Sweet Sweden

Stockholm syndrome

Mention Sweden and what may immediately spring to mind is not beautiful lakes and forests but IKEA furniture, Scandinavian functionality and... Abba. And, I nearly forgot — cold weather and dark, depressing winters when the sun hardly ever shines.

Brooding, freezing and functional. The only respite to be found by listening to Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Frida belting out their old hits on the radio as you cry into your depressingly expensive beer. Could this be Sweden? No, not at all. Strip away the stereotypes and misperceptions and you begin to appreciate that Sweden is one of the best places to visit in Europe if you are looking for remote wilderness, expansive lakes and forests and intimate towns and villages.

Like most other visitors, my initial introduction to Sweden was via Stockholm, the nation’s capital. Straddling 14 islands that make up the Stockholm archipelago, there can be few cities that boast a more photogenic backdrop. This natural setting serves as an appetiser for what the rest of the country has to offer in terms of its geography.

A well-planned, cosmopolitan place, the city is packed with endless streets of imposing archaic apartment blocks that jostle for space with more modern buildings. But Stockholm’s jewel in the crown is the well-preserved medieval old town of Gamla Stan.  
The old & the new Dating back to the 13th century, the old town is a wondrous entanglement of medieval Renaissance architecture, alleyways, cobbled streets and former merchant’s houses. The intimate Stortorget is the main square and the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520, where up to 100 Swedish noblemen were massacred by the Danish King Christian II.

But as enticing as Stockholm is, it would be a waste not to jump on the train to explore small-town Sweden and its dazzling rural hinterland. Just a couple of hours or so by train from the capital and you can be in slower-paced provincial towns like Falun, Borlange and Ludvica, major hopping-off points for checking out the southern part of sprawling Dalarna County. Regarded as central Sweden, Dalarna is considered to be the heartland of Swedish culture.

Once you arrive here, you begin to appreciate that the Swedes are at home in the great outdoors. Dalarna abounds with wildlife, including bears, wolves and eagle-owls, and attracts many tourists who come here to hike, camp, canoe, ski (in winter), fish and swim in the lakes.

Historically, Dalarna has enjoyed a rich and unique folk culture, with distinct music, paintings and handicrafts. The annual 90-km cross-country skiing race is the world’s longest and takes place in March from Salen (not far from the border with Norway) to Mora. The race commemorates the ski-borne escape of Gustav Ericson, who later became King Gustav I of Sweden, from Danish troops during the infamous Stockholm Bloodbath. As nationalism grew in Sweden during the 19th century, the folk culture of Dalarna became important to national identity throughout the country. 

Today, forestry is a major industry but Dalarna is also famous for its mining. Copper extraction began in Falun during the 11th century, and, by the 17th century, two-thirds of European copper demand was satisfied by Falun’s mining industry. As a result, Dalarna helped make Sweden a dominant power in Northern Europe at the time. Although Falun’s copper mine closed in 1992, the mine, known as the Great Copper Mountain, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 2001, and is spectacular to see.

Moving towards the west, some 40 km outside of Ludvika, is the small town of Kopparberg, which is not actually in Dalarna but just over the county border in Orebro. This place is notable for its brewery, famous fruit cider, copper mines and a beautiful wooden church. With its visually appealing façade, the imposing steeples and cozy interior conspire to make this church a stately but elegant work of art. Blending perfectly with the lovely architecture of the nearby buildings and dating back to 1635, Ljusnarsbergs Kyrka (the church’s name in Swedish) was voted the most beautiful church in Sweden by a magazine in February 2006.

Although a small town of a few thousand people, Kopparberg also boast six museums showcasing shoe making, jewellery, postal history, mining museum and local history.

Country charm

Once you get out of Stockholm and into the countryside, you will notice many of the houses and barns coated in a dark-red stain. This paint derives from the mines of this region and is ubiquitous throughout the country. Among your lasting impressions of Sweden will be the forests, the lakes and the warm red-coloured buildings nestling along the roads and lakesides.

Heading back towards Ludvika, you will come to Grangesberg, which used to be a big mining centre. With around 3,500 inhabitants, as with everywhere else in this neck of the woods, it is surrounded by expanses of forest and various appealing glassy lakes. For steam railway fanatics, the town hosts a railway museum which has a large collection of steam and diesel locomotives, including three turbine-driven steam locomotives in working order. And while you are here, you might be surprised to find a magnificent, imperious-looking 600-seat concert hall in such a small town with a stand-out exterior designed to resemble the Bank of England in London. 

Just 20 km north of Ludvika is the peaceful hamlet of Grangarde, nestling between two still blue lakes with distant forested hills as the backdrop. Boasting just a few hundred inhabitants, Grangarde plays host to what is another beautiful old church (13th century), a lakeside hotel for accommodation and a farm shop where they serve coffee and snacks. The shop is part of the family-run organic farm next door. The staff will tell you about the farm and its products, which include juices, jams, marmalades, cider and mulled wine. Natural pest management is employed on the farm as well as careful crop rotation to ensure and maintain soil fertility and health. And it all seems to be working very well indeed: the farm’s black currant crop is one of the largest organic crops in Europe.

About 15 km north from Grangarde, hidden away in the forests is Bast mountain pasture. Arrive here and you really do feel like you are in the middle of nowhere (especially when the snow is falling, as it was when I visited). A cultural heritage conservation area, it has operated as a place of pasture for over 450 years, where people grazed livestock. By the 1800s, 100 households owned almost 600 animals. Most of the basic wooden buildings are currently owned by descendants of the original occupants and used as second homes. Visit in the winter and it will be deserted. But don’t let that stop you. The empty village adds to the remoteness.

Sweden has only 9.6 million people and measures almost 1,500 km from north to south. Around 15% of its area is situated above the Arctic Circle. But that’s another story for another day. There are hundreds of interesting towns and villages to explore throughout the country. But, space has allowed for only a handful in southern Dalarna to be mentioned here. For that reason alone, given its vastness, you could say that Sweden is definitely a place to actually experience than ​just ​read about.