Something foreign that the Daily Mail doesn't hate, Uppsala in Sweden

[Adar]

The tourism board in Uppsala have been marketing this as a major success and you can read the Daily Mail article here. I have actually been considering my "home blindness" a lot lately so it was kind of fun to see an article in the Daily Mail mentioning it.

I also know that at least one TWC member is going to visit the area soon (Jaketh mentioned it in his thread here).

Pictures from the article.




I'll also add my travel guide to the area (Gävle is 100 km north of Uppsala and the guide pretty much describes the area between Gävle and Uppsala) to make this thread a better resource.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The most notable thing about Gävle is that it is pretty much the only city that hasn't been conquered since Sweden became independent from Denmark in 1521. The archipelago protected us from the Russians, the Danes always focused on Stockholm and Norway wasn't a real nation so no one was able to get all the way up to Gävle.

The legal age for drinking in Sweden is 18 on pubs and 20 to buy alcohol at Systembolaget (the liqour monopoly) but most night clubs require you to be older in order to enter.

Things to see in Gävle

The railway museum, it is one of the best museums I've ever been to and I think that all information in the museum is translated to English (which is also true for most other museums in Sweden.


The prison museum
I have never been there but Nissedruva is a history nut so I guess we should trust him.

Vasaskolan, the number one senior high school in Gävle. Got a nice biology museum (not open during the summer).


Gävle got more sculptures per capita than any other Swedish city. Luckily it's funded by some kind of art foundation and not the city council.

The fifth element (30 000 €)


Valpen (30 000 € but the city council decided to sex up the rest of the roundabout at a cost of 100 000 €)


Gävle also got a nice archipelago and "Limöbåten" only costs 4€ to go with, I checked your profile and noticed that you like swimming so it might be a nice trip.


I think I have summed up pretty much all nice things about Gävle. I am born and raised in Gävle and it's not a terrible fun city to be in. Trains from Gävle to Uppsala and Stockholm cost roughly 14 € and take the same amount of time as going by car (or faster if going to central Stockholm). It might be worth visiting this site if you got an interest in non-military history and got a car. There are many things to see within an hour of driving from Gävle due to it's historical importance in mining and the steel industry.

Falu koppargruva used to be the biggest copper mine in Europe and provided much of the funds necessary for Swedens rise to a great power in the 17th century. It is now open for tourism and have had famous visitors such as Osama bin Laden. Falun is the easternmost city of Dalarna which is a very beautiful part of Sweden so it might be worth it to go further west or at least visit some of the places where Gustav Vasa was hiding prior to his rebellion against the Danish king who ruled Sweden.


Sala silvergruva was the other major mine in Sweden and produced silver. I think it is more specatuclar than Falun due to the fact that you go down by stairs instead of an elevator. The surrounding area is also very nice, you can watch some movies about the mine here.


Torsåker stollgång. It was far less important than Falu koppargruva and Sala silvergruva but it got some beautiful views due to the fact that it got several wide shafts leading down to mine that you can look up through.


Lövstabruk, one of the Vallonian steel mills established in the 17th century. Northern Uppland is a beautiful area and especially the mansions with surrounding steel mills from the 17th century are nice to visit.


Skokloster castle, it's abit far away from Gävle but an absolute must if you like military history due to it's nice collections. Also make sure that you visit the church, the interior is taken from the Polish monastery of Oliwa by Carl Gustaf Wrangel who built the castle and was one of king Gustav II Adolphus most important generals





There are of course also nice things to see/do in Uppsala (Swedens former capital) and Stockholm but they got webpages with collected information so I think it would be redundant for me to present them here. Uppsala tourism and Stockholm tourism. A common mistake is to underestimate the amount of interesting things to do in Uppsala and focus on Stockholm. In Uppsala you have the cathedral which got a very nice treasury, the university museum which is located in the oldest building of the oldest university of Scandinavia and old Uppsala with it's viking museum.

In Stockholm I think the army museum, livrustkammaren (below the castle) and the Vasa museum are the most important to visit if your mostly interested in history.

[dogukan]

It looks like I'll be in Sweden around mid-August as well, although I do not have high hopes regarding the tourism value of the country

[Copperknickers II]

Not sure advertising the fact the Daily Mail likes it is a good idea, since most of its readers are too xenophobic to risk going leaving British soil. Anyway the DM don't have anything against foreigners, just so long as they stay in their respective countries and wear their stereotypical traditional dress, so we can visit their pathetic little postcard towns and laugh about how worse of they are with their socialism and spicy food.

Seriously though it looks very nice, there's a big craze at the moment for visiting the second cities rather than major capitals of countries right now.

[Adar]

Seriously though it looks very nice, there's a big craze at the moment for visiting the second cities rather than major capitals of countries right now.

That trend actually looks quite sensible. Capital cities are major sites of internationalization and economical development.

So heading somewhere less internationalized is a sensible option if your into history. The same is definately also true in Poland (Krakow), Malta (Mdina), Belgium (Ghent) and Croatia (Split).

[Uber Patriot]

Looks really nice , I may be going to Scandinavia next Summer depending on whether my college is running a History trip to Russia (if not we'll be going there)
To be honest getting an article in the Daily Mail that isn't complaining about something or blaming someone is a great achievement that your city should be proud of

[Jaketh]

Gävle is actually the town i will be staying in next year (i was going this year but i was laid off my last job in the spring so that threw off my plans) The area looks very nice

[Logios]

I think I will visit Uppsala when they move that pile of bricks that ended on top of the temple of Frey.

[mp0295]

I want to do a semester abroad here, would be nice.