A short visit to Malmö

The 5th of February started one of the biggest adventures in my life. At least so far, because I can't know what else my life would surprise me with! :D What has been going on this year is really unbelievable and it makes me think that once you leave your comfort zone, there's really no way back to it!

The original plan was quite different. I was supposed to fly to Malmö on 7th February and spend a few days with my friend Søren in both Sweden and Denmark. But as he couldn't get days off from work, the plans had to be changed. It really took him a while to convince me to come to Iceland instead, but fortunately he managed. Now I realise it would have been a huge pity if we had just cancelled the whole trip... Søren changed his flights in such way that I could use them for flying from Copenhagen to Reykjavik and back, while I changed the date of my flight to Malmö to 5th February, so I'd have a bit more time. Still, I had to decide, whether I'd like to spend one day in Sweden or in Denmark, because I couldn't really do both. Just to explain you why I'd fly to Sweden and then from Denmark and why it's not as insane as it sounds: Malmö and Copenhagen are located very close to each other, it takes only about half an hour by train, which passes through the Øresund strait by the bridge and tunnel, which were open in 2000.

The main train station in Malmö

As for the airports, the main one, used by people from both countries, is located in Copenhagen. The Malmö airport, located some 25 kms East from the city, is smaller and used mostly by the low-cost airlines. The funny thing is that even from Malmö it's easier and quicker to get to the Copenhagen airport than to the Malmö one. ;) I had to go to both of them in any case, but I decided to spend a day in Sweden, because I had never been to this country before. And if I went just to the airport, I'd be confused whether I should put Sweden on the list of countries I've been to or not. Sounds like a very serious reason, doesn't it? :D But in fact I was just curious to see a completely new place. :) To be completely fair, I should admit that Copenhagen would probably also feel like a brand new place to me, because the only time I've been there was 19 years ago and I obviously can't remember much. But I really hope I'll be able to go there together with my friend, when he'll finally be able to take a short holiday.

The Malmö castle

As I'm really interested in castles, one of the places that I really wanted to see in Malmö was the Malmöhus, which was built in the 16th century and historically it was one of the main strongholds of... Denmark. Nowadays it's a museum, which I didn't have a chance to visit, because I didn't have enough time.

Almost like in the Netherlands:)

Next to the castle there's a very nice park and a windmill, which reminded me of my recent trip to Kinderdijk.:) I don't know, what was its function, but it looked really beautiful. One more similarity between the Netherlands and Sweden that I've noticed were the bikes. They're just everywhere in Malmö and, just like in Dutch cities, you have to be careful not to get run over by one. :)

The town hall

The historic centre of Malmö isn't really huge, but it has some nice old buildings, including the town hall, which is city's one of most popular landmarks. The Scandinavian architecture style is quite different from what I've seen in different West European countries and it felt quite "heavy", in lack of a better word, to me, but it was interesting nevertheless. I was afraid that 2.5 hours (and that's how much time I had before meeting my couchsurfing host) wouldn't be enough for sightseeing. But in fact I managed to see all the main sights, to send some postcards and even to fight the Swedish cash mashines. :D Yes, it took me some time to realise that in Sweden you should put your card into the cash mashine "upside down" - until then I thought that they didn't like my Polish card and that I wouldn't be able to withdraw money. I'm a very smart East European tourist, what else can I say! ;)

Communicating with Swedish geese! ;)

Finally at 4 pm I met Anna, my host. She turned out to be a very nice girl (just as the vast majority of couchsurfers!) and we quickly found the common language. We went on a walk to the park, where I managed to find the common language with local geese as well! :D They were not really happy with me bothering them, but one of them started looking at me very curiously, so perhaps we established some special connection! ;)

At the seaside

We also went to the beach for a short while and I could see this famous bridge from a distance (you can also see it on this photo if you look very carefully). Anna lives in Sweden, but works in Denmark, which turns out to be quite a common thing to do in this region. The borders in Europe are really not what they used to be. :) I could see Denmark from a distance and some part of me wanted to go there as well, but I knew I couldn't do that if I wanted to spend some days in Iceland. But I believe I'll be able to visit Copenhagen again too, maybe even in the near future. :)

For Anastasia in Ukraine

Although my stay in Sweden was rather short, I even managed to send one letter from there. It was partly written on the flight from Katowice to Malmö, where I've lost my fountain pen, so I had to continue writing with an usual one. But I guess the fact that I'm able to write letters while flying shows that I've nearly got rid ofmy aviaphobia thanks to extensive flying this winter.:) I really feel sorry for Anastasia,because she'll have to decipher the most terrible version of my handwriting, but I can't do anything about myself being absent-minded and losing stuff all the time... I hope at least she'll be happy to receive a letter sent from abroad.:)

Sea Training!

The next morning I've done the International Oversea Training together with Anna and I came directly to the Copenhagen airport, so I didn't have a chance to get lost. I waited about 4 hours for my flight (I know I come to the airports a bit too early...) and then a much bigger adventure started!:) But that I'm going to tell you about the next time. ;)