old tiger's Blog

My first impression of Fredrikshavn..busy ferry port..
lots of trucks waiting to cross over into Sweden..
i did not like Fredrikshavn that much..
got myself a ride to Aalborg..these Danes..are friendly people..
Aalborg is famous for akvavit=strong gin..it tastes quite good..
watch out with this stuff..it's 45% alcohol..
Aalborg is situated on Limfjorden..nice regio..
from Aalborg I hitched direction Viborg-Silkeborg-Vejle..
finally i reached Kolding and more south Aabenraa...
spend the night somewhere along a parking space..
tomorrow I would cross into Germany via Flensburg..
a whole network of German highways..hitching was always good..
in Germany..I knew...in 2 days..I would be back home..
I intended to travell to Mali..up to Timbuctu..via France-Spain-
Portugal-Morocco-Spanish Sahara-Maureatania-Senegal..
i did not make it..to get into Morroco..but I found another way..
via Las Palmas(Canarian Islands)then by boat to Nouadhibou..
will tell you all later about my 5 month trip to West Africa..
first..I had to reach home...work a bit..well..you know..money..
tiger

So..Granna goodbye..up to J?nkoping..ride along the lake..
J?nkoping is situated at the bottom of V?ttern lake..big town..
interesting here is a matchstick museum..didn't see it..once this
town was known for matchstick production..now it's history??
moved on to Ulricehamn..Boras..very nice countryside scenery..
what struck me in Sweden..is always that sense of nature..
once outside any town..you land up with your nose in plain nature...
and my nose liked that....ahaha..I got into G?teborg..bit too early..
booked a ferry night crossing to Fredrikshavn(Jylland)only 4 hours??
G?teborg is huge...to huge to discover on foot..it's Sweden second city
after Stockholm..big port..hub of railway,ferry+road connections..
this ferry saved me another night..short night..because ferry depature was very late..I guess..I would be in Denmark early morning..
in G?teborg fancy shops..Swedes are hardworking people..
they liked their luxury??even in these days...the Swedish mind..
you really have to make friends with Swedes to understand the full
context how they feel about being Swedish in the first place..
G?teborg big shopping street is called Avenyn..lots of restaurants,
shops...well..consumer society...even in these days...
so..I went a bit around the city streets of G?teborg..to kill time...
I was wondering myself..how Jylland(Denmark)was gonna be??
the ferry line was Stena..if I remember well??
will tell you my adventures in Denmark later on.
Tiger

I never could sleep at ferry crossings...so..i came out in Stockholm.
with a heavy head..not easy to hitch out of Stockholm as well..
it took me a while to reach the outskirts direction S?dertalje..
got a ride up to Eskilstuna..stood there for more then 1 hour..
I knew I was not gonna make G?teborg..some days one is not lucky..
but I didn't care a shit anyway..reached ?rebro in early afternoon..
some nice scenery...and got picked up by these young folks..
driving a big Volvo..nice cars..a trademark for Sweden really..
the regio below ?rebro deserves a visit of a few days even..
there are 2 big lakes..V?nern and V?ttern..real huge lakes...
I took the shores of V?ttern lake..towards Motala-Vadstena-Granna..
loveley scenery..I reached Granna late afternoon..
decided to sleep rough there..sleeping rough is not easy sometimes..
i can tell you stories about that on my Africa trip..
Granna is a very touristic place for Swedes...ask any Swede about
*polkagrisar*it's a kind of sweet(candy)Granna is such a nice little
town with wooden houses..and..candy shops of course...
i bet dentists have lots of work in this regio??there's a youth hostel..
but if one walks 2kms out of these little towns..it's easy to find place
to sleep rough..I would recommend all of you to visit Granna..
typical Swedish little town..I simply can tell you all..I loved it..
I'll try to find a link..so..on the way tomorow to G?teborg then..
Tiger

Tampere-Turku was an easy ride..I got easily to Turku..
still had to buy a ferry ticket towards Stockholm..
although it was high season..this ferry line got seats enough..
I guess it was 11 hours crossing..now Turku..is a nice town..
i had some time before ferry departure...so went to see the city..
tourist offices in Finland are very helpfull..they give a city map..
and some major interesting points to visit..for Turku Naantali is
certainly worthwhile...but I did not have the time to visit..
Naantali is 15kms.from Turku..one can reach it on a 1h.boat ride...
it's a very old town..very touristical place...so..i couldn't go there..
Turku also has an open air museum..with old wooden houses,farms etc..
in fact Turku got very good museums..I only had a few hours...
so i went to the marketplace(kauppatori)where a local market was held
with lots of fresh food,fruits..always a good place to stock up for a
traveller..very colourful as well..because just near is an orthodox church
so...took the ferry..same stuff..lots of Finns on a booze spree..
next morning i would be in Stockholm..with a bit of luck..I suppose would
try to reach J?nkoping-G?teborg..probably I could save 1 night's sleep
if I could get ferry ticket G?teborg-Fredrikshavn(Denmark)night crossing
but it's a distance..i doubted whether i would get to G?teborg?
Tiger

Kuopio..was just another town in Finland like so many others..
in fact..I don't remember much of this place..Jyvaskyla is quite
a central place in Finland..university town...nice railwaystation..
the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto used to live there..
did not stay long in this town..in fact was dropped here..
made a walk through the town...and hitched a ride towards Tampere..
I stayed in the retkeilymaja(Youth hostel)nice place..one can meet
fellow travellers usually in youth hostels..most of them travelling up
north..Tampere is a nice town..bit of industry though..but 2 lakes...
a town bit southwest of Tampere is called Pori..in july big jazz+rock
festival is held..but tomorrow i was gonna hit Turku harbour and
perhaps take a straight ferry towards Stockholm..my planning for a
next trip through France-Spain-Portugal..and Morroco..
was in my head..but finally I never got into Morroco..I landed up in
Abidjan(Ivory Coast)instead...ahahah..West Africa..what a trip!!!