PLACES: 5’000 km through DE, DK, SE and PL:

Every few years, my wife and I take the car and go and visit my family in Sweden. We usually take the car to be more flexible, and try to take a different route every time, so we can make the most out of it and see as many things as possible.
So a few weeks ago, we started our journey early in the morning, to arrive at our first destination 14 hours later: A random small village in Denmark. We had chosen this place, as our favorite place was only available the next day and the little BnB looked great.

We went to the neighboring village at the Danish west coast, had a great dinner and called it a night.

The next day, we decided to take a little detour to our planned destination in Denmark. We passed by the “Kloster Surfstop” near the beautiful city of Ringkøbing, and had to stop and check out the kiteb-boarders in action.The next stop was the beautiful little city of Søndervig. 

With the lovely little huts in the dunes. I definitely want to go back to this place.

Obviously, along the coast, you have plenty of “Fyr” (lighthouses) to check out:

Another stop was in Hvide sande, where we checked out the fishing harbor (which many of the big Scandinavian fishing vessels call their home) and then went into the lively little town.

For some obligatory seafood and the even more important coffee and Scandinavian pastries:

There are many fish smoke houses, which smoke the fish, straight from the fishing boats next door: It doesn’t get any better.

FInally, we arrived at our little fishing cabin at the Hvidbjerg Strand camping. The camping was great, but honestly, as a couply we felt a bit lost on this huge camping spot with all the families and harcore campers. But for two nights it was perfect.

The next day, it was pouring down constantly. So instead of going on our planned hike in the wadden sea nature reserve, we instead went to the “wadden sea centre” which is a museum about the history, Flora and Fauna, weather, etc of the wadden see. It was the next best thing to do and the beautiful and interesting museum took us some hours, where we learned a lot.

On our way home, we stopped in the Harbour of Esbjerg, where we wandered out and checked out the oil platform which was undergoing maintenance,

And then went to town for another coffee and cardamom bun:  

Luckily, the sky cleared up in the evening the skies cleared up, so we grabbed a few beers in the local store and headed to the beach to enjoy the sunset and the colors of the Scandinavian west coast:

I loved how somebody turned these old WWII bunkers at the beach into art pieces 🙂

The next day, we made our 2-hour journey to the east coast of Denmark, and stopped in the little village of Grenaa:

Because there, we boarded the 4-hour ferry to Sweden in Halmstad:

Because only a few minutes outside of Halmstad is the “Tylösand” Hotel, which we have wanted to visit since a few years, when we learned about it:

The Hotel is owned by Songwriter, singer and guitarist of Roxette, Gyllene Tider and many other projects: Per Gessle. Per is also known for his extensive Ferrari and art collection, which is partially showcased in the Hotel, in an exhibition called “The Joyride” (after a famous Roxette song)

He actually owns so many rare and especially gray colored Ferraris, that the color got known as “Per Gessle Grey” in the Ferrari world. The place also has loads of Roxette themed memorabilia all around

And the place is full (I mean FULL) of cool Art. I loved this photography “Ferrari II” by David Yarrow, featuring one of 12 ever built 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Vignale Spider on the Route 66, with Model Daniela Braga and a wolf. Because why not?

The place (Tylöstrand) is also known as Sweden’s most famous beach. During summer holiday, it’s packed and full of party. We were a bit off-season, so it was quite quiet. But i still enjoyed a quick dip in the 18°C sea.

It’s also well known for its beautiful hiking spot with the direct view on the little island upfront:

Including this little buddy:

After two days of Spa, great food, cars and art, We headed towards my Family place in the more central of Sweden, where we stayed a night in their typical traditional Swedish log house:

We spent a few days with my Family and even enjoyed a lovely Swedish Wedding. Just check out the view from Inside the church, directly onto the sea:

We also went to the “Kvarntorp”.  A place, where during WWII sanctions, Sweden produced oil and diesel by cooking up a special slate sone. The entire hill is made from 40 million cubic-metres of the ashes of that procedure. In some places, the oil is still cooking several hundred degrees Celsius hot, and it smells like Kerosene. 

Now the hill is an art exhibition with dozens of art installations, by various artists.
One is a Totem pole made of Volvo V70 hoods:

Another one is a gas station in the woods, reminding what the hill once was all about:

After the wedding, we ended up in Norrköping.  The former textile industrial center of Sweden. The old factories have now been repurposed and blend beautifully in with all the channels that once powered the mills for the factories:

It’s an absolutely stunning place, if you love industrial architecture, and you can wander around in such scenery (plus the typical Swedish old-town, too) for hours. We checked out some Industrial heritage museums and had some nice food, before we caught up some sleep.

Because the following day, we had another little tour to Nynäshamn. 

Random find at a little stop:

Another little port-village.

Where we boarded another ferry:

This time Direction Gdansk (Danzig) in Poland.

After 18 hours aboard, we entered the Port and got greeted by the Polish Airborne troops, which have their training ground next to the ferry terminal:

We still had a few hours until our hotel room would be ready, so we decided to head to the beach close to Sopot and chill out a bit. Honestly, i didn’t expect such beautiful natural and large beaches in Poland. It could have been straight at the Mediterranean sea. Seriously. 

In the afternoon, we headed to our apartment for the coming week to be greeted with this stunning view:

When in Gdansk, i took the opportunity to say hi to my Friends Jakub and Natalia, of Datsun Europe fame in the Home Outside Gdansk.

Jakub showed me around his place with an impressive collection of cars and parts and ongoing projects. We had a lovely evening with great food and Beer, before we headed back into the city center.

We checked out the WWII Museum in Gdansk. What many people (including me, so far) don’t know, is that the World War II, invasion of Poland, basically started at this place. The museum is an absolute must if you’re there.

We also took a little tour through the old Shipyard of Gdansk. Where, from what I understand, Communism was ended by an uprising of the illegally unionized workers. Some areas are still not rebuilt and are a bit of a “lost place”, also in honor of the people who lost their lives during their uprising against the UDSSR:

In the shipyard, you also find this very cool art installation, made from old ship parts, which were found in the harbor. Symbolizing robots emerging from the sea, reborn from the old ships. Really cool:

If you walk around this city, you can find so much history, architecture, delicious local food, sweets, pastries, and many other cool and nice things.

I have to say I’ve been to many places around the world, but this is one of the most beautiful euaropean cities I’ve been too. Most tourists are locals, Very friendly and with a great sense of humor. It’s very reasonably-priced and well worth to spend a few days. There is so much to discover. From more than 130 churches, to the old human-powered port-crane, to turning bridges, to walls full of bullet holes from WWII, to modern buildings, great ice-cream. You name it, you find it there:

After four days, we sadly had to leave homewards. Tome to fuel up the trustworthy Mazda

And take another 12 hours Journey back home.

After all it was a great experience we got so many impressions, saw so many nice things, learned a lot, and most important: We met so many nice people: Thank you all for your hospitality and time. And I hope to see you all again soon.
For my readers: I hope you enjoyed the ride at least a bit from what we enjoyed doing it: 4171km (plus a few extra detours), and two weeks, very well spent: