Today we decided to take a road trip. It was a perfect day for sightseeing... Well perfect if the sight you want to see is less than 10 feet away:
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| It was foggy |
The photo doesn't look as bad as it really was. We actually had a time where the GPS said there was a turn 20m ahead and we still couldn't see it on a flat road. But on a lighter side, the temperature had risen to a balmy 2 degrees.
We decided to set out for Landskrona as it was only a short drive away (about 40min). The guys at work had already told me there was pretty much nothing there, but we did note that they had a castle so that was worth the trip.
When we arrived (and after Kris had almost driven us down a bike trail) we parked by the harbour. It was a bit cold:
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| The Harbour at Lands Krona - Frozen over |
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| I don't think he'll be going anywhere in a hurry |
The Landskrona Citadel (Landskrona Slott or Citadellet) is a standard Star Shaped fortress, with a moat and a star-shaped landworks and a keep inside a second moat:
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| Map of the Citadel - note the two moats and the star shaped island. |
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| What the castle looked like in the 1900s |
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History information:
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Landkrona citadel is a Danish Citadel, built in 1549-1559 for defense against the Swedes. The star shaped design allowed for the towers to cover each other and created cross-fire killing zones against the walls where archers or cannon could be fired. Both the inner and outer moats are 70m wide.
It was captured in 1644 by Gustav Horn from Sweden but returned to the Danes in 1645. After the Roskilde Treaty was signed in 1658 it become part of Sweden.
When the Swedes and Dane went back to war in 1676, the commandant of the citadel, Hieronymus Lindeberg, surrendered to the Danish without a fight. The castle was then used as a command centre for the Scandinavian Volunteer Troops. Lindeberg survived the war but was executed by the Swedes after it was over.
In the late 19th century the citadel was used as a women's prison. It now runs as a museum and hall for hire.
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| Info outside the castle - unfortunately the sign was quite hard to read |
"Lanskrona Citadel is one of the best preserved earthwork fortresses in Northern Europe. It consists of the following parts: The castle along with its inner mat, built in 1549 by the Danish King Christian III, consisting of the main building, corner towers, barricades and the buildings in the castle courtyard. Encircling bastions from the 17th century with an additional moat. Outer defensive works from the 18th century with ramparts and moats. "Gråen", a defensive system of embankments built during the 18th century in the shallow waters outside the deep-water harbour in Landskrona.
The Citadel continued to be an important border fortress until the end of the 18th century. After that, the buildings were used to incarcerate prisoners of war, convicts sentenced for life and female prisoners. Currently the area holds private housing units and accommodations for handicrafts, domestic arts and crafts, cafe and exhibitions. North and east of the bastions, an allotment garden was laid out at the beginning of the 20th century. It is beautifully situated on the steep, narrow embankments between the moats. "Gråen" was originally intended to be a 6-pointed citadel but was reduced to a 5-pointed earthen work fortress. It was left uncompleted when the project ended in 1788.
The entire fortress is a National History Site and may not be altered. The citadel is open to visitors. Information about guided tours and other events is available at the bridge crossing the inner moat and at the Tourist Bureau. The main building contains several floors replete with old cannon emplacements, a shooting gallery on the coping of the wall, and a dungeon in western tower. The eastern tower contains a prison interior preserved from the 19th century, and in one of the buildings in the courtyard there is an exhibition on the history of the Citadel and of the prison. In the allotment garden area we find the Rothoff garden, maintained by the Landskrona Museum. Welcome!"
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| More details from inside the castle |
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We headed around the outer moat towards the bridge
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| Out first view of the Citadel from across the first moat |
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| Panoramic shot of the corner of the outer moat |
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The moat was completely frozen over and Kris went to check for sure:
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| Yep, that's frozen |
Crossing over the outer moat, we came to the inner moat and saw the inner landworks and the towers. There were also a few guys ice-fishing in the frozen moat:
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| The Tower and the ice-fishermen |
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| Some of the fish |
The picture above shows Kristine and Tomas looking at the fish that had been caught. The conversation went something like this:
Tomas: Why do those fish have cuts in their heads?
Kris: That's their gills, its how fish breathe.
Tom: So water comes out of them.
Kris: Yes.
Tom: Why is that ones, gills sticking out? *points to the top fish*
Kris: Must have been that way when it died.
Tom: Why?
Kris: Well sometimes people carry them by the gills.
Tom: But that's not very nice. I'd carry it by its body or tail.
Kris: You can use the tail as well.
Tom: But why not the body?
Kris: Because they wiggle too much and are slimy.
Tom: I don't want to kill fish because killing fish is killing nature. So I don't want anyone to kill fish anymore.
Kris: *cast a panicked eye at the fishermen, expecting Tomas to launch an attack.*
Tomas: Ohh ice. I want to go stand on the ice.
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| So we walked on the ice and the fishermen got to live another day |
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| One of the holes drilled for fishing - you can see the ice is about 10cm thick. |
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| The fishermen drilling holes through the ice |
With that crisis averted we headed on to the bridge over the main moat.
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| The bridge over the inner moat |
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| Another tower |
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| The main gates - note the outer hinges, inner gates and then long tunnel to the exit. |
Since it was winter and nothing is really open, the courtyard was a bit sparse:
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| The courtyard |
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| Map of the inner keep |
The well was fenced off and we asked the kids what they thought the big hole was. I had to question what they had been watching when all three shouted "For throwing bad people down!" I tried to explain that if baddies surrounded the fort and cut them off from their water supply they could get water from here. Tomas said "But the whole moat is water," and Alana said "They could just catch all the bad guys then throw them down here".... Oh dear.
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| The well/torture pit |
After exploring the Citadel we went for a walk through the surrounding gardens and found some cool sculptures:
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| Hon och Han (Her and Him), By Jon Janczak, 2001 |
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| Venus, by Lena Lervik, 1996. The kids said she looked like a big poo, or that she was doing one (but why they poo lying down I never asked...) |
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| Den Södra Porten (the South Gateway), Claes Hake |
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| Byggnation (Construction), by Marja Silkström, 1998 |
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| Kropp och havsnäcka (Body and Sea-Shell), by Staffan Nihien, 1998 |
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| Primative Shoes, By Kaj Engström, 1998 (nearly as big as Kris's feet...) |
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| Tankens Kraft (The power of thought), by Bie Norling, 1998 |
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| Sektorns Mekanik (Mechanical Sections), by Bengt Harlow-Svensson, 1998 |
After this we decided to go for a trip to a nearby castle that looked pretty exciting, Trolleholm. The drive got exciting as the weather got worse:
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| More fog |
and then the roads got worse:
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| Foggy and snowy road |
and then we got lost:
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| Another foggy and snowy road, very similar to the one above. |
According to GPS, Trolleholm Castle - A huge castle was directly next to us in the photo above. Ok yes it was very foggy but there was no way we were missing a giant castle. Instead all we had were snowy fields. I ended up using my phone GPS to find out that we were 15min away from the castle in the complete wrong direction.
Eventually we got to Trolleholm and it turns out I'd forgotten to do my research. It was a private castle that wasn't open to the public - Great to find after a 45min drive (well 1.5hr drive after we got lost).
Still we managed to snap a few photos through the fog:
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| Trolleholm Castle |
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| Tower of Trollholme Castle |
Our last stop of the day was Vikingatider (Viking Times) a viking themed town just outside of Hög (pronounced h-oog). As with the rest of the days planning, Vikingatider was closed for winter, but we did get a few photos:
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| Restored Thatched roof house |
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| Runic Stone - Replica of an ancient stone |
The text on the stone above reads:
Åsa raised this stone after Toke, her husband. He built a church and was an excellent warrior. May God help his soul."
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| Another stone |
This one reads:
Orm and Ylva raised this stone after their father Gunnar and his friend Sigmund. They died in England."
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| Exploring Vikingatider - Kris with her attractive head-wrap |
We didnt want to go too far into the area as it was closed off and because the kids were cold and stayed in the car.
After that we headed home.
