Celebrate in southern Sweden
On a freshly mown meadow stands the maypole, wound with leaves, dotted with cornflowers and daisies light blue and white. The families come from the summer houses from all directions. You are warmly welcomed. Most have not seen each other for a long time, not the whole winter. But that will change today.
Everyone is there. The retired prosecutor and the granddaughter of the fisherman, the high-heeled shoe carrier and the barefoot runner. They take hold of their hands, dance in circles and sing. The little children rolled themselves like bears on the floor pretending to be asleep. The others dance around them teasingly: "The bears, the bears, are sleeping so tightly that they are quite harmless." Suddenly the bears wake up and whiz towards the dancers. They want to catch them. All run, boy and old tumble through the grass, joking. "What is summer for you?" I ask one. He says, "The time when everyone is a little kid."
It is midsummer in Sweden. More precisely: on the west coast, in the Bohuslän region north of Gothenburg. There, where the landscape, the farther west you go, becomes increasingly meager and life is reduced to what is essential: being in the summer, being with one's loved ones. The Swedes are experts in that. Because summer lasts only eight weeks here. And winter is long and so dark.
A few days ago we started in Gothenburg. The life of the Swedes still played in the cities. We saw the sidewalk cafes with baby carriages, the business people and chic offices, the many boutiques in the streets of Haga and the Nordiska Kompaniet department store with Scandinavian designer brands, the bright blue trams, the eccentric opera right on the harbor, the museums , But shortly thereafter, the summer began, and that should be celebrated.
Then it goes to the countryside. In the house. On the boat. On the coasts, in the woods, in the villages, on the lakes. A caravan pulled out of the city. We followed her, drove north over the gentle hills and came to Bohuslän, into a summer landscape with little red houses, gray rock bumps and lush meadows where horses graze, lambs run and blond children run barefoot through the grass , The picture of Sweden that we have in mind is fully confirmed here.
The ancient granite, the timeless images give the feeling that this has always been so. And that's right. Here on the west coast people lived already 3000 years ago, they loved the summer and left testimony to it. In Tanumshede we meet Jeanette Holmén, a young woman who is interested in the history of the region. In pink espadrilles she stands on bare stone. She directs our gaze to the rocks at our feet. The granite is engraved, as if covered with graffiti, with many pictures. Ships, fully loaded. Horses. Men with spears. And a sun like a fireball, which two women carry with long, waving pigtails in their hands.
The petroglyphs are now part of the World Heritage. They are from the Bronze Age. At that time it was as warm as today in the south of France, you have even found remnants of turtles. But winter was long even then. The petroglyphs are aligned with the sun. They are especially beautiful in the morning and evening. "Then people were sitting here, and the lower the sun, the more the pictures began to shine," says Jeanette. You do not know much about the thoughts of these people. There was no writing, only the remnants of things from everyday life provide information. But that much is clear: "People have done everything they can to make the sun happy, so that it will come back at the end of winter, and when it comes, they celebrate."
Just like today to "Midsommar". This is a party for family and friends. Anyone who is a tourist and does not know anyone can easily be left out, friends told us before. Only the dance around the maypole is public, a matter for the whole village and its guests. The rest is private. "The best way to get to know someone who takes you to their home," our friends had advised.
How did we do that? With luck. From Tanumshede we drove on, westwards. It went down gently, until the valleys first became lakes, then to bays where the sea pushes deep into the land; through small fishing villages - Grebbestad, Fjällbacka, Mollösund, Fiskebäckskil - where from one day to the next the cafes and restaurants open and the blue-and-yellow flags fly over the holiday homes as a sign that something is going on here again.
At a bakery in one of these small places we buy strawberry cake, for me the most beautiful in the summer. We start a conversation with a young woman."What's summer for you, Sarah?" We ask her. "You can not tell that, you have to experience it, get a boat," she says, "and come to our island and see how we celebrate."
Here we go. Over the water. On the right an island, on the left an island, all granite, round scrubbed rocks, at first glance everything looks the same. We try to memorize the contours so that we can find the way back later. Individual houses are huddled against the stone: a loading area with a rusty crane, a holiday home with waving flags, fisherman's stalls. Where a green pole rises out of the water, Sarah turns right and disappears in a narrow passage. We follow. And then we are there, landing in a wonderfully sheltered bay. Sarah's brother Erik waves us to a jetty, ties the boat firmly. Kerstin, Sarah's mother, welcomes us.
What is summer for you, Kerstin? "That the children bring their friends to our holiday home and everyone does what they like." And: "The family belongs to the summer happiness," she says.
In the fisherman's hut, which belongs to the family's holiday home, lunch is served: with herring, sour cream and potatoes, the classic midsummer dish. The board is simple: a door leaf, laid on two blocks, covered and decorated with flowers - and around it life vests and electric saw, minicomputer and bath towel. It's not a big deal here. What matters is the pleasure.
Thomas, Sarah's father, is a computer specialist in everyday life, a busy man. Now he sits enthroned at the head of the table. Next to him is a basket of bottles - schnapps in various variations, with herbs, wormwood, berry extracts. He fills the glasses, leans back happily. "Let us sing!" And starts with his deep voice. "Helan går", the drinking song for the first schnapps, meaning: "Drink the first one on ex while singing funny songs - and only those who manage the first one will get the second." Everyone agrees, at first hesitantly, then vigorously. And up the glass, arms bent. The alcohol is not important in this round. The singing against it already.
Left: Lobster fisherman Staffan Greby from Grebbestad has also released, the fishing season begins again in autumn. Right: In the "Bryggan" in Fjällbacka, the islanders meet to celebrate
Midsummer is the prelude, the sign for all, that summer is here now. Many Swedes have to return to the city after the festival, continue to earn money until the holiday season begins. Employees are entitled to four weeks of vacation between the beginning of July and the end of August - in one piece. The cities then die out, even hip scene pubs and boutiques close, "sommarstängt". Life goes into shutdown mode. We also.
We drive on, drive south to the seaside resort Marstrand and from there with a ship even further out to the sea, and the further we drive, the meager the islands become. The first ones still have trees, the next only bushes, and all the way out to the west is actually just rock, into which the frost has blown up gaps into which flowers and lichens duck.
The outermost island is Hamneskär, a rock tiny as a seagull shell in the sea. On it stands a bright red cast-iron lighthouse. His name is Father Noster, his reliable ray has already saved many sailors. Carl Johann Swedman, an oyster farmer, has set up a small, fine hotel in the lighthouse keeper's house. In the evening, he serves scallops with seaweed vinaigrette and a touch of caviar with a big grin. After dinner, I sit outside, in the lee of the fog signal station on a pad of beach carnations and fat hen. Slowly, slowly, the dusk falls. Only after one and a half hours is it almost dark, but the horizon, the fine line, the sky and sea separates, remains even then to see. Dusk is simply dawn here.
At four o'clock the sun is back. A herring gull flies up. Kao, kao, kao yells at the fireball. Everything is inflamed. The sky. The rocks. The lighthouse keeper island. The sea, which just shone silvery, shimmering blood red. After breakfast, Karl Johann brings us back to Marstrand by speedboat. Cockily we dance with the waves. Unbelievable that you can be so cheerful, although the last night was so short. "Enjoy it," says Karl Johann farewell, "and remember how the bears do it, they do not sleep well in the summer."
Travel Info Sweden
So far, so beautiful: View from the lighthouse on Hamneskär on a magical island world
GET THERE Very relaxed with Stena Line from Kiel to Gothenburg. You leave at 19 o'clock and arrive after a sumptuous breakfast at 9 o'clock. Return trip in the two-bed interior cabin incl. Breakfast approx. 520 Euro, Tel. 018 05/91 66 66 (14 Cent / Min.), Www.stenaline.de.
Getting Around The best way by car, z. For example, with a rental car, from Gothenburg a week about 300 euros, www.europcar.de, Tel 01 80/580 00 (14 cents / min.).
find accommodation "Prästgårdens Pensionat".The rectory of 1893 is nostalgically renovated, also room for large families. Double room from 75 Euro (c / o Anette Nyberg, Tångehöjdsvägen 31, 47470 Mollösund, Tel. 00 46/304/210 58, www.prastgardens.se). Breakfast for. In the "Café Emma" directly at the harbor (Tel. 00 46/304/211 75). - "Gullmarsstrand Hotell". Design hotel with sauna and view over the archipelago, which look alien here in the evening light. DZ / F from 160 Euro (Gullmarsstrand, 45034 Fiskebäck skil, Tel. 00 46/523/66 77 88, Fax 22805, www.gullmarsstrand.se). - "Bryggan i Fjällbacka". Red wooden houses right on the harbor with bright rooms and one of the best restaurants in the area. DZ / F from 155 Euro (Ingrid Bergmans Torg, 45071 Fjällbacka, Tel. 00 46/525/310 60, www.brygganfjallbacka.se). - "Course Father Noster". The old lighthouse keeper's house on the small island of Hamneskär has turned an oyster farmer into a gem. Double / F from 546 Euro, incl. Drive, champagne for sunset on the lighthouse and seafood buffet; Day trip with crossing and crab bread 55 Euro (Course Marine, Mjölkekilsgatan 4, 44030 Marstrand, Tel. 00 46/303/618 45, www.kurspaternoster.se).
FLAT-RATE Findarius offers a four-day guided trip to Gothenburg and the archipelago. Including accommodation and full board in high class hotels and restaurants from 1290 Euro. Arrival extra (Tel. 089/79 35 58 22, Fax 79 36 04 08, www.findarius.de).
LOOK AT Vitlycke Museum. The petroglyphs of Tanums hede take you to a world long before our time (Vitlycke 2, Tel. 00 46/525/209 50, www.vitlyckemuseum.se). - Nordiska Akvarell museet. An international center for water, pigment and light art in Skärhamn (Södra hamnen 6, Tel. 00 46/304/60 00 80, www.akvarellmuseet.org).
READ Instructions for use for Sweden. Antje Rávic Strubel entertainingly introduces the country's customs (230 p., 14.95 euros, Piper Verlag).
INFO Visit Sweden, Michaelisstr. 22, 20459 Hamburg, Info-Hotline 069/22 22 34 96, www.visitsweden.com
