Mälaren Things to Do

A nice fun museum in Eskilstuna is the Factori Museet. And its for free, hahaha, so that's always good! :-) The museum is worth the visit when you are in town, so don't hesitate to drop in and have a look around for yourself.

The museum is divided into several parts, and one of them tells you all about the steam engine. It's quite logical to have this section in the museum as Eskilstuna has a rich industrial history. There are quite a few of these steam engines on display, when you're lucky you can see them at work as well. They were not working when I was there though (probably because I was here off-season), hahaha, so it was nice and quiet :-)

Besides steam-engines and trains there is also a section devoted to the history of Eskilstuna. I really enjoyed this part. Thinking of it, I should go again some day for a visit :-)

The museum is located in the city centre on a little island in the river Eskilstunaån. It is open from Tuesday till Sunday, from 11 o’clock in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.



You can read more about the Faktorimuseet on my Eskilstuna page

Stockholm, wow, what a wonderful city! I really love Stockholm, it is one of the best European cities in my opinion. Every time I visit Stockholm I am charmed by this place. And I want to share some of that with you on my Stockholm page.

In the must see tips on that page you can read all about:
Vasa Museum
Storkyrkan
Royal Palace and the Changing of the Guards
Gamla Stan
Riksdag
Medeltidsmuseum
Riddarholmen
Stadshuset
Sergels Torg
Skansen and the Skansen Akvariet
Naturhistoriska Museet and Cosmonova
Budget tip: visit museums for free

In the picture you can see the Stortorget in the Gamla Stan. Gamla Stan means 'old city' and that shows. I love this part of Stockholm, it is so picturesque. You really should take some time to explore this part of Stockholm. The square you can see on the picture is the Stortorget (meaning big square)



I've written much more about this fantastic city on my Stockholm page

The Sigurdsristning is a special place with a lot of history. You can see it on the side of a quiet road, somewhere in between the trees. A little sign tells you where it is, and when you climb up the rock you see this: A huge rock with carved pictures surrounded by runic inscriptions. But what you feel is history, and lots of it. I find it an amazing place. It feels special to be here, where so many centuries ago someone was telling a story of a distinguished Viking family, by making these carvings in these rocks.

It’s an important historic place, but it is unprotected, it is just ‘there’ in the woods. And maybe that makes it even more special. I always feel peaceful when I am here, I don’t know why, I just feel at ease. The carvings are only a 5 minutes walk from my house. I don’t go here often though. Maybe it is because I want to keep it ‘special’, a place to visit so now and than and have that great feeling to connect with history.

To get a great overview of the area: take a look at this link to get a 3-d overview and also a 3-d close-up of the carvings.



You can read all about the Sigurdsristningen on my Sundby page

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This is where I live! At Lake Mälaren! In a tiny little village called Sundbyholm, only a five minutes walk from the lake. My home is in the central part of Sweden in the region of Södermanland, on the southside of Lake Mälaren (in the additional photos to this tip I've added some maps).

In the picture you can see a view over Lake Mälaren, Sweden's third largest lake. I think it is a beautiful lake. It's huge, but dotted with lots of little islands, making it really beautiful to look at. The surrounding area is filled with nature and history and even the beautiful city of Stockholm is included. From the city centre you can look out over the eastern edges of the lake.

I will start this page about Lake Mälaren at my home village of Sundbyholm and from there travel eastwards and all the way around the lake. I will try to show you some places along lake Mälaren that are nice to visit.

I hope you will enjoy this page! And maybe even come visit this part of Sweden some day!

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Hahaha, no, this is not my house! This is the "tegelslagarsstuga" or in English: "the cottage of the brickmaker". I really like this little house, hidden in the woods, close to my house.. I think it looks so picturesque. It gives the idea of the area though, rural, picturesque and quiet. The house dates back to the 17th century. Many of the big estates during those times had a little brickmakers cottage like this on its property.


you can read more about this little house on my Sundby page

Skokloster is one of the most popular castles in Sweden, with a huge collections of painting, furniture and arms. The arms collection is one of the largest in Europe. Skokloster is also one of the best preserved seventeenth-century castles in Europe. So I didn't need any convincing, I really wanted to see this castle!

It sounded perfect, but all in all I was a bit disappointed about my visit to Skokloster. The rooms were very dark as they didn't want to expose the interiors to too much light. That is something that I do understand, but it is a bit disappointing not being really able to see much. I also had a bit of bad luck with the guided tour. We took a guided tour in English, but our guide was probably very nervous and had this crazy giggle. She just kept on giggling, giggling and giggling. Every sentence ended with.....hihi hihi hihi hihi :-) After the tour all we remembered was this crazy giggly ;-)

Guided tours
April: Sat-Sun 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00
1 may -15 june: Daily 12:00, 13:00, 14:00,15:00
16 june-15 aug:Daily 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00
16-31 aug: Daily 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00
1 sept - 7 nov: Mon-Fri 13. Sat-Sun 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00

Entrance:
Adults 65 SEK
Students/Senior citizens 50 SEK
7-18 years 20 SEK
Children under 7 free

More info on their website:
http://www.lsh.se/skokloster/slott.htm

This is the end of my tips about places and things to do around Lake Mälaren. I hope you enjoyed reading it! There are more places of interest to visit though and some that I still have on my own wishlist are:

Drottningholm Slott at Stockholm
Birka

The list will get longer over time, hahaha, as I surf around myself for more places to visit. All tips are welcome, so if you have a good tip for me, just let me know!

I visited this Fiholm Castle during a bicycle tour from my home. It's not that far from where I live (about 10 - 15 kilometres), hahaha, if you don't mind the hills. Hmmm... they are not really hills I guess, hahaha, but it isn't flat either. But if you are from the Netherlands, like me, every bump in the road feels like a hill :-)

It's a beautiful bicycle ride though, when you get close to the castle you can ride along the picturesque long lanes belonging to the castle.

The estate of Fiholm was inherited in 1617 by Axel Oxenstierna. In 1640 they started building a big castle. In 1642 the two wings were constructed, but no main building was ever raised. Reason to this, as the stories goes, is the dispute Axel Oxenstierna and his son Johan. When the son was asked about the coming building of the castle he answered that they were more like two barns than a castle. The angry father Axel answered:- If you think so than you have to build the cattle shed by yourself!-

Hahaha, I love this story. But I have to agree a bit with son Johan. Although the castle is nice to see, it does have some resembles of two huge barns. It would have been totally different if the main building was there to complete the picture, but unfortunately it was never build. All you see now are the two wings of the castle opposite each other.

It is possible to visit the castle, but it isn't open daily. It is possible to book an excursion for groups. The other option is to be here when there is an event going on (which is not very often, about twice a year). During those days it is possible to take a look inside as well.



You can read more about the area around Fiholm Slott on my Björsund page