Välkommen till Sverige 🇸🇪

But first: there's still the last "half" of Denmark missing.

Hillerød and Frederiksborg Castle

In the picturesque town of Hillerød, we spent a few nights close to Frederiksborg Castle and its huge grounds.

The largest Renaissance castle in Scandinavia, no less!
Built in the 17th century, this water castle spans three islands in the castle lake, served as the residence and coronation site of Danish kings, and today houses the Danish Museum of National History.

Originally built by King Christian IV.
Naturally, Christian felt right at home here. 😀

Helsingør – Helsingborg
Goodbye Denmark!

It's been a while since we last took a ferry!
The nearly 20-minute crossing over the Öresund was probably our shortest yet and, thanks to a fully electric fleet, also the quietest.

The bus parked, fittingly, in the front row. 😀

The Scandinavians used every minute of the short crossing to stock up on shopping carts full of alcohol in the onboard shop.

Sweden welcomed us with a sea of national flags.

Halmstad & Grimeton

In Halmstad, we enjoyed quiet days by the sea — although the weather could have been a bit better now and then. Typically Nordic, really. 😂

Highlight in Grimeton: the Nilfisk vacuum cleaner museum!
Here we got to marvel at a special model — the G73 industrial vacuum cleaner from days gone by.

Jokes aside. 😁
The vacuum cleaner was so much in the "spotlight" in this museum that we simply had to photograph it.

But what's actually worth seeing here?

The Grimeton Radio Station, built in 1922-24, is the world's only fully preserved and operational example of an electromechanical Alexanderson alternator transmitter.

From here, commercial telegrams in Morse code were sent far across the Atlantic to New York. The station belonged to the RCA network (Radio Corporation of America) at the time.
We also practiced our Morse code ourselves — with varying degrees of success.

The station has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for over 20 years. And to this day, a Morse message is still transmitted on special occasions, on the longwave frequency of 17.2kHz. Receivers all over the world then report a successful transmission. The next transmission is on the morning of 24 December.

Lindome/Gotheburg

South of Gothenburg, in Lindome, we found a lovely spot right on a swimming lake.
From here we could easily explore Gothenburg by bus & train.

Of course, a classic cinnamon bun from the well-known Haga district was a must.
We went for the small version, though. The bigger ones (almost "pizza-sized") were a bit too much for us.

At the petting zoo, "Polly" really stood out to us. Maybe she's the black sheep of the family? 😉

And wow, we saw moose! 😊

In Jubileumsparken (marking the city's 400th anniversary), we treated ourselves to a sauna session in an old harbor crane, followed by a cool-down in the water.

All public and free of charge. Impressive!

The city's own amusement park Liseberg was also good for a photo or two.

The next few days will take us further inland. Stay tuned. :)