Växjö Off The Beaten Path

You will need a car for this one unless you make it over several days and camp or if you're on a cycling holiday. Alternatively, there are steam ship tours up the lake system summertime from Kronoberg Castle. Go to the "forgotten" villages of Berg, Tolg and Asa north west of town and hike around Lake Asa (Asasjon) with its mansion. It is known for its connections with Goering whose Swedish wife knew the owners so he once landed his plane on the lake. Today it belongs to the agricultural university and has a forest research centre which is how I discovered these villages. You can also stay in the mansion itself as it is a hotel and restaurant. Finally, the lake is the start of a canoeing trail.

Tolg has auctions now and again in summer where you can make a bargain or just bring home something unusual.

In Lärja outside Berg, is Singoalla's Cave, a romantic cave by a 20 metre steep into a forest lake. It is famous for being where author Victor Rydberg let his story about the gypsy girl Singoalla and her knight lover have its tragic end. Berg is also known for being the home of Elin Wägner. An early 20th century pacifist and feminist author who travelled around pre WWII Europe to speak, and also wrote a lot about environmental issues (in them days!) and it's easy to see where she go the inspiration from! She also founded Swedish "Save the Children". So as you can see, these idyllic villages have seen it all!

Gamla Domprostgården (Old Dean's Yard), as it is known, is today a listed building and one of the oldest wooden buildings in the city, but that's not how it always looked. When it served as a railway restaurant in the early 20th century it was full of turrets and wooden details. The house was later restored to its simpler form when Växjö turned 600 years old. What is special with it is that Pär Lagerkvist, the Nobel Prize winning author, was born here and grew up above the restaurant as his father was the station master. I have a feeling more people will visit this house now that his book "The Dwarf" will become a Hollywood movie...There is also a small Lagerkvist museum in the village of Gemla just outside Växjö.

A much more modern castle than its looks suggests and built as a romantic home rather than something historic. I had the privilige of seeing it every day when I studied in Växjö as it is next to the university just outside the city.

Very famous in Swedish history circles, it is less generally known but a nice picnic trip if a 1470s mansion in the countryside attracts your interest. The main hall is from 1780 and next to the ruined part where the rebellious Nils Dacke fought the royal army in the 16th century when this was one of the largest estates in Scandinavia with 1500 farms up and down the country belonging to it!

Växjösjön (Lake Växjö) is just one of the many lakes in town but it is the most central. Start your walk just beyond the cathedral and go around the whole lake. If you happen to be there in winter, just walk on the ice. It is usually a lot brighter than in this "dusk in March" photo.