Stockholm, Sweden

Another holiday postcard here, this time from the lovely Ana. She has been to so many awesome places! I think I've only been to Stockholm once, I would really love to go there again some time!

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and the most populous urban area in the Nordic countries; 965,232 people live in the municipality, approximately 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropolitan area. The city stretches across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea. Outside the city to the east, and along the coast, is the island chain of the Stockholm archipelago. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252 by Swedish statesman Birger Jarl. It is also the county seat of Stockholm County.

Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the country's GDP, and is among the top 10 regions in Europe by GDP per capita. It is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europe's top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). It hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the city's most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited non-art museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is well known for the decor of its stations; it has been called the longest art gallery in the world. Sweden's national football arena is located north of the city centre, in Solna. Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

 Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Minister's residence is adjacent at Sager House. Stockholm Palace is the official residence and principal workplace of the Swedish monarch, while Drottningholm Palace, a World Heritage Site on the outskirts of Stockholm, serves as the Royal Family's private residence.

Engelsberg Ironworks, Sweden

Not moving very far with this card... This is from a swap with Doris in Sweden earlier this month.

Ecomuseum Bergslagen (Swedish: Ekomuseum Bergslagen) is an open-air museum in the western part of the former mining and smelting region of Bergslagen in central Sweden. The museum opened in 1986 and is today the world's largest ecomuseum. The museum is a joint project of the municipalities Ludvika, Smedjebacken, Fagersta, Norberg, Skinnskatteberg, Surahammar and Hallstahammar. Two provincial museums in Dalarna and Västmanland County participate in the project. Ecomuseum Bergslagen is a 750 square kilometre area reaching from Lake Mälaren in the south to Forest Finns forests in the north. It takes about three hours by car to travel from north to south and the visitors travel on their own through the landscape. About 60 sites describe how human beings have used the region's natural resources to survive over time. The history of production of iron is the theme of the museum. Bergslagen was once the most important iron area in Sweden.

You can follow the history of mining for more than 2000 years – from 400 BC until today. Ekomuseum Bergslagen shows mythical pre-historic ironwork sites with historical blast furnacees and smithy, rolling mills, and modern steel businesses along the vital transportation route, the Strömsholms Canal. But also castles, such as Strömsholm Palace, workers' homes in Ludvika and Grängesberg and Forest Finns simple settlements and cottages near Grangärde. The museum includes several mining areas, local museums, electric power stations, historical railways (Engelsberg-Norberg Railway), and a historical railway museum (Railway museum Grängesberg). One of the attractions is Lapphyttan in Norberg Municipality, may be regarded as the type site for the Medieval Blast Furnace. Its date is probably between 1150 and 1350. It produced cast iron, which was then fined to make ferritic wrought iron cake or bun-like blooms. Another attraction is Engelsberg Ironworks (Swedish: Engelsbergs bruk), an ironworks in Ängelsberg. It was built in 1681 and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site since 1993.

Nordkalotten, Lapland

It has cooled down SO much since I last wrote here.. The heatwave is definitely over, it's not fairly chilly and raining and I've actually had to turn our little heater on because I was so cold. I'm still glad it's not so ridiculously hot anymore as the heat was making me ill... Not that I've been feeling too well recently but that's another story.. :P

Anyway... I've been meaning to post about this card for a while, I received it last year from 'Tua' in Finland. She was one of my 'summer postcard pals' last summer and I really enjoyed receiving cards from her, they were something different as she lives quite far north in the Finnish Lapland. You can't tell it from here but this card is HUGE so you can actually read the place names and see the little pictures. :)

The Cap of the North (Nordkalotten in Norwegian and Swedish, or Pohjoiskalotti in Finnish) consists of the counties Finnmark, Nordland and Troms in Norway, Norrbotten County in Sweden, Lapland/Lappi Region in Finland and Murmansk Oblast in Russia.

This area is roughly equal to the parts of Fennoscandia (including the Kola Peninsula in Russia) lying north of the Arctic Circle. The region has a subarctic climate and is home to the majority of the Sámi people.

Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden

A slightly different postcard from Sweden... I must admit, I hadn't realised you could find something like this in Sweden!

HSB Turning Torso is the tallest skyscraper in Sweden and the Nordic countries, situated in Malmö, Sweden on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait.

The project was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres with 54 stories - 147 apartments, relax/lounge/spa/gym, wine cellar followed by around-the-clock concierge service 365 days a year.

Malmö is the capital and most populous city in Skåne County, and the third largest city in Sweden. Together with Copenhagen, it constitutes the transnational Øresund Region, the most densely populated area in Scandinavia. Malmö is classified as a global city, placed in the gamma- category by the GaWC, ranked 5th in Scandinavia by the Global Cities Index in 2012. It is ranked the fourth-most inventive city in the world based on the number of patent applications per 10,000 residents and the 7th-most bicycle friendly city in the world, according to the Copenhagenize Index in 2013.

Malmö was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia, but it struggled with the adaptation to post-industrialism. Since the construction of the Øresund Bridge, Malmö has undergone a major transformation with architectural developments, and it has attracted new biotech and IT companies, and particularly students through Malmö University, founded in 1998. The city contains many historic buildings and parks, and is also a commercial centre for the western part of Scania. Malmö was ranked #4 in Grist Magazine's "15 Green Cities" list in 2007.

The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which, as of 31 March 2013, has 309,105 inhabitants in eight different localities. Malmö is also a bimunicipal locality, as part of it is formally situated in Burlöv Municipality. The total population of the urban area was 280,415 in December 2010.

Greater Malmö is one of Sweden's three officially recognized Metropolitan areas (storstadsområden) and since 2005 is defined as the municipality of Malmö and 11 other municipalities in the southwestern corner of Scania. On 31 March 2012, its population was recorded to be 664,428. The region covers an area of 2,522 square kilometres. The municipalities included, apart from Malmö, are Burlöv, Eslöv, Höör, Kävlinge, Lomma, Lund, Skurup, Staffanstorp, Svedala, Trelleborg and Vellinge. Together with Lund, Malmö is the region's economic and education hub.

Unesco sites of Sweden

This card shows ALL the Unesco sites in Sweden (in 2012)! I'm still looking for separate postcards of most of these sites, though, as the images here are so tiny. This was sent from Finland as well, but I don't really mind.

I *think* this list is still up to date? These are the Unesco sites in Sweden:

Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Birka and Hovgården
Engelsberg Ironworks
 Rock Carvings in Tanum
Skogskyrkogården
 Hanseatic Town of Visby
Church Town of Gammelstad, Luleå
Laponian Area
Naval Port of Karlskrona
Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland
High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago
Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun
Grimeton Radio Station, Varberg
Struve Geodetic Arc
Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland

Greetings from Sweden

Today's 'Greetings from' postcard comes from Sweden. Thank you ever so much for the swap, Genek!

Mmmmm, cinnamon buns. I'm not 100 % sure if the Swedish ones are slightly different to the ones I make and am used to, though. I do like them and occasionally bake them as everyone here seems to love them! :D

I also like the fact that Astrid Lindgren is mentioned on this postcard, her books are lovely and I love a lot of the TV/film adaptations as well, they always take me back to my childhood.

I can't work out whether there's a very, very faint cancellation on this stamp or whether it's one of those security features they've started using on stamps here in the UK as well. Hmmm...??

Högbonden, Sweden

This is still one of my only Unesco postcards from Sweden. ...and it's got a lighthouse on it as well! :)

Högbonden is a Swedish island and lighthouse located in the World Heritage Site Höga kusten. From springtime in May through October a hostel is open to visitors in the old lightkeeper's house. In the summer season there is regular daily boat service from Bönhamn to Högbonden. The whole island is a nature reserve.

The lighthouse was built after complaints that there were no lighthouses between Lungö and Skagsudde. It is the second-highest placed lighthouse in Sweden (after Kullen Lighthouse), and it was also one of the most powerful. In November 2010 the old lens was finally retired and the power source changed to solar cell-power. The light now consists of a small white light on the balcony's railing and the red an green sectors was removed. As of 2012 the tower is in bad condition and in need of repairs. It is owned by the Swedish Maritime Administration.

Sweden

Uh-oh.. I think this might be the longest break I've had from this blog - almost eight months! It certainly wasn't intentional but somehow just happened. I don't even have any dramatic reasons for my silence and I won't go into details on what's happened since. I might have to re-think this blog, though, as it isn't really working at the moment. Maybe writing less about the postcards? It feels a bit silly because mostly I just copy and paste from Wikipedia. I just didn't want to have a postcard blog where I only post pictures of the postcards and stamps, that seemed a bit boring. We'll see... Anyway, this card arrived back in January. A lovely, HUGE mapcard that had been in my favourites for a while.

I don't know when this postcard was printed but somehow it seems a little old, which just adds to the charm. I kind of wish the actual map part of this card was bigger so that it would be easier to see all the details!

Naval Port of Karlskrona, Sweden

This is one of my only Unesco cards from Sweden so far. ...not that I have too many postcards from Sweden anyway, for some reason Postcrossing doesn't seem to be too popular over there.



Karlskrona is an outstanding example of a late-17th-century European planned naval city. The original plan and many of the buildings have survived intact, along with installations that illustrate its subsequent development up to the present day.

Stockholm, Sweden

I've lived most of my life next to Sweden but only ever visited the country once (?), very briefly. I'm a little jealous of my family who went there twice this June, first for a day when dad ran a marathon there, and then for a few days a couple of weeks later. I want to go, too! Well, at least they sent me a postcard. ;)



Here's a slightly different view of Gamla Stan (the old town)... Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. The surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg are officially part of, but not colloquially included in, Gamla stan. The word "stan" is simply a contraction of the word "staden" ("sta'n"), meaning "the town."

The town dates back to the 13th century, and consists of medieval alleyways, cobbled streets, and archaic architecture. North German architecture has had a strong influence in the Old Town's construction.



Such cool stamps! And so old, too, I'm surprised they still sell stamps this old. My absolute favourite here is the squirrel stamp in the middle. Squirrels are some of my favourite animals and I have quite a collection of squirrel postcards, but it's also nice to see these cute little animals on stamps. The one here is from a set of 5 animal stamps issued in 1992. The stamp on the left is from a set of 3 definitives issued in 1989 with the theme Royalty, the one here showing Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden. The boat stamp I'm not sure of as I couldn't find any info on it. Swedish stamps really confuse me, too, because even if they look old they might still be brand new!

Sweden

I might have lived most of my life next to Sweden but I've only ever been there once and my family doesn't have any relatives there, so my contact with the country has always been pretty limited. That, and I always lived in eastern Finland, where it is more common to hear Russian than Swedish. So yeah, my collection of postcards from Sweden is tiny to say the least. That's why I was so excited a while ago when a nice postcrosser from Sweden offered to swap with me.



I have no idea of the exact location of the place on this card, but it reminds me a lot of Astrid Lindgren's Barnen i Bullerbyn, particularly the 1986 movie "Alla vi barn i Bullerbyn" ('The Children of Noisy Village') which I loved when I was a kid, and I still really like it. They seem to live such an innocent, carefree life in that film, it's rather adorable.





The stamps are from a set of 5 stamps issued in 2010, depicting flowers (Pansies).

Baltic Sea

A slightly different map card I received in a swap from Finland...



The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. The Kattegat continues through Skagerrak into the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Baltic Sea is connected by man-made waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal, and to the North Sea via the Kiel Canal. The Baltic Sea might be considered to be bordered on its northern edge by the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, and on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga. However, these various gulfs can be considered to be simply offshoots of the Baltic Sea, and therefore parts of it.



The small stamps are from a set of 6 definitives issued in 2008, with the theme 'water & landscape views'. The bigger stamp is from 2008 as well and shows a snowflake. The stamp is actually transparent, although you can't really see that here.

Landsort, Sweden

I've been pretty lucky recently - I've participated in lotteries on the postcrossing forum and I've actually won three in a relatively short space of time! I think I should host my own lottery some time soon.. Last time I did it was so much fun! Anyway, this is one of the cards I've won.



Landsort is a Swedish village and a lighthouse on the island of Öja. The tower was built in 1689, with an upper conical iron section added in 1870. Open fires have been lit here since a long time ago.

The first "real" lighthouse was lit in 1651, and until the now standing tower was built a couple of different buildings was used as a lighthouse. The 1689 tower was constructed to carry an open fire which ran on coal. In 1840, a colza oil lamp was installed. The flame ran on paraffin from 1887, and in 1938 it was electrified. Today the Swedish Maritime Administration owns and runs the lighthouse.

I've lived next to Sweden most of my life and yet I only have a few postcards from Sweden. A bit strange... I have a couple from my parents when they've visited Stockholm, but that's about it. It's strange how Postcrossing has never picked up in Sweden. Maybe it's the expensive stamp prices? Surely it can't be a lack of postcards or anything like that - a Finnish postcrosser told me that postcards are actually cheaper in Sweden than in Finland. It would be nice to see more postcards from Sweden!



This card was mailed from Norway (and had a cute little Norwegian flag sticker on the back of the card :)). The stamp is from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2008, depicting Wildlife in Norway. This one here is the Elk.