We visited this castle on our first full day in Sweden. It was very windy, which kind of added to…read morethe dramatic atmosphere. It is a spacious and interesting castle to explore.

This was my absolute favorite castle of the trip. Forget the more modern castles like the royal…read moreSwedish Castle in Stockholm or Christiansborg in Copenhagen, give me a really old, oozing in preserved originality, complete with moat and a turkey haunch castle and I'm sold. On our visit here, the husband and I were so smitten we decided it would do quite nicely as a meager residence and started picking out rooms for our cats. Kalmar Castle is the best preserved oldest Nordic Renaissance Castle. The first castle tower was constructed in 1180 but was mostly a fort until the 16th century when it was turned into a summer palace by Johan III. Kalmar Castle has been the site of many important historical events including the location where the Kalmar Union was signed in 1397, was constantly fought over as a key defensive point for Sweden, and was a sanctuary for the Swedish royal family (Johan III) during the plague. This history makes Kalmar truly unique. It is a strategic defensive fortress poised over the harbor complete with a moat, canon towers, multiple layers of formidable walls and bottleneck passageways to withstand a siege, and even a female prison and male dungeon chamber. Yet when it became the ideal location to hide away from the invisible invader of the bubonic plague, it took on a new face of royal apartments, gardens and pavilions, and complete with a royal chapel. The unique qualities of this castle combined with the strength of a war fortress made our visit so worthwhile. I loved learning about the secret passageways around the castle to assist in getting royalty evacuated if the need arose. The view from the entertainment room with the large windows facing the harbor was incredible. We also loved the interactive historical videos and displays that relayed information easily without the need for a guide. After we had fully explored the castle, we also took a quick walk down to the nearby cemetery to see the old gravestones and their dates which was really incredible. If you're driving through Kalmar I wouldn't miss this incredible experience.

Gayle and I first signed up for our Viking Baltic Cruise. Two years of COVID and another of Putin…read moretook Helsinki (Finland), Tallin (Estonia), and St. Petersburg off the Itinerary. We decided to go on our 2022 Cruise anyway, with a couple of low-ball financial incentives. As a result, 3 stops were substituted of which Karlskrona (Sweden) was the first on the schedule. Gayle and I decided to come on shore (via tender) early and walk around. Although none of the Viking tours included the Marine Museum, we walked right (instead of left) and ended up at this very impressive first class facility. The Museum is on the grounds of a former Swedish Naval base and the curators here did a great job honoring that heritage, including restored ships, smart and informative equipment displays, interactive exercises (e.g. submarine crawling) and even a little WW2 history with neutral Sweden hosting Jews and others escaping from the Nazi's. The Museum also features a nice gift shop and a Cafe. One bonus was as we were leaving, a Navy band (in commemoration of some military date) was playing "Dancing Queen" by Abba. That was a lot of fun and overall the highlight of our day. Our walk around tour of the City was enjoyable as well, but if you're in Karlskrona, you really need to stop here first or on your way out.

My original thought was to visit the Marinmuseum (marine museum) on Sunday, the same day that I was…read morearriving in Karlskrona. This museum closes at 5 pm on Sunday. My train was to arrive at 3 pm. There was no way that I could visit after work, as it closes early. Well, my plan fell apart. I got to my hotel at 5 pm. The good news was that a colleague who has been working at this museum for fifteen years offered to give us a tour. Cool! After work on Tuesday, we walked over to the museum. It was our second time visiting that day. The first time, we hit the wonderful buffet for lunch, which featured Swedish fare. The tour was amazing. My colleague shared so many cool historical details about this naval base and museum. We got to see torpedoes, model ships made of wood that have been preserved for hundreds of years, impressive ship figureheads, submarines, and more. At one point, we entered one of the submarines. It consisted of crawling through two circular holes. I thought that I was going to die. My colleague, who is roughly two inches taller than I was, gave me enough encouragement to get through them. Yes, it was a first for me to say that I was going to die in a museum. I love a good museum. I tend to hit one when I visit a new city. This one did not disappointment. It was fascinating, enjoyable, fun, educational, and gorgeous. I thanked my colleague the following day by giving him a bottle of Canadian maple syrup. He was thrilled. It's the least that I could do. If you are ever in Karlskrona, go visit this museum. It's for everyone and you'll have a great time. (325)

The Marinmuseum (marine museum) has an eatery. Although my group of colleagues were scheduled to…read morevisit the museum after work on Tuesday, we ended up walking over there for lunch. I visited the place twice within four hours! It was a good choice for us to go for lunch. It is fairly typical to visit a buffet-style eatery, which this one was. The idea is that you line up, grab a tray, pay, and then hit the buffet. The gentleman at the register spoke English. I wanted a bottled water. He asked me whether I wanted bubbles (carbonated) or not. I went with the latter. The buffet isn't huge, but it does have enough variety for me. It has a number of local Swedish fare, such as fried dumplings with meat inside (the outside is made of potatoes, which is a staple in Sweden), a nice, crisp potato pancake, grilled fish, and more. We sat outside, as we came at around 12:30 pm and it was pretty busy inside. When you do sit outside, watch out for wasps. We had a couple that wanted to join us for lunch and perhaps eat us. You get a beautiful view of the waterway and ship as you sit there, chat, and eat. It was a gorgeous, sunny day with good company. The walk felt long to and from work. However, it was more like ten minutes because I was being a tourist and taking photos. (299)