Hello Sweden

Today we crossed the spectacular Øresund Bridge which links Denmark to Sweden. As described in yesterday's post the first 4 km is a tunnel and then the next 4 km is an artificial island. This is followed by an 8km bridge which is huge and this is in turn followed by the toll booths where we paid the also huge toll of £116.44 for the motorhome. Although it's pretty hefty the aternative would be a ferry crossing probably costing even more and there is no viable "long way round" so it's a smile and move on moment.

Contrary to a previous inaccuracy, Sweden is actually our 9th country on this trip (Spain, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden) and we decided to bypass Malmo which is Sweden's third largest city and instead head northwards towards Gothenburg with no intention of getting that far. We stopped at Halmstad a smallish city at the mouth of the river Nissan. Motorhome stop is once again right on the quayside with a nice view.


The big red building is Halmstad Castle and here's what I found out for you. Halmstad Castle is a Renaissance-style castle built in the early 1600s when the region of Halland was still part of Denmark. The Danish King Christian IV commissioned the construction around 1609–1615, using Dutch Renaissance design influences. The architect Hans van Steenwinckel the Elder and his successor Willum Cornelissen led the project. It was designed more as a royal residence than a military fortress, featuring four wings enclosing a rectangular courtyard.

We wandered around the town in the afternoon and then went for a bike ride to see a bit more.  



If you look closely at the time on the clock of the big church buidling you will see that once again it was exactly 12 noon. My timing is perfect.

traditional building in the town square
Fountains in the town square

This entrance used to be the main entrance to some kind of secure compound because it still contains a port cullis. I managed to snap this picture during the 0.5 second moment when there were no pedestrians passing. 

Tomorrow we have something special planned, it is a must do in Sweden. Mountie Jack is especially keen that we take him with us so I said I would try to remember.




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