The Colours of Autumn

Graham recently wrote about Winter (on the Isle of Lewis). Here in south-west Sweden – pretty much on the same latitude on the globe – even if we sometimes get frosty nights already in September, I don’t think of it as winter until the leaves have fallen off the trees, and taken all colour with them. For now, I’m glad to say, we’re still in the full glory of Autumn. Nature’s own fireworks celebration before going into winter rest…

Here’s the tree I see from my kitchen window, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday this week:

And here are more autumn photos from my recent walkabouts (some wet, some sunny):

Horse chestnuts

Fly agaric, 3rd October

Same fly agaric, 10th October

‘Ölandstok’, Dasiphora fruticosa.
In Sweden, this shrub grows wild on Öland (the island off the east coast that I visited this summer and from where I have been sharing plenty of photos recently). But it is also common in gardens and parks around where I live.

Kalmar – City Wall & Cathedral

Road Trip 2018, Part 20 (19th July)

In Kalmar, we stayed three nights at this hotel on the outskirts of the city, rather close to the Öland bridge (but not so close that you actually see the bridge from there). It’s part of the university campus and serves a conference hotel during most of the year; but also as a convenient B&B for tourists in the summer. The accommodation is in a different building than the reception and restaurant; but in the hot dry weather we were having, that was not a problem. For us, the location was good because we wanted one full day over on Öland, and another day in the city of Kalmar; and it was kind of relaxing not to have to start every morning with packing all our stuff again.

After breakfast on Thursday, we drove into the city of Kalmar, and found a parking lot within reasonable walking distance from the places we inteded to visit before lunch. The parking was close to an old city wall with a walkpath on top, of which we made use to get an overview of the surroundings.

Somewhere around here we got down from the wall and went off in a different direction.

There are a lot of picturesque old houses in Kalmar and I kept snapping photos without really knowing what I was looking at most of the time.

The 17th century Cathedral stands out a bit extra though – although I have to confess that if I hadn’t known what I was looking for, “cathedral” might not have been my first guess for this building – looking more like some kind of compact baroque palace.

When reading up on the history of Kalmar afterwards, I learn that the cathedral (and also the city wall) belongs to the ‘new’ fortified city of Kalmar, built in the mid-17th century. Before that, there was/is an even older Old Town, closer to the Castle (which we’ll be visiting in another post). The ‘new’ town was planned according to Renaissance ideals, with church and town hall across from one another in the town square. The cathedral was designed by the Swedish architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and is one of the foremost examples of classical baroque architecture in Sweden. The construction began in 1660, but was interrupted on several occasions, including a war. The cathedral was finally finished in 1703.

I have no details about the interior of the church, but while the main decorations may still be original baroque, there are definitely also a few items of later design. I did not go up front to take close-up photos, because there was a clergyman sitting there talking to a couple about some ceremony. (The stone baptismal font shaped like a ship was at the back of the church, or in a side aisle. I think they also had another one up front.)

Färjestaden, Öland

Road Trip 2018, Part 19

Our last stop on the island of Öland (still 18th July) was at the small seaside town of Färjestaden. The name means Ferry Town.

The Öland Bridge (~ 6000 meters long) seen from the harbour at Färjestaden, was looking kind of mystic in the dim evening light.

Before this bridge was built (1972), ferries were the only way to cross the strait between the island and the mainland.

I think the only ferries still running now are just for passengers – and bikes!

“Bicycle Ferry to Kalmar, 30 min. Buy ticket aboard.”

We had hamburgers and fries at a harbour café for dinner/supper. (At least that’s what I had. I don’t remember what Per chose!)  And then we took a little stroll around the harbour and nearby beach before we drove back over the bridge to our hotel in Kalmar on the mainland.