Are Baltic countries Nordic at all? I explored Latvia and Estonia, noting their ties to Nordic culture, from languages to Rye bread and Midsummer.
Last summer i visited Latvia and Estonia. They are not too far from Scandinavia, and I was curious to find what they have in common with Nordics.
1. language and identity in the Baltics
While Latvians and Lithuanians are Baltic people – speaking an Indo-European language, related to Slavic languages- Estonians are Finnic, and their language is very close to Finnish, making Estonia the most ‘Nordic’ of the Baltic countries. Livonians are a small Finnic minority in Latvia. Estonia in particular has deep ties with Scandinavia – it used to be under Swedish and Danish rule. Though you can find a Swedish gate in Riga too!
There is actually a Swedish minority in Northern Estonia and coastal areas, that has existed since the 13th Century: eestirootslased or rannarootslased in Estonian, estlandssvenskar or aibofolket in Swedish, similarly to Finlandssvenskar, Finland’s Swedes. Its number shrinked however significantly due to the USSR occupation in the 20th century, that urged many to flee to Sweden, being very small today.
There is also significant proficiency in Finnish in Estonia, thanks to its linguistic proximity with Estonian and exposure to Finnish broadcasts during the Soviet era. Nowadays, young Estonians are not as exposed to Finnish media as older generations were during those times, and Finnish is not as intelligible for them as it used to be for their parents.
According to a poll done in 2013, about half of the young Estonians considered themselves Nordic, and about the same number viewed Baltic identity as important.
2. Baltic cuisine
Rye bread is king! As dark as night! Rye bread chocolate is a things both countries!! Says enough..
Herring, Redbeet, (potato) pancakes are staples – all stuff to be found at LIDO chain self-service restaurants, Latvian of origin.
Soups in Latvia are a very common part of meals as in Slavic countries, notably the redbeet cold soup. Something typical Latvian are the dumplings Pelmeni, similar to Polish Pierogi etc.
A galore of Baked goods were everywhere in Latvia, maybe not as much in Estonia. Nordic style buns were in both! Something that seemed very common were custard buns, and coconut coated buns. Latvians seem to love cookies.
Kalev is Estonia’s chocolate brand, Latvia also has its national confectionery brand Laci.
3. Nordic stores and products in Baltic
Stockmann department stores are present in both countries – you can find a lot of Nordic stuff, including Norwegian Brunost and carelian pastries!! Though I saw carelian pastries in Estonian supermarkets, and ICA cloudberry and lingon jam at a Rimi supermarket.. Finnish fast food chain Hesburger is present in the Baltics – I have to say I did not see any special items from it though…
You can get bulk candy in supermarkets like in Nordics. But it seems in the Baltics they enjoy bulk cookies as well!
Finnish brands as Fazer chocolate and some moomin stuff is common in Estonia. At Tallinn airport they had a whole selection of more Finnish and Swedish candy brands, and even a Pippi + moomin merch corner!!
4. architecture
Looking at some buildings, you could be in Scandinavia, though others make you think of Eastern European cottages.
Old buildings in the centre of Riga and Tallinn. I think these could be mistaken for Danish or from Stockholm?Countryside houses in Jūrmala and in Estonia. I guess these look more like Eastern European cottages. Birch trees give a pretty Nordic vibe though. Orthodox churches in Jūrmala and Tallinn
Folk Culture
As in Sweden and Finland among others, Baltic celebrate the Summer Solstice, a.k.a. Midsummer – or Saint John’s night – jääni in Estonian, Jāņi in Latvia. People go to the countryside to gather and eat, drink, sing and take part to old pagan traditions. Among others lighting a bonfire and gather herbs to make flower crowns and oak leaves wreaths!
Folk costumes are also quite distinct from Scandinavian ones, and are often characterized by a headgear in both Latvia and Estonia.
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Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Swedish Christmas markets in Rotterdam. Christmas decorations, imported typical Nordic products for sale, a cafe with lunch and cakes in each of them!
Lucia brings light in the darkest night of the year and is a mix of pagan and christian traditions. It is celebrated in Scandinavia with processions, saffron buns and church concerts.
Travelled to Sweden during Semlor season, deep winter, arriving by train and flixbus from the Netherlands.
Going to Sweden in the middle of winter, January-February, is usually not the preferred period, it is cold and dark, not during the festive period either. The only plus point is that it is Semla season, which was my main motivation to go there around my birthday (February 6th).
Back in November i had purchased a 10-day Interrail ticket i used during Christmas holidays, and since it was valid for 2 months after activation, i decided to give myself a birthday present and visit friends in Lund. And That would be my first time in Sweden, after Denmark and Norway!
Sweden at last!
I was supposed to arrive to Lund by train, but In Hamburg all trains to Denmark from Hamburg got cancelled due to some kind of technical problem, possibly ruining my trip. I then thankfully found a flixbus going there. You bet I was the happiest person in the world once I had secured my small holiday. After 6 hours I was in Lund!!! It had snowed a bit that evening and walking to the hostel -luckily at walkable distance from the station as it was past midnight- felt soo magical! I was the only person in town!
I stayed at Winstrup hostel, located right in the centre, a no-staff hostel, which i do recommend if you don’t feel the need for social activities within it! I had a quick meetup with my friend and that was soo cool!!
The following day started by thinking about exploring a supermarket for breakfast. I only ended up getting an egg sandwich, but fika was waiting for me..
After some miscommunication caused by me turning off data and forgetting to turning it back on, I met up with my friends, and we visited Lund’s cathedral and assisted to an explanation of a clock engine thing inside. The priestess doing that was also late. It was not that interesting, I must confess. I am also not very enthusiastic about visiting churches usually.. We could have visited a museum, but had no time really. And my friends kept saying that in winter there was not much to do anyway..
Fika and books
One of the reasons I was excited about visiting Sweden in February was Semlor!! Of course I got one, plus a räkmacka, a shrimp open-face sandwich. So good!! Semlor might not be thaaaat incredible, but it was something I absolutely had to get off my bucket list. I expected it to be harder and that the dough itsself would be almond-based, but it was actually very soft, and the almond thing is like a cream on top of the base of the semla.
Before and after we had been to a statioenery shop (Lexis Papper) and a book shop (Akademibokhandel). As one of my things from ym bucket list for Sweden, I got a journal there. I also got a book about Sami characters, and Pippi postcards! I loved checking out the bookshop..
Falafelrulle and Lördagsgodis
Lös(vikt)godis: bulk candy!
We got to ICA to get Lördagsgodis, the Saturday candy. Swedes are wild for sweets, and you can see that in their supermarkets, with an entire aisle of bulk candy and chocolates… We got them and ate them at the hostel, after having eaten a falafelrulle, 🙂
End of the trip with a Kanelbulle for breakfast
The morning I left, very early, the ICA near the station was luckily already open and I used my last hour in Sweden to get a sacred kanelbulle!! Nothing I cannot eat elsewhere, but had to tell myself I had eaten a Swedish kanelbulle..
Speaking Swedish
I actually apparently got a discount even if I should have been registered because the shop assistant was surprised I spoke Swedish, after I answered that no, I had no personnummer because I had only been in Sweden on day up to that moment in my life, that day..
A cashier at the supermarket was also surprised when I replied in Swedish after she realized I was not a local from my trouble dealing with the self-service cassa..
I did go to Sweden in summer after this trips, so check out my other posts to see the bright side of the Nordics as well!
My summer holiday was travelling to Scandinavia by train with interrail, passing by Copenhagen, Gothenburg, lake Vänern, Aalborg and Aarhus
After having canceled my initial plan one year ago, only passing by Denmark last summer, my plan for 2024 was to go to Sweden, and as I happen to have a penpal who lives on the lake of Vänern, visit her! Once again, by train. Which means stopping by somewhere, so I also spent some time in Denmark again, before and after.
Super Quick stay in Copenhagen
I hoped I’d arrive earlier, but problems with Deutsche Bahn made me arrive a couple hours later to Denmark than what I had hoped for. First thing I got was an ice cream i had noticed last year – a Daim mint cone, I love anything chocomint!!
I booked the night at the Sleep in Heaven hostel in the Nørrebro area, so went on a tour of it after checking in. The park Superkilenlooks cooler in pictures, but that did not surprise me. Then I decided I would walk to the centre and I got a Matilde strawberry milkshake, which as probably all stawberry milkshakes tasted like medicine.
I started walking towards Nyhavn but I figured I’d better reduce the damage (it was already past 11pm) and go to sleep asap to wake up earlier and see the centre before my train to Sweden… Could have slept more but no regrets at least…At some point a studenterkørsel bus drove by, playing ‘Elskovspony’, one of my favourite Danish songs, hehe…
I woke up rather early to see Copenhagen, and walked to Nyhavn, saw Rosenborg from the gate, a super cute souvenir shop and pastel buildings. I wanted to see the Little Mermaid – Den Lille Havfrue– Copenhagen’s icon, but didn’t want to miss my train and turned back (again).
Then at the 7/11 mini Wienerbrød: “minimums” – small versions, which is great for people like me who like to taste everything possibly without overeating… I got a Spandauer and a Tebirkes!
From the Øresund to the Öresund
The Öresund train from Copenhagen (where it leaves as Øresund) was headed all the way to Gothenburg, quite packed, but I managed to get on early and have a spot. It felt great to see Sweden, after having only seen the southernmost chunk last winter (I will post about that too..).
After a few hours I was in Gothenburg, where I’d take the train to Trollhättan. First things first, checking shops at the station. Pressbyrån is everywhere, and has loads of chocolate and candy…. Besides that, you can also get your hot dog there. And of course pastries and sandwiches
I saw a lot more variety in Sweden than Denmark when it came to ice lollies, though both countries have their own classics (in Denmark Københavner stang, Champagne Brus, Kung Fu etc), and a number of common ones like the Daim cones.
Once in Trollhättan I got picked up and we went to the supermarket, which always feels somewhat exciting, haha. Funny to see walls of Potatismos and Lingonsylt being sold in buckets. And this is kräftskivor (crayfish) season, so there was equipment for it in the supermarket..
The start could not be better with Swedish husmanskost: köttbullar potatoes!!
day 1: Chill summer day in a Swedish lake town
Day started with my first Swedish breakfast. bread bread and bread with all possible jams.. And Kalles kaviar!
The first full day we went to town and I was so excited to properly fika! Apparently there’s a standard fika pink triangular pastry called Milano. I will look up why it is called like that.
Afterwards, I walked along the lake (Vänern) and in town, it truly felt like I was inside a Pippi Longstocking’s episode, it felt somewhat magical, a truly wonderful Swedish sunny summer day. Actually, there was a shop selling a lot of Pippi stuff in town! And a little Emil too..
Dinner was a ‘Swedish Taco’ as I named it, and then we went to eat icecream! the kiosk at the lake had its own ice lollies, among which an Emil one
day 2: Trip to Gothenburg
As I was reasonably close to Sweden’s second city, I obviously wanted to visit it. When I arrived to Gothenburg I did not quite understand in what direction I was supposed to go to to see the centre. I just walked somewhere, beginning with another ice cream off my list, a lemon cornetto – I also love lemon-flavored things, by the way…
I walked around, ended up to the harbour, then somehow got in the actual city centre, got postcards at a bookshop and I admired bakeries/cafés, posponing a fika break for later…After some time i stumbled upon a small library, which is always cool, but this was a godsend as it had a WiFi connection and sockets under a table to charge my phone…that probably saved my day. While walking I had seen the city’s museum, Göteborgs stadsmuseum, and decided to head back to it after the library.
The TV series Vår tid är nu was filmed there! I watched it on Netflix in 2021! I did not have time to visit the museum, but I followed my friend’s advice and went straight to the museum’s shop, which did have nice stuff indeed. Got myself a flower food box, Chritmas tree flag decoration (!) and Dala horse decoration..
..
My friend also said there was a Moomin shop, which, whether my wallet liked it or not meant I knew where I wanted to go. I got a lamp and a glass, would have got more but almost € 20 for a glass was enough for this time..
I reaaally needed to go to the toilet, and I first went to the Haga city part, did not really find a café that I felt like sitting in and have a fika, so I went all the way back to where I came from and ended up getting the smallest pastry – a Mazarin. I also got to charge my phone there, which saved me again..
To not have regrets, I got a korv at Pressbyrån…and a Liquorice (Lakrits) is king in Sweden, there is liquorice chocolate, liquorice ice cream… And that was the last Ice cream I HAD to try!
Day 3: Antique and second-hand shops
We went to an antique shop nearby, which had actually quite cool stuff, including old postcards! I ended up not getting anything though.. We went to Uddevalla later to see a second hand shop! I did not see anything I wanted to get there, but at the very end I saw a table flag behind the counter, asked if it was for sale, and I got it for free!!
I found among others a wacky mug making fun of Norwegians about using the inside of the mug…
Then it was time for fika again at Kakeria in Kråkestan, and given all the sweet stuff I had been eating, I went for a räkmacka. I do have to say that you can make a macka yourself at home, but pastries and cakes are not quite as easy as placing shrimps and salad on bread…I also happened to go to the toilet in a pizzeria in front of it, which was open but nobody inside. Guess this is possible in the Swedish countryside…
After the fika, we went for a small hike
Then we went to the supermarket, and I got a ‘radioactive’ looking pear Budapest pastry. The classic version was finished, but one of my goals when in Sweden has become to try as much pear-flavored stuff as possible, haha! Another fika classic tried eitherway. The Dinner was korv with potatismos and a billion toppings I added!
Hejdå Pippi country
My time in Sweden had come to an end, and being on time at the station, I checked out souvenir shops..Pippi and Moomin souvenirs are as big as Pear and liquorice flavored food in Sweden.. And now I have my own Lilla Gubbe… and got Pippi’s Krumelurpiller candy.
As the Swedes are obsessed with candy, there was also a candy part in the shop, featuring among others the famous polkagris sticks from Gränna, and apparently a Swedish classic called king of Denmark (Kung av Danmark), haha.
Which, brings me to the next part of my holiday, heading back to Denmark.
Day 5: Arrival and trip to Aalborg
The third and last part of my holiday was 2 full days in Jutland. I took my train in the early afternoon from Gothenburg and got to Aarhus around 22… I already had a trip planned for the following day to Aalborg +meetup with friends in Aarhus.
I had never been to North Jutland, so this time I decided to visit Nordjylland’s main city, Aalborg! Instead of train though, I got there with a bus service as there were works going on on the tracks. I got Raspberry/liquorice candy from DSB!
After having been tremendously blessed with the weather in Sweden, in Aalborg it was grey and rainy, I also got a sommerhorn at the shopping centre Salling, which was with marzipan and orange. (Some classic pastries in Denmark are flødebolle, træstamme, marzipan frogs (?), Napoleonshat, nøddehorn, studenterbrød). We went to the rooftop although it was not the best day to enoy it… We had lunch at Aalborg street food. Not Danish food, although I would enjoy that too.
Then I went back to Aarhus and there the sun was shining! So I sat at the dokk1, one of my favourite places!
After that, I went to the bar my friend works at and The Danish handball team was playing, so I got a Denmark hat there ❤
Day 6: ArOS and shopping
This was the third time in Aarhus, although up until now I’ve barely been there for an entire day, and something I absolutely wanted to visit was the art museum ArOS! Which in other words is the rainbow circle building
The weather was truly perfect, sunny and windy, a blessing
I did not like the modern part that much, but the 1800-ish paintings were the best there, And as follow 2 of my favourites (there were quite a few depicting Italy, but these ones are more relevant to the blog..):
Norway! With tiny women in bunad I spotted. By Gotfred Rump
And here’s a Danish hilly coast and half-timbered house by Vilhelm Kyhn.
Then I walked here and there in the centre, got 2 books continuing my collection of Tænkepauser booklets by Aarhus University Press; after those about Dreams and Europe I got another two, about Language and Nationality! And then a flag at Søstrene Grene. Oh boy do I like flags…
Of course I had on my bucket list getting very Danish grocery stuff: my intention was to just get Karrysild (curry herring) but ended up also buying tomato herring, koldskål and Kammerjunkere, which go together (sour yogurt and cookies?).
I had tried these things in 2021 and despite getting 1L of koldskål one day before taking trains an entire summer day, I had to do this..
After this I had to leave Denmark, and I did not have the best return trip…I also got sick shortly after, probably due to some child I bumped into, but it was fun, I wonder what destination it will be next time!
(Actually, I still have to post about my first time In Sweden last winter, so stay tuned..)!
I went on an interrail trip and had a stop in Denmark, back to Grenaa and Aarhus
Last summer I wanted a little holiday for myself, and as I already had to go home to Italy, I realized I could just do that by train and visit people on the way. My first idea was going to Sweden, and stop by in Denmark. However, I ended up not going to Sweden (I ended up doing that for my birthday in February..)
Starting from Eindhoven I went up through Germany: > Venlo (border NL-DE)> Wuppertal > Hamburg >(border DE-DK)> Fredericia > Aarhus > then the letbane (local train) till Grenaa: 5 trains! I took the first train at 7:40 and arrived at 20:50: 13 hours! Long journey, but I enjoyed it! Besides the initial delays in Germany, the train to Hamburg was 35 minutes late when I was supposed to have 39 minutes waiting time for my train into Denmark …. but I made it ..
DSB (Danish state railways) uses many figurative expressions which would confuse non-experts: for example a ‘dog’ is a thing put under a wheel to prevent it from moving. Or an ‘Half English’ is a spor track which can only turn in one direction.Kolind
At Aarhus station I saw the entrance into the letbane platform, which I had not found in 2021… It was cool to be riding it again! I hopped off in Trustrup where I was picked up, the air was cool but going through the Danish countryside was so nice. I ate fish and couscous for dinner +the Dutch stroopwafels I brought as gift! The house was super cozy – I kind of miss its smell 🙂
22 August: Grenaa centre
The following day I got my wish granted – seeing the centre of Grenaa I had totally missed back in 2021!! And we got food for the dinner – chicken with sweet potato fries and carrots with rasins 🙂 Then a discount version of Champagne Brus ice lollies – eating one again was my second wish!
and here my journal of the first day:
23 August: Aarhus and Den Gamle By Museum
On 23rd August I went to Aarhus according to my plan! Main reason was meeting another friend 2 years later :). It started kind of bad, I could use my friend’s bike, but the saddle was way too high for me, so I first went on foot, which meant walking 1,5 hours. But I enjoyed the place and for once it was okay. Then I realized I should have taken the phone charger, and went all the way back. At that point walking again would take too long.. So I took the bike. Well, that wasn’t the most hyggelig thing. But despite falling once (I had to bike with the tip of my feet) I got to the letbane stop 30 secs before the train arrived!! Just in time to lock the bike..
So once in Aarhus I went to my friend’s place, her dad arrived in the meantime and we chatted a little. They convinced me to go to Den Gamle By, even though there wasn’t soo much time left before the closing time.
I walked headed there, and on the way I entered a second hand shop (genbrug) where I found a nice green-white striped tshirt, for just 20 DKK (3€), the brand was Finnish Marimekko, so a bonus point.
I reached Den Gamle By and went through it very fast, though I didn’t have the time to read most signs.. oh well. It did cost me 25€ but I wouldn’t be there soon again..
I took a lotta pics, so will make an additional post just for Den Gamle By…Here is a taste of it, bakery and home, from the 1800s and in the 70s:
Once i got out I decided to head to AroS, the art museum.
Though I didn’t enter the museum, had nor energies nor time nor will to spend more money on the ticket (Although one day I should walk in the rainbow circle) . What I did was going up the stairs and then straight to the museum shop! I got my first books in Danish, written by Aarhus university professors, from a series of booklets called Tænke Pauser (Breaks to think(?): one about Dreams (Om Drøm) and one about Europe (simply ‘Europa’). Fast forward 1 month I finished and really enjoyed them! The museum sold also quite a lot of Moomin and Pippi Longstocking (in Danish Pippi Langstrømpe) things… But i resisted..
Then, super hungry and a bit tired after an intense day, I wanted to eat something. I got into a 7-Eleven and had to get some Wienerbrød (‘Viennese bread’, Danish pastries that the Danes took from Vienna apparently), I picked a Tebirkes and also bought an ice lolly I had wanted to try for a while, Solbær, which used to be called Kæmpe Eskimo (changed the historic name for politically-correctness reasons, whether it was right or wrong to do that is not up to me to judge). I quickly ate up the lolly and got into a Netto, getting a Studenterbrød!!
So I had the exact same things my friend got as a welcome thing to Denmark on my very first day 2 years before, and I sat at the same place to eat them, Dokk1! God I loved that so much. So Calming. Would be there every summer evening if only I could! I then got the Letbane home and biked again home, really enojoyed that even though the bike comfiness was what it was!
24 August: Grenaa Beach
On my last full day in Denmark we went to Grenaa’s beach, another thing I longed to do again. Later we went into the town and in another second hand shop I found a 1936(!!) figurine album about all European countries, so cool! Besides Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and all that it even had Gdansk/Danzig …
I had to get food for the journey of the following day. We went to a Lidl (I guess cheaper than Kvickly?) and of course I got Rygbrød , cheese and a Spandauer, I guess the most iconic Wienerbrød? My friend told me I had to try the Dagmartærte too. I also bought a cronut. Not really Danish but I had yet to try that…We ate one by one all the rolls of the Dagmartærte while sitting in the garden…
On the evening we watched a Danish horror-ish series called Equinotium, Not my thing, but watching stuff in other languages is always a good idea. Also some random tv-reality shows. I had a lot of trouble understanding my friend’s sarcastic comments in Danish though, gotta improve.
25 August: farvel.. for now
Trustrup letbane stop, on the rainy morning of the day I left Denmark..took the train to Federicia in Aarhus, and there I got a kærnemælkhorn at the 7/11 because why not…
So I am glad I got to fulfill some wishes I have had for a while – Seeing the centre of Grenaa, Eating Danish Ice lollies again and Wienerbrød and getting books in Danish! My journey then continued south to Germany, but I hope I will get to see new parts of Denmark soon! Hej hej!
The ‘anchor’ language concept allowed me to learn Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian easily starting from studying properly only one language. This approach helps prevent confusion and builds a solid foundational understanding of language structures.
Last June I’ve been on a very short trip to Kristiansand, my first time visiting Norway! Lasted one day but felt satisfaying to have added one more country to my visited ones..!
The Cruise was offered by Holland-Norway lines, and was first supposed to happen in February – but due to bad weather and various issues it got postponed, ending up in the best season for it!! The ship left from Emden, in Germany’s Ostfriesland region, so we also managed to see a piece of Germany. Pretty funny that I had a (Dutch) Friesland hat!
We then boarded, ate and assisted to a cover band, the ship also had a shop with Nordic chocolate/candy and souvenirs (read further to see what I got).
The following morning we were in Norway, welcomed by lots of rocky islets and perfect weather in the Kristiansand harbour.
Although the area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, Kristiansand was founded by the Dano-Norwegian King King Christian IV in 1641, with -sand referring to the sandy headland.
Quick rundown of everything seen in Kristiansand, and skolekorps flags! Also the Danish restaurant chain Skagen..
We first got to the square with Kristiansand’s cathedral, from 1885 and one of the largest cathedrals in Norway. there were a few people selling thrift stuff.
Then we proceeded turing around town, seeing all the lovely white wooden houses in Posebyen, the old town – the only part of Kristiansand surviving a great fire in 1892
We then crossed the bridge and got to another part of the town. At some point one man cycling by said ‘du mistet papiret!’ (you missed a paper piece). My first Norwegian interaction..
Then we happened to run into a skolekorps event! Kind like marching bands?
On the way, I saw some funny signs:
beware of (hungry) seagulls, bikes LOVE to stay together and just an invite to throw rubbish in the bin written in (I assume) Kristiansand dialect (dæ instead of deg)
We got into various supermarkets: Rema, Kiwi, Xtra.
Norwegian Supermarket, souvenirs and a small hike
Of course, I had a few things to get from Norwegian supermarkets and bring home. Among these were Brunost, the beloved Norwegian brown goat cheese, and the iconic hiking chocolate Kvikk Lunsj, the latter mostly to be able to say I had tried it (Spoiler, it is basically the same as a kitkat with tips for a safe hike, sorry Norwegians).
I had already tried brunost during my Denmark workaway trip, knowing it was delicious, and was looking forward to eating more. I am sweet tooth and got a skolebrød as well.
Typical Nordic bulk candy section at the supermarket, smågodt in Norwegian
Besides supermarkets, I of course did some souvenir shopping: a skiing/moose keychain and a flag, with a long stick, like those people wave in their hands on 17 Mai!
At a bookshop i got a postcard of Sørlandet and an art card depicting women in bunads.
The shop was also selling of characters with bunads of given areas by Garbeez, didn’t get any but the idea is really cute!!
You can read about Norwegian bunads, Norway’s national dresses and how each district in the country has its own costume
Doesn’t really count as souvenir but I had to get a couple of these lovely Moomin cards!
They say ‘have a nice journey’ and ‘I’m rooting for you!’
One thing I’ve been low-key obsessed about is checking out other countries ‘custom’ Mcdonald-s things – in Norway i found the sour apple milkshake, absolutely delicious! Also got sweet potato fries and their apple pie (which is more like a strudel). Nothing very Norwegian but I had not tried them before.
Then walked up finding another cute neighbourhood, from which you could enter the forest.
We took a path in the forest, and found a nice lake with people bathing as well, great place!
I also purchased a few things on the ship on the way back: Finnish chocolate Geisha, Norwegian Sørlands chips, Swedish gifflar (sort of mini cinnamon buns), and moomin candy.
That was all for my first Norwegian adventure, Ha det!
10th July was a big day for the artist community around the Garden Studio: exhibition with a cafe, concerts and such. I started the day by taking away weeds at the entrance, it was raining and my feet got soaked wet! I got so tired and after a short lunch I went home, and then went back where the real thing was waiting for me: the café. It was scary because of my weird relationship with Danish (wanting and knowing how to speak it but not understanding well enough to function well? Which is like, a nightmare), but luckily two girls, daughters of Marie, were there to help, and after an awkward begin where I wasn’t sure what to do I happily went to wash up things and prepare coffee in the “backstage”. Later other two guys, Nils and Knud, came to help, and after a while the amount of work was reduced and I could rest. I was eventually happy of how it went and really thankful for the help! And I got to rest drinking a Sodavand, not my fav drink ever but much cooler than a coke right?
When the event was as good as over I went to sit with Ulla and other women, who were pretty surprised when they heard I could speak Danish! I am just too shy to speak it to begin with with unknown people, because of what i said above. One of them wanted to see my paintings! I also got a free tshirt 🙂
On the 11th I was given a free day, I decided to go to the Garden Studio, and after having helped a little in the morning I went to paint, and I added the sky to the beach painting. After that I went to the house to eat (made myself the usual rygbrød+butter and anything I found, including Brunost (Norwegian brown cheese, delicious!), and I spent the rest of the day reading books, a really chill day!
That was the Eurocup finals’ night, Italy vs England!! England had beaten Denmark n the semifinlans, and whole Europe was rooting for Italy, pretty cool honestly. I am always anxious about these things so I was only relying to DR app updates (Danish national broadcasting company, I have had the app before I even knew I’d go to Denmark though) and my friends!! It was a pain till the end but I was really happy we won!! We revenged Denmark!
12th July was a super nice day and I was invited to go to the beach! (Grenaa is actually a pretty popular Danish beach destination i think?) Before leaving I read some other books I found in the library:
about birds, and i found my favourites: Blue Tit, Blåmejse; and puffin, Lunde or Søpapegøje (lit. sea parrot, love it)
I spent time at the beach, not as long as i wanted to and the weather was exceptionally good? I was told the weather would be food for that day but I had low hopes haha. First got food at Kvikly: peaches, strawberries and a fat-ass burger to eat on the beach, I obviously couldn’t finish it at once so I got my dinner and lunch at once that day! I had to come back from the beach earlier than expected, but at least I got offered ice cream! Champagne Brus was a brilliant choice!
After watching videos and reading books the day ended with a roadtrip in the surroundings, and I saw the witch place (see part 1) again!! I’d say it was one of the best days in Denmark, I even got 2 tote bags for free, which i ended up using a lot!
On the14th it was pretty hot upstairs in the workshop, so I ended up doodling on a whiteboard downstairs, invading someone else’s space. Once i made sure I was allowed to draw there i went wild as you can see.
copied The Birth of Venus, italian pride worldwide 🙂 (everything mine but the graffiti-style thing)
I wrote one of my favourite quotes:
Livet må forstås baglæns men må leves forlæns (Life has to be understood backards but has to be lived forwards)
Søren Kierkegaard
I even added something more, copied Water Serpents by Klimt and more I can’t remember, but the board got cleared before i could take another picture…
15th July was a big day, I would go to Aarhus to meet my friend, a second time after the first day! I took the Letbane and once i got to Aarhus I walked up to my friend’s house and damn it was hot! I literally picked the hottest, stickiest day of the year! My friend said that heat wasn’t normal in Denmark. Well, wish I could say the same for the Italian summer. We went to a park and had a pic-nic, I got my skirt dirty with something and it was so hot we ended up going to her house, so I could get it washed. It was quite cozy and nicer than outside due to the weather.
I was eventually going to take the Letbane home, and while I was thinking I might miss it I decided I could just walk around in the city instead! The weather was not as hot anymore and I walked around quite a while for a couple hours, to Dokk1, then to (and inside) the station. I saw the iconic viking traffic lights!
At a point I heard a man saying hej and I thought he would try to sell me something but no, he went like Jeg har set dig (somewhere), du er dejlig har en dejlig stil, helt kreativ, something like “you have a very nice style, very creative”; more or less that concept repeated more times. Basically he had probably seen me when I was walking in around Dokk1 and when he saw me the second time he took courage to tell me that, I still don’t know how to feel about a Dane doing that hahaha. Ironically enough I understood everything he said perfectly, wonder what he would have said if I answered I was not Danish.. And of course I have a hard time understanding things when I would need to! How annoying! I just replied with Ahh okay, okay, tak like twice.
After that unexpected encounter I kept on walking without a destination, till I randomly saw AROS, the museum with a rainbow circle on top of it, standing in front of me. At that point i thought it was really time to go home, I would have walked for another couple hours if only I could but my ticket would expire..
16th July had a bit of a stressing start, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what you should do exactly… But it went well eventually. Karina told me a Danish saying:
Det stille vand har den dybe grund (Calm water is deep)
meaning someone who doesn’t talk much is actually very profound deep inside
I remember someone saying I was so quite yet it seemed like I had a lot say, in 2017… I guess I do really give those vibes sometimes.
She also saw my doodles on the board and said I could go do graffiti at a place, but it was a bit late for that considering the 2 days I had left in Denmark… I still hate that.
On the 17thmy fellow workawayer Mado from Iran made a (apprently Irani?) dish: rice with potatoes! I did enjoy it and happened to try that myself a year later!
Also got to drink Søbogaardfruity drinks, Hyldeblomst and Æble-Solbær flavours, these were really good!
We went to the wood to eat dinner, and it was pretty cozy, around the fire! Bent, Sara and her daughters were there. While others were walking around in the wood, I spent quite a while sitting by myself around the fire trying not to freeze (should have had a sweater with me..) and drawing a little.
18th July was another important day for the artists and musicians of the area, with an exhibition in the usual wood. started as a sunny and windy day, my host had her meditation meeting, so I walked the dog around the place of it. It was beautiful and I got very inspired for a painting!
After that I managed to go to the Garden Studio again, painted super fast to finish it in a couple hours! After that i ate lunch and Marie took Ulla and me to the wood for the exhibition. It was getting quite chilly! There were quite a lot of people who came to it and we were walking in the wood in lines basically, seeing wooden works and then listening to the concert in the end. That included some food too! I also helped keeping the dog, and ended up looking at the wood for one last time while I was on the swing.
When the exhibition was over and we took all the stuff away, my host was thinking of getting Thai food, which was not available, so we got food at Kvickly: Kebab Pizza for me, and then a kanelsnegl “cinnamon snail”
I spent the morning of 19th July, my last full day, weeding. We then went to the Garden Studio, so I could get my paintings (which I didn’t think would fit in my suitcase) and say goodbye. On the way home my host got potato chips at the Gas station: GÅRDCHIPS. We then watched Momo alla ricerca del tempo perduto, a movie from my childhood I barely remembered anything of!
We later drove to the beach where I had a last swim, i named it my Viking baptism since it was cold
20th July was the day i left, I would have stayed a bit longer so that maybe I could trY doing graffiti, and it always feels awful to leave! Anyway I made sure to buy a few souvenirs: a hurraflag of course, a couple magnets and 3 postcards (there was a 3-postcard deal, one of them had a picture of Odense where I havn’t been but oh well) the flag was too long to completely fit in my backpack so I walked around flying the Dannebrog.. My flight was a couple hours late, but I came home safe and sound 🙂
There were people i couldn’t meet despite being really geographically close to them, places I didn’t see, things I didn’t do, a lot of mistakes, a lot of Danish I didn’t understand, but I am truly glad I did this and wouldn’t mind being back in Denmark again someday!
Of all Danish words I learned during my stay, I always think of Trillebør (wheelbarrow) first, and I just googled now to find it how to say it in English, but it was part of my daily life when gardening in Denmark!
Some Danish songs I found about during my stay were Valby Bakke – Peter Sommer (my host listened to it a lot!), hurtige hænder – Minds of 99, +artist Alphabeat. Right after my stay I started listening to even more Danish music, among others one of my favourites is Halvnøgen – Ulige Numre, Drømmer Jeg – Johnny Deluxe, and for quite a while the autumn 2021 had rapper Clemens among my most-listened artists…
My work-holiday experience in Djursland in summer 2021
I have wanted to visit Scandinavia for very long. First thought of actually going to Sweden in 2020 for a volounteer work holiday (using sites as these), but Covid19 was in the way, so i postponed that. Summer 2021 could have been my last “free” summer and didn’t want to waste it, despite covid not being over. My initial target was Southern Sweden, but I would have had to land in Copenhagen first, and to avoid issues with borders as a third country citizen I went for Denmark. I picked the Aarhus area because I already knew (online) a couple girls I could meet, two birds with a stone!
I found a workaway host related to a community of artists in Djursland! It also had a quick reply ratio and I signed up to the site (which did cost 40 € but seemed worth it) and contacted the host, in Danish of course. I got really nervous about not getting any answers for a couple days, and after talking to a friend’s advice I contacted a couple other hosts, not available. On a beautiful windy early-summer Saturday I was just enjoying the day and thinking i had to give up. Then, around midnight I got a reply by the host, telling me I could go! I was overjoyed and thrilled.
Danmark jeg kommer! Arrival in Denmark
I had my flight at 10:30, luckily on time, I flew to Billund Airport and I couldn’t believe I was actually in Denmark, just a few months earlier it was a distant fantasy…. I then took the bus to Aarhus (read about the city’s history and attractions) enjoying the view of the Danish countryside.
BUS 912X: Billund – (Østerlund – Skanderborg) – Århus
It was such a beautiful day and I managed to meet a friend, who welcomed me so nicely with the flag and took me to Dokk1, a really nice place on the harbour (actually cooler than I thought) and she had Studenterbrød and Tebirkes (so good!) and a drink called Stella (“star” in my language! nice coincidence). We couldn’t obviously do much but honestly it was more than enough and I was so, so happy, and i even spoke Danish the WHOLE TIME, it’s just easy when you feel comfortable with people.
then after a couple hours i took the Letbane (a metro-train?) to Grenaa, actually to the stop right before. I was even risking to have to take 2 buses instead which would have been a pain with a big suitcase, but luckily it wasn’t the case.
So I got down at the stop I was supposed to, a place in the middle of nowhere with no one, it felt amazing to be there nonetheless. I waited some time for my host but honestly I didn’t care because I was still realising I was there. I did wave to someone passing by with the car thinking it was my host since it was the first car passing by in like 10 minutes, guess they thought I was trying to hitchhike? Haha. My host arrived with her dog, an Australian shepherd called Taika, and we went to the supermarket, a Netto! We then got to the house, had dinner and then went for a walk in the village, some 3 km from Grenaa (or Grenå)’s centre.
village church, all Danish countryside churches look like this or something?
I basically only spoke Danish that day and I was thinking I wasn’t that bad for never having interacted with a Dane face to face
The following day we went to the wood where they meet with musicians and other artists, I spent much of the time drawing and sitting by myself, which was quite good because I was feeling hell down because of personal reasons. We ate pølser for dinner and made brownies – twice because the dough fell the first try.
On 1st July, Thursday, I helped mowing the grass and later Sara Came with her daughters, Rosa and Viola, (they are both called like flowers, in Italian they are at least, how cute) and the dogs Nuni and Nunika, mother and daughter! We ate together and I talked in Danish! Then we went outside and the weather was so nice, warm and windy. We ate Koldskål (sour liquid yogurt?) with Kammerjunkere, a kind of cookies that go with it. It was windy and nice weather so I sat outside for a while just enjoying it. The dog almost ate my fliflop, but the girls helped me save it.
Painting at The Garden Studio
In the afternoon of the same day my host took me to the Garden Studio, a artist house with workshop and a huge garden. My host had mentioned to me the artist who did some painting she had on the walls, Ulla Lundsgart, and I was looking forward to go there and maybe manage to paint a little! Anything is fine to me as long as it slightly has to do with colours and creating stuff!
There was a workshop, Værksted, with a lot of plants and paintings. I was introduced to a ceramic artist who was in his workshop, Philip. Then I sat somewhere and doodled for a while.
I hoovered and I saw the beach at last! The weather was terrible but still it was nice to have my feet in the sea. We went to the supermarket and I saw the party section, in Denmark it goes wild with flags, read more about the Danish flag madness.
Grenaa’s beach, on a not-the-best-beach-weather day
Inside the house there were a lot of beautiful books, in the workshop there were mostly art and painters related books, I would have spent ages there! Here are just a couple classics in Danish:
On 3rd July I gave online lessons (I had asked if I was allowed to do that during my stay before deciding to leave). It was a bit hard to adjust everything but I somehow managed to.
not my best piece and I wasn’t really satisfied, but it was fun
Afterwards I was allowed to paint a bit! I didn’t really know what to paint although I was super excited to do it! I never get to paint such big pictures, and with acrylics.
Then in the evening my host and me drove somewhere to have a walk in the forest and towards the sea (going anywhere in Denmark is going towards the sea to be honest).
Here women accused to be witches were drown, and the man who killed them lived here, according to my host! scary!
On 4. JulyI was given a lemonbrus bottle at the Garden Studio, I don’t think it tasted exceptionally good but the label looked so pretty! I had a lemon on my socks as well and with a pepsi top, red shorts and red-blue sneakers I felt like a living lemon pepsi or something. I later went with my host to the wood where i drank it on a swing.
In the afternoon I spent some time painting. Once again, I didn’t really know what to draw although I was excited to do it as always. I started painting a boy but ended up covering it with a big face with the sea in it. There were visitors to the workshop, with children being curious about me painting.
eventually also added some and some tattoo-like elements I am obsessed with: the sun and swallows
5th July started by going to the wood, Sara was there too with her dogs. Later I went to the Garden Studio, where i helped by weeding and such activities. As usual I went to pain once I was done. This time I simply painted myself!
I must say I was almost satisfied
On 6th July I painted my original sea boy character wiht Fish! In my imagination he comes from the North Sea coasts, between Denmark and Holland, so right place to paint him. On the evening Italy played against Spain in the Eurocup, we won!!
On 7th JulyI helped cleaning the house of the Garden Studio, then ate lunch with Ulla, and found this quote in a book case in the house:
Alt, hvad du elsker, vil sindsynligvis gå tabt, men I sidste ende, vil kæligheden vende tilbage på en anden made. (Everything you love is very likely to be lost, but in the end, love will return in a different way.)
Kafka
After lunch i was free to go to paint, and I started an idealistic self portrait braiding my hair in front of the sea, in a dress i unfortunately last-minute decided not to bring with me. (it would have been perfect for a day I’ll talk about in the part 2 of this diary)
I actually only finished the sky a few days later!
Volounteering at the Havmøllen
On 8th July my host drove me to Havmøllen (“sea mill”), where I volounteered at an event with dinner and concerts. I started the day by cutting bread and I didn’t bother speaking Danish since I was already in an environment out of my comfort zone..
I would have liked to listen to the concerts but after having helped with serving and cleaning I answered to the nature’s called and went for a short hike.
Jernhatten path and a map of Grenaa surroundings wood area
I then spent time looking at the sea while eating an apple. It was a bit hard to talk to others since I didn’t know anybody, so i just enjoyed the place by myself!
See you in the next article of my Denmark diary; with more art, pictures of Denmark, trips, fancy drinks and so on!
Astrid Lindgren’s homeland and locations of her movies
Astrid Lindgren’s birthday was on 14th November, to celebrate Scandinavia’s and the world’s favourite children author here’s an article about her homeland.
Astrid Lindgren came from Småland, a region in the south of Sweden full of idyllic villages, wild nature (51% of Småland is forests!) and old farms. There you can visit the places from her childhood that were sources of inspiration for books as Emil in Lönneberga, Bullerby/Noisy Village, PippiLongstockingand so on around the town of Vimmerby.
There were two things that made our childhood what it was – security and freedom.
From the book Mitt Småland (“My Småland”) by Astrid Lindgren and Margareta Strömstedt
Vimmerby and surroundings
Where Astrid Lindgren grew up
Astrid Lindgren’s family house in Näs
Astrid Lindgren spent her happy childhood on the Näs farm. The hollow elm which was Pippi’s “lemonade tree” (Sockerdricksträdet) is still in the garden.Astrid and her siblings had named it Owl Tree (Uggleträdet).
The farm is still owned by the family and is part of the cultural center, which was opened in 2007 for Astrid Lindgren’s 100th birthday. You can find out more about Astrid Lindgren, her life and work in exhibitions there.
Vimmerby’s Town Hall
Vimmerby is the town were Astrid Lindgren grew up and went to school. The young Astrid played with her siblings and friends in the alleyways of this small town and in the surrounding woods. Her childhood provided the raw material for her stories. Here are some contained in Pippi Långstrump, her major success:
The game “Don’t touch the ground”, that Pippi plays one day with Tommy and Annika was also played Astrid Lindgren.
The message in a bottle in Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard comes from a game Astrid played with her brother Gunnar and her two cousins.
Her brother Gunnar also invented the “things-finder” (sakletare)game.
Pippi’s freckles and red hair came from a friend of Lindgren’s daughter Karin.
in Furusund, where the summer house of the Ericsson family was, there was a girl who had a horse tied to the porch similar to Pippi’s Lilla Gubben.
She was also good at school to the point where she was called “Vimmerby’s Selma Lagerlöf” after her first essay was published in the local newspaper Vimmerby Tidning. She worked two years as a volounteer for it until she got pregnant at 18 and left the town.
Emil’s village and Bullerby
Around Mariannelund, just 20 km south of Vimmerby, is where the Emil of Lönneberga films were made from 1971 to 1874, in the Film village Filmbyn Småland. In this interactive museumyou will be able to have a look behind the scenes and see classic film clips, sing along to tracks and check out original props. Emil´s home, Katthult, is actually called Gibberyd, located between Lönneberga and Mariannelund.
Astrid Lindgren found the inspiration for Emil from the stories her father told about his childhood, but the character of Emil came to life when she was taking care of her three-year-old grandson, who was screaming with all his might. Astrid Lindgren asked the boy if he knew what Emil had done one day. Since the boy wanted to know that, he started being quiet to listen. From that moment, she went on telling her grandson about Emil and later wrote the stories down.
Sevedstorp and the surrounding area
The village of Sevedstorp became Bullerby (Noisy Village) in the films. This hamlet was the childhood home of Astrid Lindgren’s father, and the three farms in Pelarne, 10 km from Vimmerby, were in fact also the model for the Bullerby. Astrid Lindgren‘s father Samuel August Ericsson grew up there with his four brothers and two sisters. Astrid Lindgren’s grandfather was also the model for Bullerby’s grandfather. The farms are however private property now.
I am sorry for all who do not live in Bullerby
Anna in Bara roligt i Bullerbyn
Astrid Lindgren’sAmusement Park: Astrid Lindgrens värld
And if you want to see everything at once, you can visit astrid lindgren’s world. The author’s theatre park, few minutes walking away from Näs, is where the characters and settings from Astrid’s most famous books are brought to life. It lets you truly immerse yourself in the stories of Astrid Lindgren. leap across the Hell’s Gap chasm with Ronja the Robber’s Daughter, meet Katla the dragon with the Brothers Lionheart or watch That Emil hoist little Ida up the flagpole.
Outside Småland
Here you can read (in Swedish) about the locations of the movies. However, not all films inspired by Astrid Lindgren books are located in Småland, in some occasions even outside Sweden!
Pippi Longstocking was filmed in the town of Visbyin Gotland, the largest island in the Baltic Sea. The shops were located in the St Hansgatan street in the centre. Villa Villekulla is a few kilometres outside Visby, later moved to the south of the town.
Brothers Lionheart: Tomelilla and in the hills Brösarps Backar in Österlen, south-eastSkåne. The town of Törnosdalen in the movie is in Den Gamle By, an open-air museum in the Danish city ofin Aarhus, in Jutland. Much was also in Iceland.
Madicken: Söderköping
Ronja: most scenes are near the mountainSörknatten i Dalsland. most scenes by the lake in Jämtland (lake Blåsjön). Other scenes are in the cave Tykarpsgrottan in Ignaberga, Skåne; and in the ruins of the Haga castle in Solna, near Stockholm.
Vi på Saltkråkan/ Seacrow island: islands in the Stockholm northern archipelago: most in Norröra, some Söderöra. A lot of scenes were also in Eckerö, in the archipelago of Åland (Finland).
a Polyglot illustrating Scandinavia 