Part 2: Days 4-12 Uppsala Entree
We arrived early on Tuesday morning in Stockholm where we had a hire car booked for the two weeks we were staying with our DD. Here we hit a glitch.
All was going well with the hire pre-paid, until we came to register the credit card “deposit” and our cards were rejected. They ring their bank who insists it is our banks fault and let us ring Aus (with time difference of course now the middle of the night in Aus) only for our Aus bank to affirm it’s the Swedish end. Cue stale-mate. They won’t release the car we have paid for and we are stuck there.
What with tiredness and jetlag and grumpy old woman status, I may have lost it around now, rather loudly, so like a naughty child DH sent me to the corner!! Other people being served then started having the same issue – all using Mastercard but the dumbo’s at the counter didn’t seem to get that this was obviously a Mastercard issue. Luckily the two other groups had among them someone with an American Express Card instead. I was trying to suggest couldn’t we go get cash out and pay some sort of cash deposit (and no-one was listening to me) when I remembered we had a debit card on us that wasn’t a Mastercard and convinced DH to try it (he seemed dubious they would accept a debit card especially with limited maximums) – but they did - all was wonderful and finally, around 2 hours late, off we went! I do wonder if any other poor souls got caught out and how they managed. Moral of the story– we used to have one each of Mastercard and Visa but had neglected to realise over time they now all happened to be Mastercard, so always ensure you have one of each with you.
Driving was easy and we soon found our DD’s little share-house, tucked into the backyard of her landlord’s. A quick reunion and she buzzed back to work and we went for a walk. Down one end of the street was the “city forest”, a big (108 ha.) conservation area that she cycles to work through. Very pretty but full of mozzies. Signposts show the paths to different suburbs so you can’t get too lost although the forest also borders the Hȧgdalen-Nȧsten nature reserve.
Over the next few days we explored Uppsala and nearby Sigtuna on Lake Mälaren. On the weekend we visited Drottingholm, the Royal Palace with DD which is also on the lake. DH came down on our first Wed with a bad cold that turned into a cough that kept everyone awake night after night and meant we took a slightly slower pace sightseeing.
Uppsala is a very pretty University town. Our first morning we walked through the forest into town, a 5km hike that meant by lunchtime we were pretty tired. Thereafter we took the bus!
The forest is mostly coniferous with Spruce and Scots Pines up to 200 years old
There are designated horse riding, jogging/skiing in winter, and cycling trails, some shared. We came out near the Linneanum Gardens (Botanical Gardens)
Further along the road was Uppsala Slott, built in 1549 by King Gustav Vasa who was elected King of Sweden in 1523 when Sweden finally freed herself from the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (and Norway’s dependencies that then included Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands) and became independent. His dynasty ruled Sweden for the next 130 years.
The canons are pointed at the Cathedral as back then the church held a lot of power. However, this was during the time of unrest as Protestantism took over from Catholicism. King Gustav claimed the church property and assets as his and the canons are a warning to keep the Cathedral bishops in check!
The pink castle dates from when the original palace burnt down in the 1700’s. In front is the 16th century fortress, once a covered hill local children used to play in and uncovered and restored in the 20th century. We were lucky enough to visit Vasaborgen, a museum in the ruins of the fortress that only seems to be open in summer some days. This included the chamber where the Sture brothers were killed. Gustav’s son Erik XIV inherited the crown. He feared his younger brother Johan was going to overthrow him so in 1567 he imprisoned several Swedish noblemen, close relatives, and accused them of treasonous acts. Svante Sture and his sons Nils and Eric were detained in the castle. For some reason “Mad King Eric” supposedly suddenly rejected the charge of treason and visited them to apologise, left only to return not long later totally crazy, stabbed Nils and ordered the guards to kill them all. He rode off and was found 30km away, very confused. It is not surprising he was dethroned by his brother, who became king and imprisoned Erik who was shortly afterwards poisoned by arsenic, probably on order from Johan.
In the Sture chamber
The bloodstained clothes the brothers were wearing were kept and are on display in the Cathedral’s Treasury.
It was fun to explore the old fortress which contained many original components such as original red and black and white chequered floor. This display stayed in my mind. The Nursery overlooked the Royal Garden where executions were carried out. Scratched drawings on the stucco walls show gallows pics of scenes presumably witnessed by the children who drew pictures of what they had seen here.
Looking back at the restored fortress and pink castle from the Royal Gardens.