Day 123 - Luleå, Sweden (May 13, 2020)

Roadtrip Part 1 - From Stockholm to Luleå

Since we originally planned to take a road trip through New Zealand during our world trip, we spontaneously decided to do so in Sweden in order to explore the entire country.

After picking up our rental car at the train station in Stockholm, we headed north.

Our first stop was the fourth largest city in Sweden, Uppsala.

Here we spent two nights at Jonny's, where we stayed in a beautiful small typical Swedish guest house.

We explored the old town, walked to the castle, and used the shopping street to stock up on warmer clothing.

We also took a short hike in a nearby nature reserve, where we walked through birch forests and rock formations and enjoyed the spring temperatures.

Our second stop was supposed to be the city of Sundsvall, located about 3 hours north of Uppsala.

However, when we took a closer look at the location of our Airbnb accommodation, we realized that it was located 2 hours away from Sundsvall. After a 5-hour drive through the beautiful lakeside landscape of Sweden, we arrived in the 250-inhabitant village of Näsåker. Our accommodation was a large, over 100-year-old country house in the middle of nowhere.

We decided to take a trip to Björnlandets National Park the next day. However, when we set off the following morning in bright sunshine, we didn't realize that the park was another 2 hours north in the Lapland region.

As we drove, the snow along the roadside increased and the lakes became increasingly frozen.

After a good hour of driving, the paved road ended and we turned onto a gravel "forest road". We were unsure if our rental car, a Fiat Tipo and not an all-wheel-drive SUV, could handle the muddy road due to the thawing weather.

After about 30 minutes of driving on the bumpy track, we suddenly had to stop as five reindeer blocked the way. As they showed no signs of leaving the road, we followed them at a snail's pace for 1.5 km until they finally disappeared into the underbrush.

3 km before the national park, the Fiat definitely couldn't go any further.

So we put on our hiking boots and set off on foot.

After about 500 meters, we realized that the park's trails were covered knee-deep in snow, and we had to admit that we were not equipped for the wilderness of Lapland.

We turned back and were somehow relieved to see a car and a paved road again after 2.5 hours. On the way back to Näsåker, we stopped at several frozen lakes and rivers and marveled at the incredible landscape.

The next morning, it was time to pack our things again.

Our next destination was the city of Umeå.

Here we were warmly greeted by Marie, where we spent 2 nights in her super cozy apartment with a conservatory and river view.

We spent most of our time in Umeå planning our further travel route, stocking up on supplies, and doing laundry.

Then we had another 3-hour drive to the last major coastal city in the north. In Luleå, we stayed for another 2 nights. We stayed with Jens and his wife Ewa, who rent out small holiday homes behind their farm that are directly adjacent to a nature reserve and completely surrounded by nature.

Jens was very surprised to receive guests from abroad, as we were the only ones who had booked the accommodation since the end of January.

We spent the first evening by the campfire and enjoyed the landscape around our cabin.

Since Bianca had been having problems with one of her teeth since the beginning of our road trip, we decided to look for a dentist in the city the next morning.

After a short examination and no further dental problems, we then explored the city center of Luleå. The Baltic Sea was still frozen here.

In the afternoon, we took a short hike through the adjacent nature reserve to the former old town of Luleå, which has the strange name Gammelstad. We then spent our last evening cozying up by the campfire.

To be continued...

Bianca and Michael