I love it when life takes you to random places. A couple months ago I went to a midsummer party in Sweden. The location was at a beautiful remote countryside. Since I wasn't driving, the host had arranged for her local friend to give me a lift there, I just had to get to a city called Norrköping 60km away. I arrived the day before by train and spent some time exploring the city before my pickup was due. This is Norrköping central station.
I knew nothing about Norrköping before the trip. Turns out it is is 160km south west from the capital Stockholm, and is Sweden's 10th largest city. The Motala ström river runs through the city, and back in in the 17th century, Norrköping was a vibrant industrial city, particularly for mills and textiles.
Industrial area walk
Thanks to the river, there are some very unique walks here making my day stop quite interesting. This is the Holmentornet. It dates back to 1750 and is like the gateway from the modern city to the old industrial area through the clock tower. Like a time travel door.
Today, many of the old factories can still be found along the river. Many have been converted to museums, theaters, event centers and even university campus. Although this was an industrial area and there are all these massive buildings, it didn't feel depressing. Each of the buildings had their own character, it's not like someone decided to build lots of massive depressing lifeless uniform factories.
My favourite part of walking around the area are these massive waterfalls. They're so near to the buildings and where I was standing, the roar of the waterfall was like thunder, very powerful. I couldn't find much information about these waterfalls so am guessing they were built to generate more hydro power to run the mills.
Arbetets Museum of Work
This museum is situated inside an old weaving mill and is the most famous building in the area. It was the only museum I entered due to lack of time, and... it was free 🙃 The exhibits were quite eclectic but is broadly about Swedish culture, in a cool fun way, not the type where it gives you loads of boring history and facts.
My favourite exhibit was EPA Sverige/Sweden. In Sweden, teenagers can drive an EPA tractor when they're 15 years old. The maximum speed for the EPA is 30km per hour. To have their own tractor at 15 is a sign of freedom and independence, bridging the gap from teenage to grown up life. It's not surprising that the tractors are well loved and reflect the character of their owners. The photo exhibition is of these teenagers and their EPA.
And of course, you can't get more Swedish than this. Sadly Vovlo is no longer Swedish owned now 😌
The Arbetets Museum is most famous for it's location, sitting on a small island affectionately called the Ironing Board. The iron, the actual building itself is a 7 sided building on one side of the island.
You can see how near to the edge of the island the building sides are, using up nearly every inch of land. And even then, it's not such a big building. I can't help but wonder why this particular spot? There are many spaces in the area. The other thing worth noting in this picture is the chimney sticking out from the river on the right hand side. This isn't a real chimney, it's an art installation!! Apparently this view is very representative of Norrköping if you google the city. I wasn't aware of it at the time so I'm very glad I took this photo.
Campus Norrköping
After the industrial area, I crossed a main road and saw more waterfalls on the other side of the road. The waterfalls here were much wider than those in the industrial area. I didn't know at the time, this was part of the Norrköping University campus.
Carl Johans Park
My pick up contact had messaged me to say he'd arrive within the hour. I didn't want to wander too far away from my hotel and the Carl Johans Park was less than 10 minutes away. Perfect to kill the remaining time sitting outdoors. The park is located directly opposite the train station and I had walked past it when I arrived the previous day, thinking how pretty it was.
The most famous feature in the park is the cactus plantation which has 25000 cactus plants. They plant a new one every summer.
Other than that, there isn't really anything to do in the park. I ended up checking out the cool camera functions on my then new phone.
I think the photo effect of the moving vehicle is really sick, just like those you see in a car advert.
Time to go, my pick up is 10 minutes away. See ya!
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