I decided to do a day trip into Sweden, since it is just seperated by a bridge and takes about 30 mins by train to get to the nearest biggest town, Malmö, or another 12 mins to Lund.
The trip by train across the bridge was really nice, and you could see numerous wind turbines out in sea. Once past the bridge, I was officially in Sweden. I brought my passport just in case there were border checks but there were none.
I decided to make Lund my first stop - It's apparently the oldest town in Sweden and it's also famously known as the University town.
The town is really compact and I managed to cover most of it within a couple hours.
Interesting architecture in the town, even the university campus alone has different styles of buildings.
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| University Building |
The highlight in my opinion is the Lund Cathedral.
There's so much intricate detail in the interiors.
Just look at the carvings on the wood work!
And then the crypt! Wow!
I don't know who were buried here though 😛.
However being here gave me the Da Vinci Code feelz... You know the scene where Tom Hanks started hammering the ground? 😂🤣😂
And the most impressive - Lund Astronomical Clock.
It dates back to 1425 and was restored in 1923. The astronomical clock chimes twice daily (12noon and 3pm).
Don't know how it is when it chimes, but it just turned 10am when I was there and I caught the 2 soldier statues on the top moving. Pretty cute!
I don't quite know how to read the clock though. Anyone knows?
I also happened to randomly walk through a cemetery that was located next to the Botanical Gardens. A rather pleasant setting for a cemetery, and worth a walk through if there's time.
Next stop, Malmö. It's a lot bigger town than Lund (Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden), and the architecture style is also very different from Lund (combination of both the old and the new, with fascinating historical buildings and modern architecture). Malmö was once owned by Denmark, eventually becoming Swedish in 1658.
Stortorget - the main town square.
Malmö Castle
Not quite what I expected of a castle as I expected more grandeur. This looked rather industrial. It is now converted as a museum.
Turning Torso
This is supposed to be an iconic building in Malmö, and the 1st twisted skyscraper in the world.
As per Wikipedia, "it is a neo-futurist residential skyscraper in Sweden and the tallest building in Scandinavia". I wasn't impressed but with all the walking done during the day, I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got to here and didn't walk closer to get a better look.
The main highlight for me in Malmö was not the sights, but actually lunch! Before coming, I had a look at dining options, but when I went by then, some were either closed or were extremely packed (and seemed to be serving IKEA style food) or had menus only in Swedish.
I walked past a hotel which looked really simple on the outside, and featured an English menu - Tuesday offering of Fish stew was actually the most appealing from the week's menu, so I decided to walked in.
And OMG, what a lovely surprise. I walked through the entrance and the hotel staff pointed me to a section which was the restaurant. As I got to the entrance of the restaurant, it opened up into a beautiful bright and sunny courtyard with beautiful glass dome covered with creepers. Absolutely stunning.
Lunch came with a salad (definitely good quality olive oil used here) and bread and butter (even the butter was really good, creamiest I ever tasted), and the fish stew (see how pretty it is) and tea/coffee (self service).
I definitely lucked out and enjoyed the venue and lunch so much, I stayed for almost 2 hours. I think it may had been better than any of the other places I had originally looked at. I certainly raved heaps of the place to friends after the meal!
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