It rained all day yesterday as we drove to Uppsala, so we didn’t bother doing much in the afternoon, but what a difference a day makes. The sun was shining when we woke up today!
After a lie in and leisurely breakfast we walked into the centre of Uppsala, which is a university town and known as ‘The Cambridge of Sweden’. The walk was mostly along the River Fyris and was very pleasant.
First of all, we visited the huge cathedral, which is the largest and tallest in all of Scandinavia with its impressive twin towers. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to go up them, so we made do with a wander around the beautiful interior.
Next, we walked to the castle on top of the ridge in the middle of the city. It’s a solid pink building with a couple of towers and, like the cathedral, it can be seen from all round the town. We weren’t able to explore inside of the castle, but we did visit the museum that explained the history of the castle, which was interesting.
The castle was never used in war despite being designed with fortifications. However, it has seen plots, conspiracies, murders and an abdication. It became more of a palace and administrative building than a castle, and is used as a civic space now. We then walked down the hill and into the botanical gardens stopping at a busy cafe where we had coffee and cake.
Afterwards, we explored the lovely gardens, which showcased plants, shrubs and trees from around the world. We paid to go into the tropical greenhouse but everything else was free, including the 200 year old orangery.
The scale of the gardens and variety of plants was amazing. There was even a sculpture trail that we enjoyed following.
Once we’d seen all of the sculptures, we left the gardens and followed more paths around the castle down to the river and another park, known as the City Garden.
After a quick wander, we found the microbrewery and gastropub where I’d booked a table to eat. It was lovely sitting in the sun watching the world go by with our beers and meal.
We then headed to another beer pub for John to try different beers (I can only fit so much beer in and switched to wine!), and after that we found another place to sit in the sun and try some more. We hadn’t planned a pub crawl!
The walk home to Molly Moho was very pleasant in the sunshine. When we got back to the campsite it was lovely to see everyone outside enjoying the fine weather.
Now we’re on our way south again, to Söderköping on the Göta Canal, where I’m looking forward to a visiting an ice cream shop with over 60 flavours!
Ramblings 
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