We traveled southwest from Lake Vätern bypassing Göteborg, the second largest city in Sweden. Among other claims to fame, Göteborg is the home of Volvo, and is a major seaport and industrial center. Since we were running low on time, we decided to pass up another city visit in favor of the country.

The county of Halland is considered Sweden's answer to the Riviera. It lies along the west coast of Sweden south of Göteborg and just across the Kattegat (sea) from Denmark. As a matter of fact, Halland (and its neighbor Skåne) were switched from Denmark to Sweden by a treaty between kings back in the 1600's without bothering to ask the local folks if they preferred to be Swedes or Danes. Miles of sandy beaches and a sunny climate attract many European and Swedish tourists.

Our first stop in Halland was the town of Varberg (population 25,000). We were there on market day when vendors fill the town square with everything from fresh jordgubbe (strawberries) and other in-season produce to arts and crafts. The town was also filled with tourists. We found a parking place and started exploring.

On the shore near the center of town is a large fortress built in the 13th century. 

The massive walls hide museums, gardens, and a few cottages still used as residences.

There are people dressed in medieval costumes performing, demonstrating, and generally creating the atmosphere of the "good old days' of the castle.

We took in the museum, and explored what amounts to a small village inside of the massive earth filled stone walls. 

From the top of the walls you get a good view of the town and harbor.

Since this is a big tourist area, you can find many things designed to separate the tourist and his kronor. For example, just outside the fort you can play Vatten Golf (water golf). The object seems to be to try to hit a golf ball into one of the targets floating in the harbor.

Bicycles are very popular all over Sweden, as seen outside of this ICA grocery store in Varberg. A big difference between here and in the USA is that very few of these bikes had locks on them.

We explored the market day stalls set up in the town square for a while, and then took a walk along the beach on a nicely paved path enjoyed by pedestrians as well as families of roller bladers. An unusual thing (to us anyway) is that within an easy stroll of downtown Varberg are two female and one male nude beaches (discreetly fenced off from the strolling public). There are a variety of public beaches in the area, and a locally famous "cold bath house" spa.

Len's mother's parents came from the village of Tvååker, about 10 kilometers from Varberg. Len's grandfather Gust died when Len's mother was 7 years old, and Annie Karlsdotter was an orphan who emigrated to the US when she was 20, so we had very little information about that side of the family. Len had made contact with Henrick Larsson, a college student from Tvååker, and Len had a brief snail mail correspondence with Inge Svensson, a friend of Henrick's family.

We stopped at the ICA grocery store in Tvååker and tried to call Henrick, but the phone number we had was wrong. Again we discovered how friendly and helpful the Swedes are. A clerk in the store closed her cash register and studied the local phone book only to discover that there was no listing for Henrick. She did, however, find a number for Inge. We called him and he said that he would meet us in the parking lot in 5 minutes.

Inge arrived and in spite of our almost zero Swedish speaking abilities, and Inge's limited English we got along very well. After jump starting the husbil (which again had a dead battery) Inge led us to Henrick's house just outside of Tvååker. There we had a nice visit with Inge, Henrick, and his family.

Inge and Henrick provided Len with some new and interesting information about Len's mother's ancestors.

After the brief visit and a discussion of genealogy, we were taken on a guided tour of the Tvååker area. We saw a number of places where Len's ancestors had lived. By now it was getting late, so Inge invited us to park the husbil in his yard.

Inge also lives just outside of Tvååker. The countryside here is rolling farmland with small forested hills poking up here and there. Inge's house is on a small tree covered hill with a beautiful view of the surrounding farm land. Here we parked the husbil for the next two nights.

The next day Henrick rode his bicycle over and joined us as Inge gave us a wonderful guided tour of the Tvååker area. Among other sights, we saw the Monkagård estate where Len's great grandfather had once worked as a groom for the horses and cows. The stone buildings here date back to the 12th century when they had been part of a cloister.

We went to Galtabäck harbor (once an important fishing harbor) where one of Len's ancestors had been a boatsman. Here we saw the small but very interesting Galtabäck Båtmuseet (boat museum)

We also visited several churches in the area. In the evening, Inge invited his son and daughter in law, and Anders Andersson and his wife over. Anders is also involved in genealogy, and had papers showing some of Len's ancestors. As a matter of fact, we discovered that some of this branch of the family tree have been having family reunions. The most recent had been in Jamestown, NY. Next summer the Swedish members of the family will be hosting the Americans for a reunion in the Varberg area.

Our visit to Tvååker was another excellent adventure on our trip. Len had such a good time during our visit with Inge that he said "I liked him so well that I wished that I would have known him all of my life".

Time was running out. We had to head back to Malmö to return the husbil on schedule. So, after doing a few touristy things along the way, we made it back to Malmö on schedule. We returned the husbil to Holiday Rent, and then had a day to spend before riding the flygabus back to the Copenhagen airport. We found a hotel a few minutes walk from the Central Station, and then spent some time exploring Malmö.

Malmö (population 225,000) is the third largest city in Sweden. Our hotel was a few blocks from an old castle there that has a very good museum and is adjacent to a large city park. Because of its history and proximity to Europe, Malmö has a slightly different personality than the other large Swedish cities. Again, there is so much to see in the area, that you could spend much more than a day exploring. But, time was up, and we had to head for home.

Just like Nils Holgersson, we had many wonderful adventures. We learned a great deal about the geography and history of Sweden, and were very impressed with the culture and the way the Swedes protect the beauty of their country. We learned why so many Swedes emigrated to America, and we learned why Sweden never left the hearts and minds of the emigrants.

Most of all, we met many wonderful Swedish people, and hope that when we have visitors we will be able to treat them as well as we were treated in Sweden.