Gripsholm castle was built by king
Gustav Vasa in 1537 as a part of a new national defense system. It was
restored in Gustav III's time including a little theatre inside the
castle. During the second world war the German writer Kurt Tucholsky
lived (and died) here. Maybe this is why so many German boats visit
lake Mälaren. Today the castle harbours a famous collection of
portraits which is really worth visiting.
Mariefred is a cozy little town. During the summer it is visited by many tourists. There is an old narrow gauge steam railway connecting the town with the national railway system at Läggesta. Round trips by steamboat, steam train and back to Stockholm by ordinary train are very popular.
The steam is from the train's engine, not coming out of my head...
The town viewed from the castle. The community dock is right in the middle of the town.
After a relaxing day and a good night's sleep we sailed from Mariefred, now homeward bound. Winds were light in the beginning, but picked up somewhat later. This time we had a nice beam reach in perfect weather.
We sailed to another yacht club island, Slandö kalv. It was quite crowded and amongst all the boats were two German folkboats who had been participating in a race on lake Mälaren. They did not sail here from Germany, though, but trailered instead.
Mariefred is a cozy little town. During the summer it is visited by many tourists. There is an old narrow gauge steam railway connecting the town with the national railway system at Läggesta. Round trips by steamboat, steam train and back to Stockholm by ordinary train are very popular.
The steam is from the train's engine, not coming out of my head...
The town viewed from the castle. The community dock is right in the middle of the town.
After a relaxing day and a good night's sleep we sailed from Mariefred, now homeward bound. Winds were light in the beginning, but picked up somewhat later. This time we had a nice beam reach in perfect weather.
We sailed to another yacht club island, Slandö kalv. It was quite crowded and amongst all the boats were two German folkboats who had been participating in a race on lake Mälaren. They did not sail here from Germany, though, but trailered instead.
The next morning there was no wind
whatsoever, so we decided to stay here another day. The island is quite
small so there is not too much to do. Instead we used the inflatable
dinghy to explore the surroundings and had a swim.
We had now only two days of our
cruise left. As we were still to far from home to get there on a single
day's comfortable sail, we decided to make a last stop at
Jungfruöarna, the same island as on our way out.
There we cooked a good last
dinner. The next day we sailed home and got through the lock one more
time.
During this trip my wife really got hooked on sailing. Since, we have bought our own little boat and now we are sailing in the more open waters of the archipelago and the Baltic.
Click here if you want to see a map of the area.
During this trip my wife really got hooked on sailing. Since, we have bought our own little boat and now we are sailing in the more open waters of the archipelago and the Baltic.
Click here if you want to see a map of the area.
