Pupletts in Sweden: Simrishamn and Kivik (9-April)

Today we had a slow start and then headed off to the east coast- an area that we hadnt been to before. It took an hour and a half to cross the southern part of Sweden and we passed Ystad on the way.

Our first stop was Simrishamn. The town was first mentioned (as Symbrishafn) in 1161 and became a town in 1361. Simris translates to "mouth of a slow flowing river" and hamn is a harbour.

We only saw a small part of Simrishamn but the harbour was pretty cool

Heading through Simrishamn

The harbour

Looking out over the harbour

The harbour

The kids spent a while trying to skim stones and being a bit worried by a goose that watched on ominously.

Skimming stones

Cam and the goose

Tom and I

What you looking at?

Cannons at the harbour

Metalwork at the harbour

Once we finished up at Simrishamn we moved on to Kivik, which was about 20min north

Our first target at Kivik was the Kiviksgraven. We parked nearby and walked through "A jungle path according to the kids to loop around the road and get to the grave.

Jungle path

Kiviksgraven

The grave is dated from the Bronze Age, a cairn 75m across. It didnt look like much from the outside but it was amazing to think of the history of the place -

Wide shot of the cairn

The area had been settled for almost 6000 years. The cairn was built 3500 years ago and discovered in 1748 when men looking for stone fell down into the cairn.

Information

Pathway to the entrance

Entrance to the grave. Cam knocked and Tomas told him to stop before he woke the dead

The grave is open during summer, so unfortunately we couldn't get in, but it was really interesting to see.

The creek running through the area

There was a pile of gravel in the carpark and I told the kids it was the children's version of Kiviksgraven - sadly they believed me, but it was revenge for Tom asking "Dad, we dont have to have a history lesson here again do we?"

Kids version of Kiviksgraven

After Kiviksgraven we headed up to Stenhuvuds Nationalpark (Sten's head). It is a national park with several walking trails, a beach and a tall cliff with some great views. We took a hike through the park on one of the shorter trails as it was already getting late.