Southern Sweden
Kalmar, Växjö and Glass Country
19 August 2023
We took an Uber to a rental car office near the train station and were given the world’s most complicated BMW! We spent about an hour, while driving, to get CarPlay to work. Thankfully, driving out of Stockholm was quite easy.
Our drive south took a little less than five hours, through rural Sweden. We arrived at the small city of Kalmar, on the Baltic Sea, and checked into our hotel in the “old town.” We then walked a short distance to the impressive and well–preserved Kalmar Castle, which dates from the late 12th century. It was expanded in the 15th and 16th centuries to its current dimensions. We also learned about Swedish and Danish historical interactions, when they got along, and when they did not. For several centuries, Kalmar was one of the most important Swedish cities due to the Castle. Here’s a photo taken while walking up to the castle.
To the left, the castle courtyard and the oldest tower (from the 12th Century), and above, a portion of the ceiling of the King’s bedroom.
Above is another photo from the King’s bedroom. Below is the castle church.
After our tour of the castle, we walked into the attractive central area of Kalmar, where the runners in the Iron Man triathlon were quite visible finishing their long day racing. The city was hopping. After dinner, we watched a bit of the end of the race, with several participants ringing the “first timer” bell and each person getting the proclamation “you are an Iron Man” when crossing the finish line.
Here is a map of the places we will visit in Southern Sweden.
20 August 2023
Before leaving Kalmar, even though it was drizzling, we decided to walk around Gamla Stan, the attractive neighborhood where our hotel is located. We checked out and then drove west, inland from the Baltic Sea, to visit several towns in “Glass County”.
The first stop was the town of Orrefors, where we visited a museum dedicated to the original Orrefors glass artists and a shop displaying individual artistic works from the independent artists currently working in the town. The Orrefors brand is now owned by Kosta Boda, which we will visit later.
Next, we to the very small town of Boda (pop. about 500) and visited the “Glass Factory.” This has a nice museum providing the history of glass production in Sweden and several displays of artistic glass from current artists. One of the display rooms is located in a former glass factory.
This is a work of art installed near the Glass Factory.
We then backtracked a bit to the town of Nybro for lunch and found it very quiet on a Sunday. After lunch, we visited the small hytta (“cabin” or “works”) of Mickejohans Konstglas located near Örsjö, where we watched two young women blowing and shaping glass pieces.
From there, we drove to the town of Kosta, which features a huge complex devoted to the Kosta Boda Company. We visited the very nice museum of art glass, which included both the company’s pieces and several from independent artists (including an amazing display of musical instruments made from glass). Next we spent about a half hour or so watching three glass blowers fashion a bowl and then a glass pitcher.
From Kosta we drove about 45 minutes to the town of Växjö (which we never really learned how to pronounce!), where our hotel is located on a nice pedestrian shopping street. We strolled around to get the lay of the land while a local festival was winding down for the weekend.
21 August 2023
We left Växjö and drove about 45 minutes to an independent glass works near the town of Transjö. They displayed some of their works around a nearby stream and had a very nice shop, where we made our only glass purchase.
There were also some alpaca to feed.
Next, we drove to Nybro (again) for lunch and then returned to Växjö. We walked for about an hour exploring the pedestrian main area and Växjösjön lake at the edge of the old town. We also saw the cathedral (12th to15th century) with two very tall spires. Växjö boasts three interesting looking museums, but, despite the information we had, none of them is open on a Monday.
The Växjö Cathedral exterior and modern glass which adorns the interior.
We enjoyed our time in “Glass Country”, including seeing moose, glassworks and the historic castle. Plus, we were surprised by witnessing the “Iron Man.”
Tomorrow, we turn in the rental car and head to Denmark by train.
From there we drove to Glasrikets Älgpark (älg is the Swedish word for “elk” or “moose” which they seem to use interchangeably), near Nybro. The drive took about a half hour. We parked a car and took a tour in a trailer driven by a tractor through an enclosure housing about a dozen moose. We saw large males as well as cows, including one with a small calf. We were given the opportunity to feed and pet the moose as they came up to our trailer. It was fun to be close to them.