Go Travel: discovers the hidden beauties of Östergötland

Travelling from Uppsala to Östergötland is quite easy, even by public transport. An SJ train can take you either to one of its two major cities of Linköping or Nörrköping in just two hours, with cost starting from 150 Kr, pending on time of booking. Going by bus is a bit cheaper as you can probably find tickets with ‘Swebus’ for as little as 100 Kr, together with the guarantee of being able to travel on any on their services. The downside is that the bus journey from Uppsala to Östergötland will take at least 3 hours.

Accommodation in Östergötland is generally like everywhere else, with a choice ranging from cheap hostels to expensive hotels. You could also probably have a good shot at getting housing using airbnb or couchsurfing, especially in Linköping as it has a big student population.

Once in Linköping, be sure to check out the Cathedral. It’s one of the largest in the Nordic countries and has been a symbol of the city since 1220. Linköping also has a castle, built on a bishop’s estate in the 1100’s. There’s a museum about the cathedral and the castle if you want to learn more. Linköping Old Town offers an outdoor museum, where you can discover how Östergötland looked like a hundred years ago. Downtown there’s a great food walk-in restaurant called ”Flott” (”Fat”), serving great burgers and sandwiches. If you want to get a drink try the Backen Beer Café or ”55an”, Linköping’s version of Uppsala’s famous pub ‘Palermo’.

In Norrköping, take a walk along the stream and through the industrial town, where old linen factories now house great restaurants and museums. Be sure to check out the ‘city museum’ and ‘the museum of work’. Food wise, ‘Pig & Hen’ is a walk-in restaurant that serves interesting versions of street food, while for drinks I recommend ‘Saliga Munken’ or ‘Världens Bar’, two classic hot spots for anyone familiar with Norrköping.

If the weather is nice, take a day trip! Pretty close to the city centres of both Norrköping and Linköping you find a lot of petroglyphs (rock carvings). If you have access to a car, you can take a trip to the Swedish Air Force Museum outside Linköping, or to the western part of Östergötland and visit Vadstena, swim in Vättern and see the monastery there. Visit Söderköping, south of Norrköping, which was a very strategic city in Medieval times as it was the centre of the main trade routes in Sweden. If you go there, you must have an ice cream at the best ice cream parlour in Sweden – ”Smultronstället”. Another idea could be to travel along the locks of Göta Canal, which runs all the way from Vättern in the middle of Sweden to the Baltic Sea. You can even take a cruise along large parts of the canal.

For more information ask around to people in the nation: ‘are you from the region of this nation?’ if they say yes, they will most likely be happy to help!

Adam Ehlert

adamehlert1@gmail.com

Special mention also goes to Linnea Svensson for her background research and finding useful external links listed below:

Gamla linköping

http://www.gamlalinkoping.info/en

Flygvapenmuseum

http://www.flygvapenmuseum.se/languages/engelska/

Sweets in gränna

http://jkpg.com/en/granna/

Visingsö

http://www.visingso.net

Linköping cathedral