Visit to Ven

Island of Ven

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Copyright@L D Breitholtz. All rights reserved.

We have now been in Sweden nearly 4 weeks. The initial chores are done, i.e. strimming/cutting the grass, cleaning and treating all the decking, touch up paint work, repairing cellar door etc Time for relaxation. 

So it is a Monday 24 June and we are off to the Swedish island of Ven situated in the straits between Sweden and Denmark.. Apart from being a beautiful island (as we discovered) it is mainly known for the 2 observatories created in the between 1576 and 1596 by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. The island became Swedish 1658. It is approximately 6km long. Wikipedia says 371 people live there throughout the year.

The island of Ven from the ferry as we leave Landskrona harbour

Arriving at Backviken's harbour

We were going there with Anders R. In order to use only one car we agreed to meet at the car park close to the motorway at Mellbystrand. As there are two car park there we, of course,  chose a different one from Anders!  Thanks to the invention of mobile telephony we did meet eventually. The drive takes roughly one hour and we found a free car park 200m from the ferry terminal. The crossing takes 30min. Once you are on the island it is a question of how do you get about. Options are, rent a bicycle, take the bus, call for a taxi, rent a golf cart (only takes two adults and a small child max, so no good) or you can of course walk. Neither Fi nor Anders were keen on cycling so bus it was. As the bus service was not frequent we decided to catch the bus to the far end of the island and walk back visiting the sights on the way. It turned out that you can take the car across although it is not encouraged.

The bus timetable was timed to suit our ferry so 5 min after arrival we were on our way. The roads are not wide so the bus driver skilfully negotiated his way across the island, dropping off/collecting people on the way, avoiding tractors, cars, cyclists etc. Once you have negotiated the steep coastline the landscape is fairly flat with beautiful houses and gardens lining the road as we drove through a few villages. Our destination was Kyrkbacken, a small harbour in the northwest corner. Looking straight out from the harbour you see Denmark and it is not far across. In fact we saw a number of small leisure boats coming from Denmark , for lunch? 

View from our lunch table at Kyrkviken. The lighthose splitting the ship in half.

Denmark in the background.

St Ibb's church (built early 1200) overlooking the Kyrkviken harbour.

Mummy I can still see you!

That's better, now we can talk.

Now it was time for our lunch. Salmon/feta cheese burger with salad and bread plus a cold beer went down easily.  Sitting near the small lighthouse and looking south you could see the bridge between Malmo and Copenhagen (approx.. 25 miles away). Turning 180 degrees, i.e. looking north you could see the ferries going between Helsingborg and Helsingor (approx.. 10miles away).

The Malmo/Copenhagen bridge

Ferry going between Helsingborg and Helsingor 

 After enjoying an ice cream each we started our walk which of course gave us plenty of time to enjoy the island. The weather was very good, sunny and 24C. 30 min on and we reached one of the highlights of our trip namely The Spirit of When which is a whisky distillery! The bar has a massive display of whisky varieties. Anders was really looking forward to buying a bottle of whisky or two and probably a good Gin as well (also made there). But first we all had an ice cold coke each to cool us down after the walk, while Anders perused the selection.

Wild flower reserve on the lawn. The island used to have a major brickworks, hence a few brick buildings.

Well stocked bar

The shock came when he went up to select and order his purchases. They can't sell bottles, only drinks/tasters. We had forgotten that we were still in Sweden where liquor can only be sold via the Systembolaget! Maybe it had been better it the island had remained in Danish hands.

On top of that we also missed the distillery tour. So not a highlight of our trip. 

Lavender fields

House pet?

Back on the road so after another 30min before we reached Tycho Brake museum and observatory. Another let down. Normally they stay open till 5pm and we were there 3.15pm. However for no given reason they had decided to close early this particular day. There were other disappointed people there as well but that did not lessen our irritation.

Anders lecturing about the Tycho Brahe underground observatory

Strong colours in garden by the road

Entrance to a pottery

After a short rest we started our walk again. This time towards the ferry terminal. Once there we took in some refreshments. I could not help noticing that the food/drink prices were steep. Kind of blackmail or is that too strong a word? 

As we initially took the bus option we did not notice that just above the harbour is the rent-a-bike-business. They have an enormous amount of bikes and a great variety. An indication how busy the island is in the high season.

Where did I put my bike?

Comfortable child ride

Warning for the dog. Small but determined!

Swedish mainland behind the 5 Nordic flags

The return trip went smoothly and without problems. Although we did not manage to see all we had planned, we did, nevertheless, thoroughly enjoy the trip and might well visit again, this time maybe with  the car.