Marstrand, a city on an island

Since I will be gone for almost two weeks, I planned a visit to see Anders. I left yesterday morning around 9:30 and got to Alingsas at 10:30. Anders told me to eat breakfast before the trip since we had a busy day planned and we would go straight from the train station.

Our first stop after a half hour drive was the Koberg Castle in Vastergotland. It is the residence of Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld, (the King's sister), and her husband Baron Nicklas Silfverschiöld. There was a sign that said something like "No entrance" in Swedish, but Anders was determined that I should see the castle, so we drove past it and I had enough time to step out and get a picture.

 Back to the car, a quick stop at a road side strawberry stand, and we were headed to Trollhattan.

In 1800, the Trollhattan Canal was opened which linked Lake Vanern and the North Sea, and Trollhatten became an industrial town. We stopped here to see the locks, and we were just in time to see the water filling in one of the locks for the boat pictured below. It was pretty incredible to see the lock technology.

The line at the sandwich place was too long, so we settled for ice cream for lunch. :)

On our way from Trollhatten to Marstrand, we stopped in Lödöse, a small town that is considered to be the precursor to modern day Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. Lödöse was an important trading town in the 1100s, located at the mouth of the Gota river, and was Sweden's only port on the West Coast. It was moved to Gothenburg so as to avoid taxes levied on merchants since it was trapped between Norway and Denmark . The history of the medieval town is displayed in the Lödöse Museum, where Anders and I spent about an hour looking around.

After the museum trip, we were off to our final destination for the day: the town of Marstrand. I was dozing in the car, and Anders said "Marstrand is ahead." I opened my eyes and was astounded. It was gorgeous! We parked the car, and then we had to take a ferry a short ride across the water to the other side. The blue skies, blue water and colorful buildings were breathtaking. I was impressed with Mariestad and Hjo, but Marstrand outdid both of them! My guide book says "Sun, sailing and the smell of the sea are what Marstrand is all about." Another website said "Marstrand is one of the most famous towns on the Bohuslän coast, and is renowned for its intense boating culture, Carlsten’s Fortress and its history as a playground for royals." Check out the skyline below!

The town is right on the ocean, and the wooden buildings are all built in the same style--pastel colors, intricate details, and gorgeous gardens. Everywhere I turned was picture perfect. And if that isn't enough, overlooking the town is the Carlstens Fastning, a fortress built in 1666-73.

Walking along the boardwalk, there were beautiful buildings on my left (first picture below), and white houses and boats to my right (second picture). The third shows some of the intricacies of the buildings. 

In the picture below, the house just above the boat is supposedly the vacation home of the owner of Volvo, or so Anders told me.

This was by far the most impressive building. It is the "Society House" (Societetshuset), and it was absolutley stunning.

 Just another impressive building...

 

After walking around the town, we made our way to Carlstens Fastning. At one time, it was a notorious prison. To be sentenced to "Marstrand labor" was one of the severest punishments in the country as the prisoners were used for the heaviest tasks, and as many as half the prisoners died. The fortress switched nationalities several times, from Swedish to Danish, and it was used in the Second World War. In 1993, it was declared no longer part of Sweden's defense installations. It was a pretty impressive building to say the least.

 

We only had twenty minutes to walk around, but we sure saw a lot of it. We saw the rooms of the prisoners (pretty cramped!), the secret tunnels, and I concluded that it would be pretty awful to live here.

I was desperate to get a good view of the city, and I found a great view of the ocean on the back side of the fortress. Anders told me "This is the old country," and I knew what he meant. Just looking over the archipelago and seeing the sunlight glisten on the water was overwhelming.

I finally got my good view of the city as we were leaving the fortress. Imagine having lunch at that white table every day. I don't think I'd ever get sick of that view.

 We had dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the canal so we could watch the boats. It was nice to have a good meal and nice to have a relaxed, knowledgeable and friendly tour guide with me. 

When we returned home around 7:30, we went for a ride on the boat. Anders showed me the rest of the lake. It was so peaceful riding on the boat and just thinking. Back in his house, he brought me more ice cream with hjorten berries. The best English translation is "cloud berries," and Diane had talked about these but didn't know the Swedish name. Anders put them on ice cream for me and they were SOOOO good! I am now on a mission to find some more of them, and I brought some back for Diane to try.

This picture was taken at 9:30 at night--I can't get used to the light!

My visit to see Anders wrapped up with breakfast outside. He made my favorite--rhubarb! I had it the Swedish way again with cream, sugar and cinnamon, and he let me keep the left overs. I definitely do not go hungry when I visit him. He also slipped me a bottle of fladersaft to take home.

It was an amazing day, and Anders is so eager to show me more of Sweden. Marstrand may be my new favorite city in the world--so gorgeous and amazing. I can see why the royals vacation there. :)