I was lucky enough to visit a friend in Sweden, during the fall of 2014. It's extremely beautiful country, with great people. Check my trip out on my guide to Sweden, Sauce's Super Svenska Guide to Sweden - Skol! Next week to I'll post my photos from Stockholm's old city, the Gamla Stan!
Gamla Uppsala is the location of what is believed to have been the most holy temple of Scandinavian paganism, before Christianity ruined the country. Here a large hall was supposed to have stood with shrines to Odin, Thor, Freyr and his sister Freyja. There was also ceremonial holy tree grove, where the ancient Scandinavians were said to sacrifice nine of each animal (including humans) every nine years, in a special kind of blot, a Germanic Pagan sacrificial ritual. It was also the location of the Swedish Things, a sort of democracy practiced by ancient Scandinavians (e.g. Althing in Iceland). Nowadays, it's a peaceful suburban park.
There are large barrows, known as the Royal Mounds, where the ashes of legendary Scandinavian Kings were supposedly buried:
It's quite beautiful:
A popular place for local joggers:
It's free to enter as well:
You can stop for some Lingonberry pancakes and bacon at the Odinsburg restaurant:
And large potatoes:
Some small beer, which isn't taxed to the extreme as stronger beer:
I scared my wife by saying... go look through that door, to the right:
86 % of all Swedes are named Eriksson (A modern spelling of the proper Ariqson):
The inside of the Church:
Christian stuff:
The organ is asleep:
The church was built during the 11th -12th centuries:
It's free to enter:
They also have an old Stavkirke, similar to ones found in other Scandinavian regions, like North Dakota:
They also have some Runestones:
This inscription reads, "Swisgar made [sic] with Hjolgars sister."
The graveyard:
It's quite a beautiful place:Now, always reverent to their honored past, Swedes like to run up and down the burial mounds:
It's a fairly large park, and takes ~ 3 hrs to see everything
You can spend more time in other parks that are nearby.Sometimes you see stones around, but I couldn't find any more about Hjolgar's sister unfortunately.
Here is an ancient Swedish bench, assembled from a flat-pack:
It's a great place for a jog:
You can tell why people thought the place was holy:
Here's a map; it's a fairly large site:
In the summer they also have an open air museum with people dressed in costumes:
But alas, it was closed.
Still a pretty red!
Well I hope you enjoyed! Follow me on Facebook as I post more beautiful places to visit! Next week it's to Stockholm's old city, the Gamla Stan!
Sauce
Post by Sauce Magnusson.
I liked the photos you clicked and the way you explained all the things. I have applied for a visa of Sweden and thanks a lot to Sweden visa team.
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