Old Uppsala

Today started with a delay. Our laundry from the previous day just wouldn't dry, so we waited until noon.

It took a little over an hour to drive to Old Uppsala and we reached the museum in the late afternoon.

Old Uppsala was once a religious and political center. The first Swedish kings ruled from here.

Behind the museum of Old Uppsala is the huge burial ground with about 3000 graves from the Iron Age. There are also several large burial mounds, a Ting mound, and Viking boat graves. And a bit further is the open-air museum Disagården, with buildings from the 16th to the 19th century.

The burial mounds are really huge! The first three mounds all have a diameter of fifty to seventy meters and a height of about seven meters. According to legend, the three deities Thor, Odin, and Frey are buried in the graves. However, it is believed instead that three early kings from the Yngling dynasty are buried there. The fourth mound is a Ting mound, so it was a meeting place. It is said that the later king of Sweden, Gustav I Vasa, also spoke here. Probably even before he invented the Vasaloppet in the 16th century while fleeing from the Danes.

The open-air museum behind it is also worth seeing. However, we didn't take a guided tour.