Home Flying trips Summer vacation in Sweden, July 2020. Day 19: Hildasholm & the charming village of Björken

Summer vacation in Sweden, July 2020. Day 19: Hildasholm & the charming village of Björken

by Natalie Kjaergaard

Morning in Siljansnäs began from doing laundry. Flemming washed his clothes in a washing machine; I ordered mine to be hand-washed:

And whilst he was busy with that, I had a long bath, and got myself ready for the day.

We borrowed a car, and were going on a day road trip in the area. Our first stop was in Siljansnäs village, where we visited local church. It had very nice mosaics inside.

After driving through other villages, we decided on a particular destination, but somehow we got lost. Fortunately, we got lost by a place looking special. Google told us, it was Hildasholm, and it was open to public.

Buying tickets was done via an open window – due to COVID-19 epidemic:

We didn’t really know what to expect, but it looked beautiful:

We would prefer lunch, but the cafe only served cakes – so it became our lunch:

Hildasholm was a morning gift of Axel Munthe to his wife Hilda in 1911. Axel Munthe was a medical doctor and an author, and a physician to the Queen Viktoria.

The interior of the house is well-preserved, and the gardens are well-known. However, the best thing about this place was the view to the lake Siljan from the top of a hill where the minor was – and that view was simply magnificent.

Many modern art objects were exhibited here and there. Love nest on the photo below?

Old buildings, flowers, cute trees:

After Hildasholm, we drove to Leksand, and had a stroll in the town. There wasn’t anything special, besides a couple of upscale shops, enormous amount of flowers on the streets, and some cute sculptures:

One more on the central square:

For dinner, we attempted to get something good at a restaurant by the river, but all the nice dishes mentioned on the menu couldn’t be delivered. I didn’t want to eat burgers or pizza, and we left.

There wasn’t much to choose from, and we had to settle for a Chinese restaurant. They had an excellent curry! It was such a wonderful surprise; we really enjoyed their food.

Driving back, we diverted a bit, and visited Björken village. It was a very charming place, with beautifully maintained original old houses:

We drove there around its narrow streets, and stopped to take pictures of the most unusual houses:

A nice detail on a roof:

Solid old-days craftsmanship:

Back to Siljansnäs airfield – a welcoming board with an aircraft on top:

We drove around the airpark – and saw some lovely aeroplanes:

The landmark of Siljansnäs, exhibited in front of the (closed) hotel:

Our day trip wasn’t long, but rich in pleasant experiences:

We were tired after the day out, but needed to prepare for the very long flight next day, and it took a couple of hours.

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