James & Heather Travelogues

Our final week in Sweden was spent at a campsite in the town of Jönkoping. Although a reasonable-sized town, it does not normally attract much in the way of overseas tourism and as such doesn't even rate a mention in the Lonely Planet Scandinavia guide. As such, I will try to write this in the style of a Lonely Planet entry.

About Jönkoping
Jönkoping is a small town located almost equidistant from Stockholm and Gothenburg. Its main feature is the large lake, giving it an almost coastal feel. At the centre of the lake, there is a small island with a castle located on it.

Getting there and away
Jönkoping is served by a railway line, with trains running from both Stockholm and Gothenburg. Buses are the primary means of transportation around town, although a limited taxi service is available.

Where to stay
Hotels abound in Jönkoping as it is a mecca for business conferences. Camping is also available with pitches for caravans and tents, and log cabins for those that need something more substantial over their heads (no guesses needed as to what we stayed in).

Where to eat & drink
For those on a budget or camping, there are a number of supermarkets where produce can be brought. Additionally, the campsite also has a store that can be for the emergency stocking up of provisions (e.g. when the beer supply runs dry).
For those not interested in hard labour, there are a number of eating options available. Particularly recommended, is the English theme pub where a selection of quality beers and “English pub grub” can be bought. It should be noted that opening time is 16:30 and desperate Englishmen with a wild look in their eyes have been known to hang around by the door until it opens, muttering “I need an Old Speckled Hen”.

What to do
Walking around the lake could be considered an activity, but you would want to set aside at least a day to do it (it's a big lake). Other activities include a Troll museum, the world's only safety match museum (a riveting display no doubt) and swimming in the lake.
Due to the long hours of daylight, plenty of reading matter is recommended and a personal stereo if you want to filter out unwelcome noise. TV stations tend to transmit in English with Swedish subtitles; unfortunately they also tend to transmit drivel like Dirty Dancing and When Harry Met Sally. Obviously the stereotype about the Swedes isn't true…

After arriving by train Örebro, we checked in to our new hostel. It appeared that it was miles from the centre of town on the map, so we ordered a taxi but it only took about 5 minutes. Hmmm, next time we will look at the scale.

For our first full day in Örebro, we decided to do a walking tour of the town. The Lonely Planet has about a 3 line entry for the town, so it was left to us to figure out what to do. First stop was the castle and a quick walk through that. Unfortunately, we arrived just after the English language tour had finished so we had to guide ourselves. By all accounts, the tour includes a number of actors re-enacting pivotal moments in Öorebro history, scenes of torture, etc. Could have been fun to watch.

We then explored the old town of Wadköping. Whenever a city is being "modernised", the existing buildings are demolished - usually while the town planner has a manical gleam in his eye which would put the average psychotic to shame. However, Örebro decided to uproot the old buildings and move them to an area just outside the main city and opened it up as a museum. It is something that a lot more towns should consider to preserve their heritage. Cement monoliths may be efficient but they are ugly.

While on our walking tour, we managed to find an English theme pub where I was able to work my way through their English beer collection (and we were meant to be drying out in Scandanavia).

After our short time in Turku, we said goodbye to our friend Dan and boarded the ferry back to Stockholm. Unlike the outgoing leg, this boat was not quite so comfy (air conditioning on overdrive didn't help) and even worse than that, it was full of Moomins! Apparently, they are still big in Finland, to the extent there is even a Moominworld. After 11 long and painful hours, we arrived in Stockholm and went straight to our hostel where we crashed for the night.

The following day, we headed to Stockholm airport to meet Heather's mother as she was joining us for our time in Sweden before heading to the centre of the Old Town. This is the most picturesque part of Stockholm and has many side streets, some no more than 1 metre wide. I managed to pick up a decent newspaper as well, so I could catch up with whats happening around the world.

By the next day, we decided that Stockholm (although pretty) didn't have a lot to offer so we spent a day relaxing in the park and planned our next leg. After some head scratching, we decided the following day we were off to Örebro