The latest post in my series about my recent holiday in Sweden.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the next installment in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. I finished my previous post with an account of my accommodation in Gothenburg, and this post picks things up the following morning.
GETTING STARTED
Since breakfast was included in the price of the room I was always going to partake. Everything about that breakfast was good, and I set off for Gothenburg Station in very good time, having booked myself on to a slow service to Stockholm. I took some photos on the walk to the station…
Having arrived at Gothenburg Station much earlier than needed I took the opportunity to take some photos there before heading for the platform a sensible 20 minutes before the train was due to depart…
One way to present a map of a long thin country (pity about the lighting which spoiled the top part of the pic.
The train I was to travel on was a double decker (yes, on some Swedish routes they run double decker trains), although I my seat was on the lower deck.
I settled in to my window seat, camera at the ready…
Arriving in Stockholm I took a time out at Stockholm Central station before purchasing a 24-hour Access Card for Tunnelbana and heading to Huvudsta, where my cousin and his fiance have their flat, where I would be staying for the last two nights of my holiday. The combination off my inter-rail pass giving me eight days travel, my own desire to do some more exploring in Stockholm and the fact that I was catching an early flight from Arlanda to Gatwick on my final morning led to me making this arrangement.
THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERIES
My explorations in Stockholm will account for three posts (Gamla Stan, Kungstragarden and a post specifically about Tunnelbana), my departure one small post and a final ‘maps special’ post which will also serve as a kind of index – as with each map I shall include links to the posts to which that map relates. At the latest the final post in this series will go up on Saturday, since Sunday is Heritage Open Day and therefore the signal for the start of another series of blog posts, this time set closer to home.
The latest in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the latest in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. At the heart of this post is a largely photographic account of a very scenic railway journey.
LEAVING MALMO
I booked a seat on a train to Gothenburg that allowed me plenty of time to pack, check out and get to the station. For the price paid the STF Hostel at Malmo was a great success. My review as requested by booking.com can be seen here.
I was indeed at Malmo Central Station long before I needed to (pictures of this station can be viewed here). The platform I needed to catch my train from was displayed well in advance (no London King’s Cross style nonsense of showing the platform that you need to get to the far end of since your train splits at Cambridge with only the front portion continuing onwards a bare five minutes before your train will be leaving). Malmo Central has an unusual feature for a main-line railway station in that some of the platforms are underground, reached via lifts or escalators. These platforms feature a film-type display based on views through a train window to relieve the monotony:
The route from Malmo to Gothenburg travels along the only West facing coastline in Sweden (just north of Gothenburg you reach the start of the long land border with Norway, which continues north and then east until you arrive at the much shorter land border with Finland, which ends at the top of the Gulf of Bothnia, after which it is coastline all the way round to Gothenburg), and is very scenic…
All of the pictures you see in this section of the post were taken through the window of a train.
The rain made this one even more of a challenge.
LOCATING MY HOTEL
The main tourist information office in Gothenburg is located inside a large shopping centre which is accessible directly from the station. They were able to equip me with a map and directions to my hotel, and I set about finding my way there…
This is at Gothenburg stationCrossing a canalWater transport.
My room at the City Hotel Avenyn – small, but not sharedA painting that hangs on the second floor of the hotel, just along the corridor from my room.
Just before I reached the City Hotel Avenyn I noted the City Pub next door it. After paying for my room I still had nearly 1,o00 Kronor left, so I decided to treat myself to a meal at the pub.
I consumed an excellent meal of Swedish meatballs and mashed potato, washed down with a couple of glasses of a good local beer. While I was there, one of the TV screens was showing an Olympic handball match between Sweden and Russia. The Swedes won – it was close for most of the first half, but then Sweden pulled clear and were never seriously threatened thereafter. After that it was time to head back to my room. Unfortunately, there was a lot of noise during the night. Here, courtesy of a screen-grab from booking.com is what I had to say about Gothenburg itself and my accommodation:
However, it was now time to move on, with the next destination being Malmo. Leaving the hotel I headed for the station, could not work out which train was best to take with my destination being Malmo or spot a member of staff to ask, so I boarded a train bound for Stockholm Central, reasoning that there would probably be a direct connection from there to Malmo and if not there would be staff there.
Other than having to get a later connection than I would have like to Malmo, due to the necessity of reserving a seat (Stockholm-Malmo is a route on which such is required), I got my onward train from Stockholm with no great difficulty. I did what I had done on the Inlandsbanan journey and spent the journey looking through the window, taking photographs along the way…
A MINOR DIFFICULTY IN MALMO
My train was scheduled to arrive at Malmo at 16:47, which of course it did, Malmo’s tourist information office closes at 17:00. I failed to locate it before it had closed, and the various people I asked for advice about how to get to my accommodation were unable to be of much assistance. Eventually I ascertained that by catching a bus to Davids Hall I could get close. Sadly, it was not possible to pay cash on the bus, and at Pressbyran, where the driver had said I could buy a ticket they directed me elsewhere. Unable to find the place to which I had been directed I finally resorted to a taxi. On this occasion I was booked into a six-bed dorm. This proved rather more commodious than the four-bed dorm at Uppsala. While I was still on a top bunk, this one was properly accessible.
I had seen enough in the environs of the station and on the taxi ride to suggest that Malmo would repay detailed exploration on the morrow…
The latest installment in my series about my holiday in Sweden.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the latest installment in my series of blog posts about my recent in Sweden. This is my final post about my time in Lulea.
LAKESIDE PERAMBULATIONS
I had noticed just on the other side of the railway tracks from the the main part of town was a lake and I finished my explorations by heading that way. I crossed the lake on a bridge and found a footpath along the other side of the lake. Reaching a second bridge I crossed back and looked to walk back along the other side. Unfortunately I came to a point where the path was blocked off by high metal fencing. I attempted to find a way round and was unable to do so. Partially in consequence of this I ended up taking a much longer route back towards the station than I had originally envisaged (but was still never in danger of not getting to the station in time to retrieve the bag I had left there). Here are my lakeside pics…
BACK AT THE STATION
Having a little time left before needing to collect my luggage and head for the platform I stopped for a cold (non-alcoholic) drink at the station cafe and to recover from my walking exertions. I took a few more photos while consuming my drink…
For photographing this car I used the same approach I would take to photographing a toy – although this is big enough for an adult to drive a toy is effectively what it is!The second shot with the engine on show.A close up of the engine.
Even waiting on the platform there were things to photograph…
The train Ii would not be getting.Yes – a railway station message board warning Pokemon Go players not to go on the tracks!
The barrier blocking off the crossing point.
A glimpse of the hotel in which I had stayed to night before.The very door by which I boarded the train.
The next installment in my series about Sweden, and the finale to the sub-series about the Inlandsbanan experience.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden, and the end of the sub-series of posts about my northward journey along Inlandsbanan.
THE JOURNEY
By this stage we were nearing the end of the journey from Ostersund to Gallivare, although there was still the second meal stop to come. In the brief period between restarting the trip from the edge of the arctic circle and arriving at Vaikijaur for the second meal stop we passed a place called Jokkmokk.
Vaikijaur was not especially memorable, although the food was excellent. Here are the pictures I took.
A side view of this quirky little buildingThe front viewThe people who had produced our food.
We had no further significant stops before Gallivare although we did pass through a town called Porjus. The train pulled into the platform at Gallivare exactly as scheduled at 21:39. Here are the photos of the last part of the journey…
SLEEPLESS IN GALLIVARE
I had booked two nights at the Hotel Dundret i Centrum, planning then to take a morning train to Lulea on the Gulf of Bothnia and then an overnight train from Lulea to Uppsala, birthplace of Carolus Linnaeus also known as Carl Von Linne. However, while I located the establishment in question, there was no one at reception, and it turned out that to gain access my room I needed to make a call on a mobile phone (had booking.com mentioned this detail I would have booked somewhere else) and I had accidentally left mine at the flat in Stockholm where my cousin and his fiance live. I waited a few minutes in the very unimpressive communal seating area just in case but it was soon obvious that no one would show up.
While I could have sat there until the morning doing so would then involve having an argument over payment because there was no way I would pay for a night in which I had not access to my room, so I decided to cut my losses and headed back to the station to wait the night out. Before continuing this story here is the one photo I took in Gallivare (I knew the camera battery was low, and that I would not be able to charge it that night).
This sculpture is on the roundabout just opposite the station in Gallivare.
I did make a couple of attempts to get some sleep but they were unsuccessful. I was thankful that I had had the foresight to pack a long sleeved top just in case the Swedish summer weather was not quite as good as it might be, since while it does not get dark in Gallivare in August it does get quite nippy at night (as a cricket fan I would have said that the light was never even at its least good unplayable in). Had the sky been clear I might have had a glimpse of the famous midnight sun, but as it was solidly cloudy I was denied even that small pleasure.
At 6 o’clock I was able to get inside and think about my next move. Having ascertained that train tickets could be bought at the Pressbyran next to the station, which was now open, I paid for a ticket on 7:08 train to Lulea (the full price since I did not wish to burn a whole day’s travel for a shortish journey – btw train tickets are one of the few things that are not more expensive in Sweden than in GB – the Swedes don’t have the likes of Branson coining it from failing to provide proper train services), having decided that I would get back on track with my original plans by staying overnight in Lulea and catching the sleeper as intended the following day.
THE INLANDSBANAN EXPERIENCE
I rate this as one of the finest railway experiences I have ever had. I encountered some wonderfully scenic journeys in Scotland and on my first visit to Nordic lands many years ago. More recently I experienced some very scenic journeys in Australia, including Melbourne – Adelaide.
Although I, with my Colbeckian enthusiasm for all things railwayana thoroughly enjoyed all three legs of the Inlandsbanan journey and would recommend the experience to anyone I could also see merit in missing the Kristinehamn-Mora section and doing Mora-Ostersund and Ostersund-Gallivare having found some other route to Mora. If not constrained by budget I would recommend the onward trip from Gallivare to Narvik and some exploration in Norway as well. I also mention that there are places along the route where one could stay overnight if wanted to spend many days over making the journey, but with an inter-rail pass giving me eight days of travel and a desire to see as much of Sweden as I could encompass such was not on the table for me personally.
If anyone involved in the publication of the Rough Guide to Sweden happens to see this may I suggest that you think about turning my last eight blog posts into a chapter about Inlandsbanan since it is absurd that this incredible experience is not covered in your pages.
The latest installment in my series about my recent holiday in Sweden. We are still travelling north on Inlandsbanan and this post takes us to the arctic circle.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the next installment in this series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. In this post we are back on the move, heading north along Inlandsbanan.
THE JOURNEY
Very soon after leaving Vilhelmina Norra behind us we made a brief stop at Storuman.
After Storuman there was again a period of taking pictures through the window of a moving train.
Shortly after I had taken the picture above we arrived at Sorsele, which is significant as…
THE STATION WHERE INLANDSBANAN TRAINS MEET
Yes, it is at an otherwise insignificant dot on the map called Sorsele that the northbound Ostersund-Galiivare service overlaps with the southbound Gallivare-Ostersund service. Sorsele is also home to the Inlandsbanan Museum, although I chose not to go inside. Thus I have many photographs of this location that is so important in the workings of Inlandsbanan…
My first shot of the two Inlandsbanan trains together at the platform
A wonderful signboard, one of many here.
The external view of the Inlandsbanan museum.
A disused platform.The guard about to indicate the departure of the southbound service.Where personal meets professional – as someone who images auction items and has an interest in railwayana I particularly wanted to get a close-up of the Inlandsbanan cap badge.Outside cooking – probably a rare pleasure in this part of the world!
After a brief move we including the lake below we arrived at Slagnas
After leaving Slagnas there was a reasonably long period of forward travel…
We then had a stop for long enough to stretch our legs at…
ARVIDSJAUR
I was able to take a few pictures here before we moved on.
Moving forward again, I was still taking pictures through the train window…
I reckon this must be the lower terminal of a cable car route.
What looks like a black raindrop in the picture above is actually a mark on the window that got into more than one of my photos! It was very soon after this picture was taken that we arrived at…
THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
This was not the first occasion I had been into the arctic – on my only previous visit to Nordic lands in 1994 I had gone by train from Helsinki to Narvik in Norway, with a brief bus ride from Haparanda to Boden in the middle,, and after a night in Narvik had caught a bus to Tromso before then travelling by boat to the most northerly town in mainland Europe, Hammerfest. However in those days I had no camera, and also the point at which we reached the arctic circle was not announced. Here are the shots i took from inside the train before I knew that there would actually be a stop:
I end this post with pictures taken out in the open at the arctic circle:
The train at the arctic circle.
A fellow passenger was kind enough to take the picture from which I extracted this image of myself standing in front of the arctic circle sign.
The latest in my series of posts about my holiday in Sweden.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the next installment in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. In this post my account of the Inlandsbanan experience continues.
MUCH MORE THAN JUST A JOURNEY – A RAILWAY EXPERIENCE
In my previous posts about my journey along InlandsbananI have been concentrating on the route followed by the trains as they move north. However, Inlandsbanan is much more than a railway journey (though it is certainly among the most scenic of those). It is a railway experience, and the scheduled meal stops, one on the Mora-Ostersund leg at the Asarna Ski Centre and two on the long northward haul from Ostersund to Gallivare, the one which I am using as the base for this post at Vilhelmina Norra and a later one at Vaikijaur. Keen followers of this series will remember that Asarna I opted for Moose burger with jacket wedges. Here is a picture showing the two menus from which this day’s food choices were made…
For this meal I went for the Meat sandwich, while my choice for the Vaikijaur stop was the Reindeer burger.
Why have I opted to cover this aspect of the trip at this point? Well, these little critters who I was able to watch while consuming my meal had something to do with that decision…
With the meal stops being of generous duration I had plenty of opportunities to augment my collection of photos…
The latest in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden, still covering the northward journey along Inlandsbanan.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. Just before moving on to the details of this post, Anna and her fellow residents of Trosa are locked in battle with greedy/ corrupt local politicians over plans to build a new road that the area does not need or want. I urge you to visit this post, which was put up yesterday and offer your support. As a veteran of the King’s Lynn incinerator affair this touches a particular chord with me. For the rest of this post we are continuing the journey north along Inlandsbanan.
THE JOURNEY
As we left Ulriksfors behind us, I was temporaril back to photographing from a moving train.
Not long after passing the house pictured above I was able to get this picture of an old locomotive:
Here are the remaining photos I got before arriving into Vilhelmina…
The stop at Vilhelmina was not a long one, as the stop at the next station along, Vilhelmina Norra, was the first of two designated meal stops, but I did get these pictures…
Beyond Vilhelmina but before Vilhelmina Norra, which I have decided to give a whole post to itself, I managed to get a few more photographs from the moving train.
There will be a further three posts about my journey along Inlandsbanan, one covering Vilhelmina Norra, one covering the stretch from Vilhelmina Norra to the arctic circle, and the final post covering the journey from the edge of the arctic circle to Gallivare, summing up the whole experience and setting the scene for subsequent posts by explaining events that transpired in Gallivare that had a considerable effect on my plans.
The next stage in my account of my travels around Sweden. Read, enjoy and please share.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this latest installment in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. My previous posts about the journey along Inlandsbanan can be found here.
THE JOURNEY
With the train from Ostersund to Gallivare leaving at 7:20 AM it was necessary to leave my accommodation early (not that many would have been tempted to linger in the Pensionat Bjornen anyway!). I arrived at the station in good time, and this not being Britain so did the train.
Settled in my seat, seat 40 (I had booked the same seat number on both the Mora-Ostersund and Ostersund-Gallivare trains), I was ready to do my best to capture the scenery that was visible through my window…
This being a fourteen hour trip there were two scheduled meal stops. My order for the first was the smoked pork collar sandwich.
Shortly after crossing the bridge through whose metalwork I took the picture above we arrived at Ulriksfors where we were stopped long enough for me to identify our whereabouts, and hence where the first part of my account of the journey from Ostersund to Gallivare ends.
The latest in my series of posts about my holiday in Sweden.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the latest installment in my series about my recent holiday in Sweden. This post brings us to the end of the second leg of the journey north on Inlandsbanan and sets the scene for third and (by a very large margin) longest leg of the journey, the 14-hour trip from Ostersund to Gallivare.
THE JOURNEY
The food stop at Asarna, where my last post ended, comes near the end of the journey from Mora to Ostersund, but there was still plenty to see…
I was glad to get this spectacular rainbow on camera.
The station at Ostersund Central
OVERNIGHT IN OSTERSUND
I was booked into the Pensionat Bjornen for the night. It was here that my failure to pick up my phone on departure from Stockholm first adversely affected me (a day later it would do so again). I had not realised and there had been nothing on booking.com to tell me that I would need to make a mobile phonecall to collect my room key. Thankfully someone else booked into the same establishment arrived not long after me and did have her phone with her, so we were both able to get our keys. The Pensionat Bjornen is an annexe of a hotel that sits on the opposie side of the street, and it was to this latter establishment that keys had to be returned in the morning. For a single night stay with an early start it was an acceptable place, and was the cheapest accommodation in a non-shared room that I had anywhere. I conclude this post with a jpg of my official booking.com review of the establishment:
aspiblog 