsj and a few oranges and head to the hills for a long, relaxing Easter weekend.

Even the sides of milk cartons has little "crime novels" printed on them - thanks to Elisabeth for sending this us us.  The policeman did it, byt the way,

Little places in Scandinavia # 6 - Sara's Stockholm

Sara’s Stockholm – City of islands

Stockholm is made up by quite a few islands, 30,000 to be sort of precise. Faringö is one of these, located far out west in Lake Malaren. Färentuna - my little village - is located here, 40 km west of Stockholm city centre. My island is part of Ekerö municipality - a beautiful place (without too many fun things going on – apart from skinny-dipping) and famous for three things.

knugen

Sweden’s own Knugen Kalle, the missus and the kids (Vickan, Philip and every guy’s dream girl Madde) make up Sweden’s royal family. They have two royal palaces, one big monster in the middle of Stockholm and Drottningholm, their residence, a boat ride away on the island of Lovön. It even has its World Heritage listed Chinese theatre and palace gardens – good for greenery, Christmas markets and a bit of history.

For lovers of history, there’s even more to be had on the neighbouring island, Bjorkö, where you will find the only existing Viking town in the world, Birka. Although the Vikings left quite a few years back it is definitely worth a visit, if not to see how the Vikings used to live then at least for the beautiful boat trip there.

If in Stockholm and you find yourself hungry, try the Shanti – the best Indian restaurant ever (unless you’re in India).  It’s on Katarina Bangata 58.  For coffee and cakes, get yourself to Systrarna Hedin & Voltaire on Djurgarden.  It’s hard to find so ask me to draw you a map next time you’re in.

Little places in Scandinavia - Jonas' Sarö

By Jonas

Sarö, on the west coast of Sweden some 30km south of Gothenburg, is home to 3,000 people and a disused railway line.  The name – Peculiar island (extremely loosely translated) – doesn’t do it all that many favours, although when considering Sarö is an island only in a technical sense (jumping across the ditch that separates it from the mainland is quite achievable - for a six year old) we can suppose the name bears right in a sense.

Home to the Ghost Hill- which must have been the steepest hill in the world for at least five years at the end of the seventies - and The Love Cave’s diving spot which surely rivalled any 10m platform at the Olympics, it is strange for anyone having grown up there that the place is best renowned for having a couple of kings cajoling with the locals around the turn of the 19th century. Well, the place can possibly be said to have a strong royal connection as the first king is rumoured to have left enough of a legacy to ensure his son should never have had to worry about finding a suitable blood donor should he cut himself on a rock while following a guy down the cliffs around the Love Cave.

Arguably some of the above items could be dismissed as pure speculation so here are some other facts about the place: it is the home of one-quarter of Ace of Base; it is the first spot in Sweden where a woman was caught for speeding (go grandma!); and, of course home to Pappa Leif’s Janssons Temptation. Other reports have it that the football team isn’t all that prolific at the moment, the tennis club hasn’t produced any major stars yet and the best golfers coming out of the place all played for neighbouring clubs. But then, who said life on a little island was easy?

A little place in Scandinavia - Sebastian's Karlskrona

 

This post refers back to Henrik's Rydsgard, Elisabeth's Drammen  and Bronte's Hong

 

By Sebastian

 

Karlskrona is a gem of a city nestled in the south-eastern Swedish archipelago. Founded in 1680 by the then Swedish king Karl XI with the purpose as to serve as a naval base to protect Sweden from the aggressive Danes. Something must have gone right as it is still Swedish today.  Karlskrona is home to 62.589 people and is still Sweden’s most pub dense city and the one with the most dangerous street, Ronnebygatan.

 

Karlskrona has always been heavily influenced by its maritime heritage and still is today. Every year there’s a big regatta held called “Sailet” (swenglish for the word sail) with ships coming in from all corners of the globe. You may also have heard  of Karlskrona watching the news back in 1981 when a Soviet submarine stranded there.

 

The city is built on a number of islands, the largest of which is Trossö. This island was owned by a stubborn farmer called Wittus Andersson back in the day of Karl XI and he was forced to sell the island so that the city could be built. Wittus was so enraged that he cast a curse on the city, he vowed that it would burn to the ground, be ravished by pestilence and sink to the bottom of the sea. Karlskrona  was ravished by pestilence between 1710-1711 and burnt to the ground in 1790, all that remains is for it to sink to the sea.

 

The best bar in Karlskrona is “Schlager-baren” where you can sing all of your favourite Schlager anthems every Friday and Saturday. After a long night out you might want to enjoy some fabulous pizza or kebab at “Bernes”, where everything comes drenched in garlic sauce whether you want it to or not.

 

Karlskrona is also home to many famous people - even Kofi Annan has a summer cottage here.   Karlskrona’s Janne Lindello, who you often bump into when you roam the streets of the city. writes poetry and played a minor role in SVT’s (Sweden’s BBC) movie “Det grovmaskiga nätet” as a police officer. 

 

A nice place in Scandinavia # 3 - Henrik's 'Rydsgaard'

By Henrik

 

Rydsgård was conceived after the railway between Malmo-Ystad was built in 1874. The village, on the south coast of Sweden, boasts a population of 1301 and the “Skivarpsån” river divides the village in two parts – very much like the Thames in London. Both sides have their own church but the pizzeria, the newsagent and the nursing home are situated on the south side, hence making it the town centre. The local school, on the north side, educates years 1-6 with almost 200 pupils enrolled. It houses kids of the local farming communities as well as a few of the more urbanised pupils from both sides of the river. It is, however, highly unusual for people to get along with villagers from the other side and marrying someone who grew up on another street than your own is almost unheard of.

 

Rydsgårdians have always been jealous of the neighbouring village Västra Vemmenhög, from where the young boy, who rode the length of Sweden on the back of a goose, started his journey.

 

The village’s biggest tourist attraction used to be Rydsgårds Stängselnät AB, the nail and barbed wire factory. It had a very distinct smell and every now and then a big truck would arrive to pick up the daily production. It did however burn down in 1984, even prompting a 30 second feature on the local news. 

 

Football is the most popular pastime in Rydsgård. We are very proud of our team that currently sits in 12^th place in southern Sweden’s sixth division. Throughout the eighties the first team consisted of seven brothers and three cousins of the same family. Their mother was the kit man for the whole club because she had two washing machines. One of the brothers, Ola, even had a trial with Trelleborgs FC who used to play in the Swedish premier league. Another famous footballer from Rydsgård was Anders Fredriksson (a.k.a. “the elk” due to his long legs) who once hit a penalty kick to a throw-in.

 

Other famous members of the community include Rickard Andersson, who played keyboards for Yngwie Malmsteen and Laine Olsson, who won a Volvo on “Bingo lotto”.

  Rydsgaard last thursday in Rush hour?

A nice little place in Scandinavian #2

The "tourist" photo of Drammen

This post refers back to this one

Our Elisabeth is a true Norwegian – and indeed, she does not come from Oslo and she is not into Morten Harkett.  No no, she is from a lovely little town called Drammen, located about 50 km from the capital, totally A-Ha free.  Drammen has rock carvings dating back 7000 years – one of them depicts a moose.  Originally, in Norse times, Drammen was actually called Drafn, deriving from the Drammensfjord.  You can read more about Drammen’s history here http://www.drammens.museum.no/

Drammen has a bout 60,000 inhabitants and life in centred around the town square and something called Drammen Beach (basically, tonnes of sand dumped near a big road – but it’s really lovely, apparently ).  One time, several years ago, Bryan Adams came to Drammen and people still talk about that.  Katie Melua also popped by, but that was not as exciting.  If you go to Drammen, bring your skis or board:  there are two great places to go practise just on the outskirts of the town

Elisabeth says that if you go to Drammen, you have to go get a kebab at “Snappys” – people drive from miles away to get one of these.  And if you’re ever in the area, pop by and say hello to Kristin, Elisabeth’s Mum, she’s really nice

This photo is called "summer in Drammen 2007" and is by John Tollefsen

A little place in Scandinavia...

 The centre of Hong - you can see Mr and Mrs Blomhoj's house in this picture (the white one right at the back to the left) - don't forget to pop in for a cup of gevalia if you pass by... 

You always hear about the big towns such as Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen.  Seeing as we see ourselves as a bit of a mini-Scandinavian tourist board, we thought we'd introduce you to the places where we come from.  So, over the next few weeks we'll write about Henrik's Ystad, Elisabeth's Drammen and Jonas' Saro.

This week:  Bronte's Høng

The village of Høng on Sealand in Denmark has about 2000 inhabitants (and about 25,000 piggies).  Høng is mostly known for its cheese.  Some of the best Danish cheeses you can get your mitts on come from this region, the more famous one being the Danish version of Camembert and also an amazing type of cheese called rygeost (smoked soft cheese) - incidentally, Bronte's granddad used to make the most famous of rygeosts in all of the land and gave her a secret recipe which she'll one day have the courage to try and make.  Maybe.

Høng is a sleepy village with just one main street running through it.  It has a great kebab shop and and even better proper bakery where people meet in the morning to stock up on Danish pastries and catch up on the local gossip.  There are not any real famous landmarks in Hong, so most tourist drive a few miles south to Trelleborg - an old Viking Fortress, most definitely worth visiting if you're in the area.  Bring your wellies.

Other notable points to see in the area:  Reersoe, a lovely sleepy old island with a sweet habour and cats with no tails.  then there's the beaches by Stillinge Strand - some of the cleanest water in Europe and the lovely bridge of Storebaelt (incidentally, at 254 metres above sealevel, also the highest point in Denmark).