Semester time!Yippie 💃💃(so as you can see its me and Matthias, we’re dancing with so much joy! Lol!) Well, don’t be confused if I always say SEMESTER 😉 yeah! I know! it sounds weird that I’m happy about the word “Semester” right? Lol! Because it only means schooling session in my home country but here in Sweden “SEMESTER” means VACATION!
But let’s talk about our semester again where we spend one whole day tour in Visingsö Island. This Island is located in southern half of Sweden’s second largest lake called Lake Vättern. It is 30 kilometers north of city Jönköping and it take us 2hrs drive to get there. There you can see lots of beautiful scenery, relaxing nature and amazing wildlife. A perfect summer destination too here in Sweden.
You can also see the ruins of Visingsö slott/Visingsborg Castle (picture above) and Näs castle, which was the residence for the Swedish monarchy in the 12th and 13th centuries. In able to visit the island you need to ride a boat between Gränna and Visingsö that leaves regularly especially on a summer months and takes around 25 minutes ride. You can also bring your car on the ferry but you need to book your place in advance.
While on board, the ferry is really nice and you can sit comfortably inside or just enjoy a boat trip out on the deck. (picture above is the beautiful summer view of Lake Vättern).
Here are some photos we have from our Visingsö tour:
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| This Island is well suited for a bike ride, bikes are available for rent at several places so you can enjoy the whole place. |
Take a trip with the island’s popular horse-drawn carriages called Remmalagen (picture above), and visit Kumlaby Church and get up in the tower via the staggering stairs (picture below).
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| Kumlaby Church |
They say you can go up in the church tower from where you have an excellent view over Visingsö. Even though the church were closed that day and we didn’t get a chance to experience it still the view outside the church is amazing and peaceful!
There are so many thing you can do in the island you can visit one of the restaurants there, rent a bike to discover the island from the saddle, you can camping with your friends, stroll in the lakes, check in a nice hotel or simply do a day tour (just like what we did). Although it sound so nice I wound’t recommend the day tour because the time is so limited and rush (traveling there consume already your time so you need to rush in everything). In able to enjoy fully the whole Island is that you need to stay there for one day or two hehehe.
In the harbor you can discover Visingsborg castle ruins. Visingsborg Castle date from 1560s. It was square formed with a moat four towers. The Brahe Family lived in Visingsborg Castle during the 16th and 17th centuries. During their time it was one of the most impressive buildings in Sweden. Sculptures and paintings embellished the walls and a large number of books filled the library. The castle also had an armoury that equipped up to 800 soldiers. Outside the walls were large orchards and gardens.The Visingsborg Castle was empty for several years after the death of Count Per Brahe the Younger in 1680. Later, in the early 18th century, it was used as a camp for Russian war prisoners. It is said that it was these prisoners who finally burnt down the castle in 1718. What is left today is only the left wing and now a there’s lot of renaissance events are held there every year and is one of the many beautiful and historical things still on the island!
They also planted oak trees on Visingsö in the 17th century to provide strategically important timber for future ship construction. (You can see lots of it if you ride the horse-drawn carriages) The timber is now ready but no longer required for ship construction. Consequently, Visingsö is partially covered by oak forests, the rest being farmland. If you’re ever a tourist here, make sure you don’t miss it! It so beautiful. Visingsö has a lot to offer! We will return back next semester and we’ll make sure to stay there for a couple of days hehe! Till next time guys!!
