Having been a fan of Henning Mankell it should come as no surprise that a trip to Ystad in the south of Sweden would have to happen one day. So it was some excitement that we departed from Gatwick at the beginning of June bound for first, Copenhagen where we catch a train to Malmo. We would have to catch a second train from Malmo to Ystad and then a taxi from there station there to the hotel, the Ystad Satlsjobad Spa hotel as it turned out. I will not bore you with some of the misfortunes we encountered there because I don’t want to detract from the overall success of our first visit to Sweden and our rather geek like following of the fictional detective, Inspector Kurt Wallander (I urge you , read the books from the very first one!).
The hotel was a good walk to the town of Ystad, when I say good I mean an easy walk only taking us about 20 to 30 minutes and no hills to climb. We did have to negotiate several pedestrian crossing and a railway line of two but nothing to cause any difficulties. Sweden certainly is a nice, well cared for place as far as we could tell. The houses on one of the more scenic routes into town were all different with little garden houses with matching garages and all painted various colours.
Touring the town didn’t take long and we found several nice places selling very sticky cakes and rather nice coffee. We didn’t really get time to try any restaurants in the evening but too the opportunity to snack on two days and then had a meal in our hotel on our last night in Sweden. However, the one place where we did have a couple of nice meals was on the beach promenade not far from the hotel. This little place is well known for the owner who calls his customers meals through a megaphone! “Halla Halla”!!
The walks and the beaches are perfect for budding photographers and naturalists (NOT naturists!) and given a heat wave would be perfect for a long day sunbathing.
I mustn’t forget the main reason we went to Ystad in the first place … Inspector Kurt Wallander. We followed in his footsteps as far as we could but saved time by visiting the TV studios were the series was made and much of the story is there to see.
Fridofs and the famous “Wallander Cake” !
Finally, the view from the train of the wonderful Swedish countryside…..
The good things were the friendly people, the good food (if not a tad fattening), the beach, the walks, the hotel (if the builders had been absent!) and the weather was perfect. The bad things, not a lot really just that it was somewhat expensive. But there again, it was worth it in the end and we came home worn out. The only moment of panic was when I thought I had lost the house keys and we faced the prospect of finding a hotel overnight and then paying out for a locksmiths. All turned out well in the end when the keys turned up in one of our suitcases!!! - No further comment needed.
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