Parks & canals, Malmö

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Having found the docks, bought and written my postcard and visited the three squares I still didn't feel that I'd earned my beer and so continued my wanderings. I saw a park at the end of the street (as opposed to light at the end of the tunnel) and so let my feet do the lead.

This turned out to be the Kungsparken (which obviously translates as "Kings Park"). Minutes from the city centre this was yet another addition to my sense of Malmo's spaciousness with its canals, windmill and the ducks leisurely enjoying the relative calm of what is a very pleasantly laid-out public space.

I still didn't know where I was going but having the park almost to myself my feet continued their lead.

Which brought me to the Malmohus - WOW! This was where thoughts of beer temporarily, figuratively, flew out of the window. See next tip for details.

I don't know why the Malmö Stadsbibliotek isn't featured as an attraction but any library that cost US$26m to build is worth visiting. Admitedly, Liz and I didn't know the actual cost of the Malmö City Library when we visited , neither did we know that the beautiful building was a library till we saw the sign "Stadsbibliotek". Since the word looked somewhat similar to the French word for library, we popped in here for the free email service, the sad cheapskates that we were. But as soon we visited the place, our breath was taken away. The library was so beautiful with the high lofty ceilings! Also, the high windows faced the park so there was plenty of sunlight and greenery. Come here to admire the beautiful architecture and ahem for the free email. All you need to do is to write your name in a book and wait for your turn.

Opening Hours
Mon-Thurs 10-19
Friday 10-18
Sat 11-15

Now, other than this lousy shot of the windmill in Kungsparken and the chap suntanning on the homepage, I don't have other fantastic green shots to show for my checking out of the gardens and parks in Malmo. I'm more an arts person. Do yourself a favour and click on the link below. You'll find out why Malmo is called the city of Parks.

Malmö is known as "Parkernas stad" in Swedish which means City of Parks. It was long said to have more parks than anywhere else in the country, but this is not true. What is true however, is that because of the compactness of Malmö the parks are very present and visible so it appears quite green. This is the mill in Kungsparken, near Malmöhus Castle and the city library. It borders Slottsparken (the old castle park) which has a herb garden with a cafe in summer as well as parts of the canal running through it. These parks are sometimes used during the Malmö Festival and other events such as Midsummer. Even bigger is Pildammsparken behind the opera - a park with a rose garden, restaurant, open air "natural amphitheatre" and big ponds where people feed birds (and even skate on really cold winters). Pildammsparken also lies between Malmö IP sports ground where there is premier league ladies football, and the Stadium area with mens football and with athletics so it is an extremely popular park to run in. You can see many more park images in the travelogue below.

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We'd a walk on the Sunday to blow the cobwebs out from being up till 4am. First off we headed for the stadium to get the obligatory photo for J. On the way there we went through Pildammsparken that has a largish lake to wander round.

We then struck off towards the sea using the Turning Torso building as a navigation aid, meandering through the Malmöhus park over the many bridges towards the old castle. We did have a look inside the courtyard but nothing really drew us in so we headed on past the fish market and Maritime University to Ribersborg.

As it wasn't quite the weather for lazing on the beach we turned again towards the Western harbour developments, taking the promenade to the Dania Parken where there is a sort of bowsprit jutting out as a viewing platform.

We then took a look at the impressive Turning Torso close up, passing what used to be an old Saab factory before looking for a bite to eat back in town.

Like Amsterdam, Malmö is a city partially defined by its canals. The city is surrounded by a series of canals that really add to Malmö's history, charm and character. Much of the canal-side area is full of nice, little restaurants and cafes. The canals also run through Malmö's main parks near Malmöhus.

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Spring and summer is best spent in the park. Bring friends, family, a freesbee, a bottle of wine or a few chilled beers and a picnic-basket and you're sorted. There's many great parks in Malmö. And "malmöiterna" (the habbitants in Malmö) love to hang out here. All day long until the sun goes down.

Summer 2006 was specially great since football was on and big screens were showing the games in parks or squares.

Most popular parks would be
- Folkets Park (here you find childrens rides, kiosks, a mini zoo, bars and restaurants...etc)
- Slottsparken (right in the city centre, near the library. Very beautiful with ponds and a walkingtrail)
But just walking around Malmö you will discover there are green areas almost all over the city.

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The Park in Malmo is a place full of little surprises, whether it's the beautiful windmill or castle hidden within its grounds or the canal that winds its way through the park. A very nice place to relax in.

Walking back from the canal I walked past the statue once more. At a closer look I noticed the sun was shining and picking up a reflection from something on the statues face. I walked a little closer to see what the sun was shining on and noticed the statue had tears. There was water hooked up to the statue that was allowing tears to flow out of one of the eyes of the statue. You can see the tears here in the close up. Suddenly the statue took on an entirely different meaning to me. I could not find any information written on the statue so I have no explanation for the tears. I just know that it left an image in my memory that I will never forget. Had I not been alone I probably would never have noticed the tears and would have walked right past the statue.

My friend Charlotta (VT member sjalen) provided me with this information on the crying man statue:

"The crying statue is called "The Swedish Melancholy" and the lady who made it is married to a very famous and loved actor who is the model she used! He also does lots of comedy actually."

Many thanks for the information Charlotta.

I know Malmö is called the city of Parks, but I'd rather call it the city of sculptures. There's lots of great artworks scattered around the city and waiting to be appreciated. If I were you, I'd print a couple of the artworks from my travelogue and hunt down the pieces in the city. Show the pictures to the locals and ask for directions. My bet is that you'll not only find the pieces but make plenty of friends by the end of the day.