Malmö and back again

Frederik Jensen

1 year ago

I grabbed a chance opportunity for a quick visit to Malmö. A friend is moving south and I offered to make him company on the long drive from Stockholm. I suggested a stop at the Rök runestone between Linköping and Jönköping. A short detour from E4, the free standing stone features the longest known runic inscription. We made it just before sunset on a cold winter day.

Turning Torso in the morning sun with fluffy little clouds.

The next day I went sightseeing in Malmö. I started in Västra Hamnen, the area I lived with my wife our first year in Sweden. Once an important industrial area, the harbour has been converted to residential areas over the last few decades. Most famous is Turning Torso, the tall, white tower clearly visible from the Öresund bridge, now a landmark of Malmö. At 193 meters it was the tallest building in Sweden until 2022.

Turning Torso with reflection in the thin morning ice.

I revisited places I remembered and places I had forgotten. Kallbadhuset, the public bathing house at the Ribersborg beach, was a delightful opportunity to get warm after an outdoor hike with my oldest and his friends at Lida near Stockholm. While Malmö couldn’t offer snow this time, the water temperature of 2.3 degree Celsius was cold enough for me. You have a choice of three saunas: A wood fired dry sauna, a quiet dry sauna, and a wet sauna shared by both sexes. While you enjoy the heat after a quick dip and your eyes gaze over the water towards the coast of Denmark in the distance, your mind wanders where it wants to go. Highly recommended.

Öresund Bridge seen from Västra Hamnen. Many Danes like me moved to Malmö in order for their non EU citizen spouse to get EU residence permit. I take pleasure in the little show of defiance of the padlocks in the fence. Love will find a way. Don't let bureaucrats and populist politicians constrain your future.

The sky had turned the traditional overcast grey and I felt the familiar moist westerly wind by the time I reached the public bathing house.

Lake Getaren at Lida in Borkyrka, Sörmland, a great outdoor sports / nature preserve south of Stockholm. This picture of the snow covered landscape under the full moon is taken just one day earlier and shows the difference between the east coast and west coast climate in Sweden.

Later a friend from Copenhagen drove over and joined me for lunch and we had a relaxed walk and talk catching up on life. Souvenirs for the family secured by a visit to a specialty tea shop, the local science fiction bookstore, and an Asian market at Möllevångstorget. The local fish monger stalls unfortunately were closed, another favourite place from my honeymoon in Sweden. I’m sure my fellow travellers on the train didn’t mind though. Plus now I have an excuse to come back another time.

Half-timbered house in Malmö. Then you know you have come to southern Scandinavia.

I even got in a game of Gotlandia at the train station with my friend before catching the night train back to Stockholm. Who cares about delayed trains when you can push a little cardboard in good company?

Excellent customer service in the local brick-and-mortar game store.

Dog and family were happy to see me next morning. That’s how travelling should be: Great to leave for a new adventure, great to come home.