Gamla Linköping

You might have noticed that there’s only one sight listed in the title of this entry, Gamla Linköping. And it’s not accompanied by an “And More.”

Suffice it to say that this will probably be a short post. There are a couple of reasons for that.

For one, there’s my foot. I kvetched this morning about it hurting. It was not as bad this afternoon, but there’s still a little pain when I walk on it. So I was a little slow and not eager to do a lot of walking.

That having been said, as of right now, back in my hotel room, my Fitbit tells me I did 23,547 steps today. And more of that came in the afternoon than the morning. So I didn’t exactly shirk my walking duties. But I probably would’ve done more had it not been for my foot.

Then there’s the other reason. Linköping has a former castle. It currently serves as a museum for the Linköping Domkyrkan (Cathedral). The castle, or slott as they say in Sweden, is almost right next door to the cathedral.

I would have visited the cathedral museum at the castle this morning after I left the cathedral, but both Google Maps and a website I saw somewhere said that it’s only open from noon until six, and at this time of year, only Wednesday through Sunday. The day of the week wasn’t a problem because today is Saturday. But I left the cathedral well before noon.

So I visited the castle after lunch. Or, that is to say, I tried to visit the castle.

To get to the museum, you have to go through one of two entrances to the castle, and then cross a courtyard. One of the entrances had a double door, one side of which was wide open. The other entrance had a gate, which was also wide open. I thought, “Great! It’s open today.”

I crossed the courtyard, got to the entrance of the museum, and saw a notice posted on the door. With the help of Google Translate, it wished me a happy Midsummer and told me that the museum was closed Midsummer Eve, Midsummer, and the Sunday that immediately follows Midsummer this year. It also said that as of Monday, they’re into their high season and they’ll be open the same hours, but every day of the week instead of just Wednesday to Sunday.

Well, a happy Midsummer to you, too.

That’s when I decided to walk to Gamla Linköping.

Gamla Linköping is about a 30-minute walk from the castle. That is to say, that’s what Apple Maps told me it would take. But with my foot complaining, it took a little longer.

Along the way, I passed a cemetery with a charming chapel close to the street. I’m glad the chapel was charming rather than, say, despicable, or even bold, because “charming chapel” sounds better due to the alliteration.

There were a couple of benches beside the chapel. I sat for a bit in deference to my foot.

Gamla Linköping

What is it that Scandinavians have for open-air museums? I was at one during a trip to Norway. I’d already been to two on this trip. There is another one in Stockholm that I might visit when I’m there. And Gamla Linköping is another.

One of the reasons I went there, despite it being a 30-minute or more walk away, is that I knew it couldn’t be fully closed. It’s open for strolling through 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Like the other open-air museums I’ve been to, Gamla Linköping has several old buildings, mostly dating from 100 to 300 years ago, that were brought from elsewhere and put together in effectively a little village. In the case of Gamla Linköping, “elsewhere” is either elsewhere in Linköping or in the nearby area.

Despite the Gamla Linköping site never closing, the buildings within it do have opening and closing hours that can vary during the week and on holidays. Here too, I was told that their high season, when more buildings are open for longer hours, starts on the Monday following the Midsummer weekend. But I’m happy to say that most of the buildings were open when I went there.

Many of the buildings contained exhibits. Some had English translations of all of the Swedish text. Others translated some, but not all of the text. And some provided little or no translation.

In one building, there was some equipment that was used to get water to citizens back in the day when there weren’t water mains and pumping stations. It mostly involved buckets passed from hand to hand.

In a bank building, there was text saying that, back in the 19th century, I’m not sure for how long, commercial banks used to print their own banknotes. They were all of different sizes and designs. As a result, few people could tell the difference between real banknotes and forgeries because no one got to know all of the notes very well. This was an obvious problem because, it’ll come as no surprise to learn, not everyone was honest.

One portion of the site is the Kryddbodtorget (The Square). It recreates an actual town square, Järntorget, which used to be located near Linköping Castle.

There’s a forest at the back of Gamla Linköping. I walked down a dirt road a bit into it and came to an area where sheep and goats were grazing between the trees. They were behind a simple, low wooden fence constructed of rough-hewn wood slats.

Clustered all around one of the trees, there were about eight or 10 goats. They all had their mouths up against the tree. Some of them looked like they were trying to suckle the tree. Um, guys, that’s not how it works.

Near there, there was a path, not a road, that led into the forest. A sign said it was a one-kilometre trail. I looked at Apple Maps and saw that, at a normal walking speed, it would take me 40 minutes to get back to my hotel. The hotel is about 10 minutes past the cathedral.

I was going to walk it, but my foot said to me, “Are you freaking out of your mind. If you keep going, I’m gonna hurt you. I promise. I’m gonna hurt you. Let’s get back to the hotel. Or else.”

Is get a bad sign when your body parts not only talk to you, but threaten you?

I went back to the hotel.

Linköping Summary

Of the cities I’ve been to on this Swedish trip so far, Linköping is the only one where I think it wouldn’t have been a huge loss if I didn’t stop here at all. It’s pretty. But not fantastic. The river walk is beautiful, so that is a reason to visit. But, in truth, there’s not a lot else.

And it’s not just because things were closed for Midsummer and Midsummer Eve. There’s just not a lot here. It looks like a really nice place to live, with parks, public squares, other amenities, and the river, but not a lot for tourists to see and do. At least, not a lot that I saw and did. That having been said, I always worry that the sources I look at when I plan and execute these trips leave things out.

The question I’ve taken to always answering in these summaries is, did I stay the right amount of time in the city? As you can tell, I don’t think I would’ve wanted to stay any longer. But, at the same time, I wasn’t bored for the one and a half days I was here.

So, if you’re planning a trip to Sweden, and you’ve got more time than you know what to do with, then, by all means, make a stop in Linköping. But if your time is tight, there are more interesting and/or charming places you can visit.