The Second Day

Second Day
From Ö. Karup to Lund

Skåne (also known as Scania in English) is the southernmost province of Sweden. In the past (on and off), Skåne used to belong to Denmark; but for the last 300 years it has been Swedish. The architecture of many old buildings still reminds of the past connection to Denmark.

Our first stop on the second day of the trip was Ängelholm (in the past spelled Engelholm), founded in 1516 by Christian II of Denmark. 

Old Town Hall, Ängelholm

I knew this town to be famous for its 'clay cuckoos', a kind of ocarina. So on our stroll around there, we kept a lookout for those. Actually we did find the only workshop where they are still made; but it was closed. (We weren't really out to buy one, though - just to have a look!)

Our next stop was Höganäs, another town renowned for its ceramics. Nowadays, production has been moved elsewhere; and the museum was not open yet when we were there. 

Höganäs Museum

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We had to take a few turns by car through the town to find any pottery at all; but at last we found this workshop, specializing in big garden pots. (I did not buy one of those, but I bought one of those ornamental sticks with ceramic heads that you see in the top right picture.)

Höganäs Pottery

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Our next major stop was Sofiero Palace and park near Helsingborg. It used to be one of the royal family's country mansions, but when king Gustaf VI Adolf (grandfather of our present king) died in 1973, he left it to the city of Helsingborg to be enjoyed by the general public. We had lunch in the café there, then a look at permanent and temporary exhibitions inside, and finished off with a stroll around the park (or parts of it! - it's a very large park). Alas I got no photo of the exterior, as they were setting up a big stage in front of it for some event - but if you click on the link, there is a photo in the Wikipedia article. 

The Entrance to Sofiero

The terrace outside the café

View from the terrace

Suspension bridge over a gorge, leading to another part of the park

From inside the palace

As for Helsingborg city, we skipped that on the way down; but returned there on the way back.

Instead, our next stop was Landskrona, and especially its old citadel - built in the mid 1500s as a purely defensive fortification, during the reign of Christian the III of Denmark. (The province of Skåne was Danish back then.) We had a stroll around, and also sat for a while at the café overlooking the citadel.

Landskrona Citadel

Landskrona Citadel

There are a lot of old churches in Skåne too, and on our road trip we stopped at quite a few. Some were open, others not (in which case we just walked around them on the outside instead). I see the 'Inspired Sunday' blog meme is still up and running, so I think I'll do some separate church posts later to fit in with that. 

On this day, Vallkärra church (not far from Lund) caught our eye:

Vallkärra kyrka, Skåne.

Vallkärra kyrka, Skåne
The oldest part of the church is the choir,
which dates back to the late 12th century.

Towards evening we arrived at our hotel in the old university city of Lund, where we had booked three nights. Absolutely perfect for a longer stay... The hotel was situated within easy walking distance from several tourist attractions; and yet quiet at night. The rooms were (each) equipped with a complete pentry; and there was a big grocery store just a couple of minutes walk away. (Which meant we were able to fix our own evening meals here rather than going out to eat every night. Breakfast was included as usual.)

I could easily have spent a full week in Lund (and at this hotel!) ;-) However, there were other places within driving distance that we wanted to visit from there as well. So what we decided on was to spend the first morning (including lunch) + the last evening in Lund. In between, we spent one afternoon visiting Malmö (20 km away), and the second day driving down to the southernmost point of Sweden (Skanör-Falsterbo) and back. (More about all that coming up in the next two posts.)