Lund
We had decided to have a day in Lund. There was no mad rush to get out early and we ambled to the station after breakfast to get the train. And were pleasantly surprised, both by the cheap tickets and by the ticket machine telling us where and when the next train was once it delivered the ticket.
The journey is only fifteen minutes and once there we come out into a large square. In which there is a big stand with maps and guides to Lund. The square is also the terminus from the tram lines, and the lines head out up the hill towards the large church we can see, which we do get around to visiting later in the day, and like most churches in Sweden it is Lutheran, and lovely inside (and unlike a lot in England, open to visitors).
There is a trail to follow on the free maps and we take it under advisement and start meandering around the town / city (I’m still not sure which it is), but it is famous for its Cathedral, with its astronomical clock, and its university, both of which are the second oldest of each in Sweden.
I think the university allows the town to thrive. I did read that the student population more than doubles the population of the town as a whole during term time. And doubtless draws in tourists like us to view the array of wonderful grand buildings.
But we are headed away from all of that at first. Meandering along lovely old street with pretty cottages.
There are more signs I can be childish about.
And modern buildings mixed in. before we come to the centre of the town with its shops, cafes, and restaurants, we get to one of the marked places on the map, the ruins of a church. The map is somewhat Christopher Robin style and there is no sign of it. Only for us to find it is beneath our feet and the entrances to it are in a restaurant and an office building.
The Swedes had their own version of the dissolution of the monasteries, and the church was demolished and robbed for building materials in the sixteenth century and forgotten about. Only for the foundations to be found four hundred years later.
It must have been massive. And it is interesting to see how much street level has risen since the twelfth century when the church was built. There are markers to show where street level used to be (about mid shin height on me down in that basement), and where it was when they found the remains (above my head). It always intrigues me how ground level manages to rise like that anywhere, as there are many cities where you find this.
Whilst we have been underground, we have avoided the rain shower and can continue ambling around the town visiting the market halls and more lovely (and quiet) streets before stopping for a coffee before going into the cathedral.
We have timed the visit so that we are there at 3pm for the second of the two daily performances which the astronomical clock does. Which draws quite a crowd.
The rest of the cathedral isn’t bad either.
Past the cathedral on our wander is the central part of the old town. The grand main university building is on one side of a garden / square.
On the other sides are a royal palace,
The history museum,
And more old university buildings.
Behind this square in three directions are a series of older timber framed buildings in a variety of colours. We wander through these and up to the church we had seen when first arriving.
From there we passed a lot of student accommodation, and ended up in another open space.
To one side is a more modern building which holds an art museum. In the grounds in front of it there are a number of interesting art works such as the ones below.
And on another side is the quiet, understated university library building.
It is time for another quick coffee, and we stop off at the café of the living history museum (which has a gift shop for all my tat needs).
It tries to rain again, and we can see big drops hitting the parasols and furniture all around dis, but despite not being undercover none of the rain seems to fall on us.
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With it being Friday it means we are looking for somewhere to go and get pizza. The market halls we visited earlier is full of food stalls and cafes. They are doing pizza by the slice, but as it looks like it might have been there since lunch time we wind through more lovely streets and find an Italian restaurant in a little hidden square and have lovely pizzas, which are more manageable sizes than the ones the previous week in Stockholm.
After food it is an amble back to the train station and the train back to Malmo.
We had found all the places on the little map, more by luck than judgement with a couple of them, and it seems there may well have been more to see. But it was definitely worth a visit.
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After years of prevaricating, I have finally gotten around to self-publishing some books. I now have three books available. The first is the novel “Where The Lights Shine Brightest”, this is available on Amazon at
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Finally, there is an autobiographical work, released under my alter ego of Kevin Rodriguez-Sanchez, which covers a two year period in the early noughties when I lived in Manchester — “Five Go Mad In Manchester”. Again, this is available on Amazon at
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