Kristinehamn - Forsvik - Karlsborg - Mariestad

Today we went on a small road trip with a few stops since the weather was quite changeable. Yesterday, we had looked over the route we needed to take today, but since we had passed this way before, we decided to deviate considerably.

Our first stop was just after half an hour of driving since we needed to recharge the car. In Sweden, this is much smoother than in Norway since we’re driving a Swedish Volvo. Vattenfall is the provider for most charging stations here, and Volvo works closely with them. A kilometer from the charging station, we found a fish ladder that we visited briefly. It’s nice to see if you’re nearby, but it’s not worth the detour. Then we drove on to Forsvik, one of the villages along the Göta Canal. The Göta Canal was one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in Sweden. The canal runs from Sjötorp at Lake Vänern to Mem on the east coast. It is 190 kilometers long and has a total of 58 locks. Of this length, 87 kilometers were dug by hand. In Forsvik, there is one of the locks that we also visited after having a shrimp salad sandwich at the local authentic bakery. What was amusing was that people were painting outside the windows in the pouring rain.

After the rain, we drove on to the fortress of Karlsborg. This is a very large defensive complex that the Swedes built after the Russians conquered Finland. They wanted to ensure that they were prepared in case the Russians tried to attack again. Unfortunately, it took almost 90 years to complete the fortress, making it outdated by the time it was supposed to be used. After a visit to the museum, which mainly deals with the history of the Swedish army, we walked around to the end of the island where we again had beautiful views of the lake. By now it was around 6 PM, so we decided to stop by Ikea since it was on our way to Mariestad. Upon arrival, we found out it wasn't an Ikea like we know but rather just a place where you could make orders. We quickly ate a burger and a wrap at the local Burger King and then drove on to our non-overnight stop. Tomorrow we plan to take a longer walk before heading to our final destination, Gothenburg, the day after tomorrow.