Malmö - the city of old buildings and an unusual museum

Today, a visit to Malmö is planned. As always, I have only briefly read about the city because I want to wander again and follow the people without a specific destination. This morning, I also got up quite early because I wanted to clarify a few things— first of all, I wanted to extend my stay by a day, but since it was very noisy until midnight last night, with constant music from the port, especially loud bass— secondly, I wanted to take a shower and find a free shower with a sink for my morning hygiene, and thirdly, I wanted to pack my things to take the bus into the city.

After completing my morning hygiene, I went to the reception to ask if I could extend my stay for another night (and whether the loud music plays every night). Initially, the receptionist denied that the music would play every night, claiming she knew nothing about the music. After a bit of back and forth— she seemed to be new at the reception— she informed me that I could extend my stay, but would have to move to another spot and pay more for the night (62 euros). When I asked why it would cost more, she explained that the establishment uses dynamic pricing. Based on this information, I decided not to stay another night in Malmö, since I would still have to pack everything and pay more. During the day, I wanted to decide which other city to go to.

From the reception, I headed to the bus stop, which is right next to the campsite— line 14 to Limhamm and then onward with line 4 or 8 to the main train station (Images 1 and 2). Interestingly, a lot in Malmö runs through QR codes, many information sources no longer exist in other formats, such as bus schedules, ticket purchases, city maps, payment in restaurants, etc. There are also very few ATMs, or at least I didn't see any except at the train station. This one also 'tricked' me. After following the ATM sign, I wanted to withdraw Swedish crowns (Sweden and Denmark are not part of the Eurozone and have retained their currency crowns); I followed the instructions on the screen, and in the end, there was an exchange rate for euros and that I had to withdraw at least 60 euros. I did that and actually received 60 € and no Swedish crowns. Clearly, cash is very rarely used. Honestly, I haven't seen anyone pay with cash. Even on the bus, I could only pay with a card. On the bus, I received an electronic ticket, which was stored on my phone and allowed me to use public transport for 60 minutes.

After my journey through the main train station, I decided to walk to the port, which is not far away. There, the first building that caught my eye had an oriental style in parts (Image 3). It houses a bank, but again without an ATM. Overall, there are many interesting buildings in Malmö, but I must admit that I couldn't quite find the city's 'soul'. It appeared as a big jumble of many things.

At the harbor, there are also many older ships, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. In Image 4, you can see an example, the Bore from 1894. Unlike before, this part of the harbor is not much used anymore; it has been repurposed, as has happened in many ports in the Western world, for residential buildings. (Image 5)

After my walk around the harbor, I returned to the main train station. There, I noticed a bridge that I had not seen before. It looks like a relic from the Viking era (Image 6).

As I stepped onto it, large numbers on the bridge indicated that it was from the early 20th century. So, the seemingly authentic aspect may not be authentic at all. From the observation tower of the bridge— my imagination had conjured a lot of Viking images in my head— I took a photo of the main train station through the arrow slit. Obviously, there were already pigeons and their droppings in Viking times...

The first stop in the flow of people was the St. Petri Church from the 14th century. The church is a mixture of Viking and Hanseatic architecture.

At the beginning of this walk through the city, I noticed that the city center was visited by very few people. Only in a pedestrian zone, which I visited later, were there more people on the street. I also noticed this later in Lund.

Perhaps the residents and visitors get lost in the many side streets and alleys. There was definitely no feeling of overtourism here, even though the topic is sometimes unfairly overemphasized in the media.

At a clothing store in the city center, I saw an interesting quote from the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, who lived in the 19th century. I thought this would be a nice motto for this trip in my camper.

On my way to the pedestrian zone, I noticed a museum that I wanted to visit if I had time later: the disgusting food museum. However, I first needed to find a place for some cocoa...

I found this place at the end of the pedestrian zone. A nice café where I ordered a cocoa with whipped cream and a croissant.

The server asked me a question that I was only familiar with from Australia and New Zealand— with or without marshmallows?— Of course without, I replied. This reminded me at the same time of a scene with my new colleagues in Cologne at the Cologne Business School when we went to a café and I ordered a cocoa with the request not to put any marshmallows on the whipped cream. Both the colleagues and the server looked at me confused then. Well, as it often is, the communication between the woman at the register, who took my order, and the man who prepared my cocoa was like a game of telephone. The result:

After I had breakfast deliciously and devoured many pages in my historical pirate novel, I decided to search for attractions on the internet. I decided to visit at least two places— the Malmöhus (a very old fortification) and the knotted Colt. On my way to the Colt, I passed a building that depicts the new and old Malmö well. The World Maritime University...

The next attraction was an absolute highlight for me. I had already shown the knotted gun to the students in class. And even though I had imagined it larger, the artwork was still impressive. I also had an interesting conversation with a couple from near Birmingham about the state of the world. Very exciting. And this happened only because I asked if I could take a picture of both of them. They later also took a picture of me.

The artwork is called Non-Violence and was created in 1985 by Carl Frederik Reuterswärd. A version also stands before the United Nations in New York (https://www.un.org/ungifts/non-violence-0). It is an homage by the artist to his friend John Lennon, who was shot dead in 1980. It represents a .45 caliber Colt, with the barrel practically knotted. After that, I went to Malmöhus. The oldest part of the castle was built between 1526-1530 (predecessor castle from 1434). Today, it houses a museum. When I was there, a medieval game day for children was taking place— a cool idea. On the way back to the city, I stopped in a park to rest a bit. There, I became the 'victim' of a Hen Party—a bachelorette party. They needed a picture of the future bride with a man with a tattoo. 'Forcibly,' I volunteered.

To conclude, I then went to the disgusting food museum, where there are all kinds of foods that are considered unpleasant in the Western world, e.g., durian from Indonesia— a delicacy there, also known as stink fruit in our country (I once tried durian ice cream, which I desperately tried to hide from the hosts after the first spoonful at a discreet location, but in many Asian countries, durian is a delicacy). You are welcome to try to imagine the face I made at the tasting station when visitors were consuming worms, insects, and similar unusual foods.

Lastly, I have two images I took towards the end of my city walk. The first image is a bridge near the main train station, which reminded me of Kleve, as there is also such a bridge there that can be shifted to the side to allow ships to pass through.

Then I went to eat, fortunately without the scent of the fascinating stinky cheeses, durian, etc. still in my nose. Speaking of prices, my meal consisted of vegetarian ravioli— to be exact, 5 of them, which then cost almost 30 euros... I am still waiting for the rest of the food.

The second picture I took as it is typical everywhere in the world. A sculpture with a seagull perched on the highest point. Good night and tomorrow I’m heading to Lund...