Traveldogs in Sweden: Fjällbacka
Little houses, steep cliffs en boats that dance on the shining blue water, waiting for new adventures. Fjällbacka might be a tiny town but it’s definitely one with a lot of enchantment.
It was a Swedish crime series that triggered our curiosity with beautiful the beautiful scenery of the Swedish west coast.
Camilla Läckberg, the writer of the original books was born in Fjällbacka but luckily the murderers from these books are not active, otherwise there would be only a ghost town to visit.We visited the down before the busy summer and although there is a lot to do like a mystery tour and tours with boats, it was mostly the Kungsklyftan that made me so curious.
In Fjällbacka, the mountain Vetteberget rises highand is divided into Stora (Big) and Lilla (Little) Vetteberget by the Kungsklyftan: a cleft that has huge stone blocks hanging above your head.
Fun facts: The cleft used to be called Ramneklovan but following a visit by King Oscar II in 1887, when he placed his signature on the wall of the northern entrance it acquired its present name. It was also featured in the film “Ronja the Robber’s Daughter” an Astrid Lindgren story.
You can easily reach this cleft by a stairway that starts at the Ingrid Bergman’s Square at the town’s center. The first part is very as long as your dog can walk up stairs. Then it got a bit difficult. Oona’s energy combined with big rocks and a leash to hold didn’t work very well and for Ravasz it was a bit heavy to climb over these big rocks. He would have been able to do it but we decided that I would go on with Mogwai. I could let her find her own way off leash so we could both focus. Well, perhaps I had to focus the most, she was just jumping around like it was nothing, looking back at me and wondering why I was suddenly so slow 🙂 If she could speak she would say: “Come on human, we have some exploring to do!”
At the last part I was glad to be alone with Mogwai and I would advice not to take a dog that pulls on the leash or that can make weird movements because you have to climb rather steep stairs all the way to the top of the mountain. If you’re afraid of heights like me, it’s a path of hard work and trepidity. Even when thinking or writing about the stairs I get sweaty hands. But I can ensure you, it’s worth it!
At the top you reach a after all an absolutely stunning view over the little village, the sea with lots of islands, little boats and clouds that gently pass by. A place where you could sit for hours, watching the time go by, having a picnic and of course take a lot of photographs.
On top of this mountain there is also a path that leads you even further but being alone and having my fears challenged enough, Mogwai and I returned to the rest of our pack that was patiently waiting for our stories.
All together again we wandered through the narrow streets of the town, passing by the church and to the water. To the boats that I saw before from the mountain top. We could see that the village was preparing itself for summer as some places had signs that they needed extra hands for the summer season, but at the same time we got very curious about the view of this place in autumn or winter time. So we are pretty sure that this is a place that we’ll visit again.
To be continued 🙂
With our camper van it wasn’t easy to find a place to sleep. Most camping grounds were still closed (this was the beginning of May) and it was difficult to find a place for wild camping (many farms and holiday houses). If you would travel with a fully equipped camper van or go in summertime this would be no issue of course.