Gävle Things to Do

200 terracotta soldiers (replicas of the famous Terracotta Army found in China) are now standing in Sweden! Dragon Gate opened its doors a few weeks ago and I visited shortly after. I have always wanted to see the Terracotta Army (but time and money has so far delayed me) so when I discovered that I could take a 40 minute long car journey south to see exact replicas of 200 of the soldiers I just had to go. Dragon Gate is still under construction (it will have a hotel, a kung-fu school and more shops once they have finished later this year), but the restaurant and the Terracotta Army Museum is open.
The toilets were quite appalling when I visited but I guess (hope) they will be much better once everything is in place.
Entrance fee is between 100 SKR to 200 SKR - the lower price for entrance, guided tour and a taste of tea - the upper price gives the same as the lower plus a small staty of a terracotta soldier. We managed to come on a day/time of day when they had a guided tour in Swedish, but the main languages for the guided tours are either English or "Chinese" (Mandarin?)

1 more image

I have only the NRM in York, England to compare it to and whilst this one is smaller (but still full of impressive goodies for the buffs), it has a better feeling of "pioneering" about it. Sure enough the real railway pioneers came from England but here in Sweden, they battled with a totally different landscape when building the railways and that's what shines through this exhibition. Building a railway line north of the Arctic circle and in bedrock is not the same as the limestone of the green and pleasant land. It also shows just how important the railway really has been to the development of modern Sweden. Suddenly, all our iron ore and wood could be exported and we were off!

The museum is a bit of a trek from Gävle railway station, backtracking towards Stockholm along the railway line, but you do it in maximum half an hour's walk and there is a bus. In winter, there is only a coffee machine and some biscuits in the reception but in summer, an old buffet car is open as restaurant/cafe and there is also a barbecue area and lots of playing activities for children both indoors and outdoors.

If you want to see some of these trains in action pictures, have a look at my Lund page travelogue where some of them came for the 150th anniversary of the Swedish railways in 2006 - Lund to Malmö being the first proper passenger stretch to open.

The Castle does not look anything like what it did in medieval days since it is totally rebuilt and resembles a great mansion today. However, the grounds still fascinate as they house the typically Swedish looking prison of 1847 and the county jail from earlier days. Since the prison closed, this has all been co-ordinated and made into a prison museum and as it has only been done in later years, they are still working on both the museum and its website which will be more of a National Prison museum in future they hope. Then, they will also follow the Stockholm idea of opening a hotel in some of the old cell blocks.

4 more images

I drove on up to Gavle to see its old town of wooden buildings that survived last century's fire and arrived in the midst of the city's annual City Fest.

There were loads of people cramming the streets in the city centre with a busy amusement park area, a belly dancer in one of the park's pagodas, and across the canal a gospel group commanding attention from the stage in the park there - despite the intermittent rain showers.

Due to a redevelopment plan of the municipal government the centre of Gävle was started to reconstruct during the 1950’s. But you still can find some old architectural highlights like this church near the train station.

Gävle suffered badly when a great fire swept the city in 1869. Most houses were wooden and the whole northern part of the river disappeared. What is left of the wooden town today is the Old Town to the south but it gives you a good enough idea of the place. In winter it is quite deserted but the locals are artists and the Christmas decorations are abundant. In summer, the artists' galleries and cafes are open and you stroll from one to the other in the alleys. There are also strong links with the USA here, and especially Utah. The first Swede to emigrate and come back as a Latter Day missionary came from here and so too did ironically the more famous Joe Hill. Born here as Joel Hägglund, he emigrated to Utah where he was later executed for a murder he probably didn't commit but as he was a syndicalist trade union leader, he was never believed. There is a museum in his house today, run by the trade union (summertime only).

Bönan is a 19th century fishing village in this part of Sweden so famous for its Baltic herrings. You can of course try them here, both in the harbour and in the Strandg?rden restaurant. There are also sometimes guided tours of the lighthouse and a generally nice archipelago feel and small beach. There are buses here but in July, the tourist office organises some boat trips too.

Axmar is another place where you can buy fish and rent boats.

Finally, Gåsholma has both cafe and boat rental as well as famous fish sandwiches.

All Swedish counties have their County Museums and this belongs to the better ones if you're interested in art. The reindeer in the picture has rotating antlers all around it (click on pic to see properly). It was inspired by the famous angora goat with a car tyre around it, found in Moderna Museet in Stockholm. There are also local art groups and thanks to the late local business magnate Rettig, a decent collection of famous Swedes such as a Carl Larsson painting and a Milles sculpture. There is also glass and other food related art by the creator of the Nobel prize dinner service designer Cyrén. Finally, the museum has a section on local history, including some local viking finds, farming, G?vle's maritime history and pictures from the great fire.