September, 2018
For my 30th birthday, I wanted to do something special — go hiking with my dog. However, to celebrate my birthday a bit early, I visited my 30th country by the age of 30. To make this trip even more meaningful, I chose one of my heritage countries: Sweden.
My heritage is a classic American mutt. I am half Italian, one quarter Swedish, and one quarter American mutt. Even though I am mostly Italian, I closely identified with my Swedish side growing up. Maybe it’s because of my pale skin, or maybe it’s because my sister identified more with our Italian side. Whatever the reason, I still had not visited Sweden, until this most recent trip. Our trip to Sweden will always remain close to my heart.
Uppsala
E and I focused our journey around the Stockholm area and Baltic sea. We started our exploration with a day trip to Uppsala. We walked around the city, stepped into Uppsala University‘s museum, wandered in awe at the cathedral, and took in the beautiful skyline. We took the bus up to Gamla Uppsala to see the royal mounds of Swedish royalty long since past. Best parts of this day: being chased by bees after drinking homemade mead and lying in the field waiting for the bus.
Stockholm
In Stockholm, we caught a number of gorgeous sunsets over the water that highlighted the old buildings of Gamla Stan and Södermalm. Since I am not that interested in museums, we only visited the Vasa Museum. So, we spent most of our time outside in Stockholm’s beautiful late summer/autumn weather. After wandering around the various parts of Stockholm and eating all the different variations of herring, we took a few other day trips to Vaxholm and Drottingholm Palace.
Visby, Gotland
Halfway through our trip we took a ferry to Visby on Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea. In my opinion, this mini journey was the highlight of our whole trip. Visby, a UNESCO World Heritage site, seemed peaceful and quiet since we visited in the off-season. I could easily see Visby becoming crowded and active in the middle of summer, but we enjoyed slowing down and taking our time in a sleepy, European village. We wandered around the town, catching more gorgeous sunsets. The highlight would be our 45 kilometer bike ride along the western coast of the island.
Tyresta National Park
Of course, a vacation is nothing without a hiking trip. After returning to Stockholm, we visited Tyresta National Park just south of the city. Getting proved to be quite difficult. We had to take two buses and we got off the first bus too early. Somehow we found our way to the park. We walked/hiked around the portion of the park consisting of three lakes. Here, the autumn leaves had begun to change colors, giving us gorgeous multi-colored vistas.
Overall, Sweden is a gorgeous country and I would love to visit again. However, I would aim to go north instead of around the cities. Sweden’s natural landscape is rivals all those other places I have seen in the outdoors.
Until next time,
ㅅ_ㅅ