What You Should Know About Sweden

By Stanley Bloom

Very much of what this book contains you are not likely to find in any travel guide. Did you know, for instance, that Sweden held Olympic Games as early as 1834, sixty-two years before the first Olympics of the modern era? That peaceful Sweden has been a colonial power ruling over territories far from Europe? That the man who gave his name to the hundred-degree thermometer was a Swedish astronomer?

Do you know how Sweden acted and reacted in the two world wars? Who the “Super Swedes” were? Or the Scots who came to fight, or make their fortune in Sweden and left an indelible mark on the country? Do you know what a genuine smörgåsbord consists of, how it should be eaten, what the word really means and why it was given a seemingly incongruous name? Do you know how IKEA was formed, by whom and why he remains such a controversial figure? That Swedish inventions range from dynamite to Minecraft and from the modern adjustable spanner/wrench to Spotify? There are answers to these and many more questions.

However, there is also a great deal of information for anyone visiting, or thinking about visiting, the country, as well as showing where to obtain the latest information about places, accommodation, restaurants, events etc. at the click of a mouse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stanley Bloom
• Release date: Oct 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005198756

Stanley Bloom

Stanley Bloom was born in London, but has lived in Sweden for many years. A graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), he was formerly on the staff of Radio Sweden and has long experience of international and educational broadcasting. He is the author of Blue Guide, Sweden (London and New York) and Binny and Belloe, a fantasy tale intended for young and old, while his latest book, The Sorcerer Of Stockholm has just been published on this site. He has also edited and/or translated many works, taught English at most levels, lectured on a range of subjects, run an intensive course for company employees needing to write documents in English, and travels a great deal, mainly to the UK, California and New Zealand, though it would take a lot to make him leave Sweden in the summer, where his favourite place to be is in the Stockholm archipelago. A keen photographer since his schooldays, when he started processing his own black-and-white pictures, at one time he also played the fiddle in a folk group.The print version of The Sorcerer Of Stockholm, is available from www.feedaread.com, as well as Amazon and other online retail sites. Or it can be ordered from any bookshop (ISBN 978-91-980758-0-9). Binny And Belloe is available as an ebook at ww.amazon.com/Binny-And-Belloe-Stanley-Bloom-ebook/dp/B00AW0O4D2 as are two books Stanley has edited by his late brother David: Indian Diary, a vivid and at times hilarious account of an odyssey to India in 1973, www.amazon.com/Indian-Diary-David-Bloom-ebook/dp/B00C3OH5XG and a series of reflections about his uncle, Jack Solomons, www.amazon.com/Jolly-Jack-Solomons-David-Bloom-ebook/dp/B00FDPAOTY giving a unique insight into the background, life and achievements of the man who became Britain’s and Europe’s leading boxing promoter in the decades after the Second World War.

Book preview

What You Should Know About Sweden

Stanley Bloom

copyright Stanley Bloom

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder.

Table of Contents

PART 1

1. Introduction

2. Sweden in Brief

PART 2

3. A Cavalcade of Swedes

4. Swedish inventions and enterprise

5. Food and Drink

6. Sport

PART 3

7. The Swedish Monarchy

8. Sweden’s Colonies

9. Sweden in the two World Wars

PART 4

10. Stockholm

11. Across Sweden from East to West

12. Gothenburg

13. Dalarna

14. Malmö and the South

15. The offshore islands

16. Sweden’s Great Lake Monster, Kiruna and the North

PART 5

17. Some personal recommendations

18. About the author and excerpts from his other books

PART 1

1. Introduction

Very much of what this book contains you are not likely to find in any travel guide. Did you know, for instance, that Sweden held Olympic Games as early as 1834, sixty-two years before the first Olympics of the modern era? That peaceful Sweden has been a colonial power ruling over territories far from Europe? That the man who gave his name to the hundred-degree thermometer was a Swedish astronomer?

Do you know how Sweden acted and reacted in the two world wars? Who the Super Swedes were? Or the Scots who came to fight, or make their fortune in Sweden and left an indelible mark on the country? Do you know what a genuine smörgåsbord consists of, how it should be eaten, what the word really means and why it was given a seemingly incongruous name? Do you know how IKEA was formed, by whom and why he remains such a controversial figure? That Swedish inventions range from dynamite to Minecraft and from the modern adjustable spanner/wrench to Spotify? There are answers to these and many more questions.

However, there is also a great deal of information for anyone visiting, or thinking about visiting, the country, as well as showing where to obtain the latest information about places, accommodation, restaurants, events etc. at the click of a mouse.

Layout of the book

It starts with a brief factual overview of the country and continues with a cavalcade of Swedes past and present who have left their mark on the country and in several cases, on the world. That is followed by a brief look at a number of Swedish international enterprises, often based on Swedish inventions. What have Swedes been eating and drinking throughout the ages? What sports have they indulged in, and with what success, at home and abroad? Then comes some perhaps little-known aspects of the country’s history. After that there is a sweep around the land, looking briefly at each of the principal regions and cities, with a closer view of just some of their main features or attractions. Relevant websites for further information are given in each case.

Finally, there are some personal recommendations for those visiting, or planning to visit a country which all too often has been the subject of wild rumours. The ancient Greeks probably started them. They believed that beyond the north wind there lived a race that grew so old that when tired of life they killed themselves by jumping from a tall cliff, though only after much feasting and merry-making. In more recent times, the image at one extreme has been of suicidal sex-sinners in a society lacking all initiative and incentive, and at the other, of a secure, problem-free, welfare paradise. Nowadays, the wildest assertions are usually, if not always, taken for what they are. But Sweden is a country of great contrasts and much about its real past and present is little known to most people.

Note that normal circumstances are assumed for all places and events mentioned. At the time of writing, however, the corona-virus pandemic has led to many restrictions. The latest information is available from the web sites given.

2. Sweden in brief

* With an area of 450,295 sq km (173,860 sq miles), Sweden is the largest of the Scandinavian countries, third in size in the EU, which it joined in 1995, fifth in Europe as a whole and roughly the size of California.

* Its population passed the 10 million mark in 2017 and has continued to grow, mainly due to immigration. Nearly a million people are citizens of other countries and about a quarter of the population were either born elsewhere or have parents who were.

* Sweden is a constitutional monarchy. The King, Carl XV1 Gustaf, is descended from one of Napoleon’s marshals, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who was elected heir to the throne in 1810 and became king in 1818 under the name of Karl-Johan Bernadotte.

* There is a single-chamber legislature, the Riksdag, with 349 members elected by proportional representation on the third Sunday in September every four years. Parties need at least 4 per cent of the popular vote to gain representation, or a minimum of 12 per cent in one of the 29 multi-member constituencies. It is easy to register a new party and very odd ones can find their way onto the ballot paper. In the 2014 elections, for example, there were the Satanist Initiative, Zlatan (after Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović), Donald Duck, Putin and Christ parties. Needless to say, they get only a handful of votes.

* The broadest division of the country is into three: Götaland in the south, Svealand in the centre and Norrland, by far the largest in area but with the smallest population, in the north. About one seventh of Sweden’s surface area lies above the Arctic Circle.

* Being roughly 1600 km (1000 miles) long in a north-south direction there are considerable climatic differences within the country. However, the Gulf Stream has a moderating effect and the climate in Stockholm, for example, is considerably milder than in most locations at the same latitude (just under 60 degrees north).

* The largest cities are the capital, Stockholm, on the east coast, Gothenburg, the country's biggest port, on the west coast, and Malmö in the far south, connected to Copenhagen by a road and rail bridge across the Öresund strait that separates Sweden from Denmark. Only four cities have a population of more than 200,000, the fourth being the old university town of Uppsala.

Although a member of the EU, Sweden is not part of the Eurozone and has thus retained its own currency, the krona (plural kronor), designated internationally as SEK. There are 1, 2, 5 and 10-kronor coins and 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000-kronor bank notes. Many branches of the banks have stopped handling cash, but you can always get it from ATMs labelled ‘Bankomat’, or during opening hours, from currency exchange outlets. The major international credit or debit cards are accepted, but you should have a PIN.

* National parks: no fewer than 30.

* Highest mountain: Kebnekaise (2,099m – 6,879 ft)

* Largest lake: Vänern (5,648 sq m – 2,181 sq miles) It is also the largest in the EU area.

* Longest river: The Göta (93 km – ca 58 miles)

* Time zone: GMT +1

*International dialling code: +46

* Country code: SE (Internet .se)

* Drive on the right

Best time to visit

The June-July period is best if you want to enjoy long days and short ‘white’ nights, or the never-setting sun if you’re going to the far North. Many hotels also offer lower prices during the period when the schools are on holiday, from about the second week in June to mid-August. Moreover, in normal times there are many special activities during this period, including a wide variety of music and other festivals and festivities.

However, July is the big holiday month and if you want to avoid crowds at some of the most popular destinations, it is better to come a little earlier or later. Winter sports enthusiasts usually avoid coming too early in the year because the days are so short. But the season can continue much later here than farther south. Go as far north as Riksgränsen, well above the Arctic Circle, and you can usually ski at Midsummer.

The Swedish language

The Scandinavian languages are a branch of the Germanic language family. Until about twelve hundred years ago they were very much the same, but there was a division during Viking times between Swedish and Danish on the one hand, and Norwegian and Icelandic on the other.

Today, written Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are close enough to each other to be understood reasonably well by people in all three countries. But the spoken language can cause great difficulty, especially between Danish and Swedish, while Icelandic has remained closer to its Old Norse roots and has not developed in the way the others have.

The Swedish alphabet has three letters that come after ‘z’: å, ä and ö. They are not ‘a’s and an ‘o’ in disguise and are only written without their diacritical marks in email or Internet addresses as no provision was made for them. ‘Å’ is pronounced like ‘awe’ (long) or the ‘o’ in ‘got’ (short – usually before a double consonant). ‘Ä’ is like the ‘ai’ in ‘air’ (long), or the ‘e’ in ‘get’ (short). ‘Ö’ is roughly like the ‘er’ in ‘herd’. The letter ‘w’ is no longer used as it is pronounced the same way as ‘v’ (Swedes call it double ‘v’ and not double ‘u’).

There are two genders: a common masculine-feminine one, and neuter. Some common gender words are stol (chair), bok (book), skjorta (shirt) and kvinna (woman). Bord (table), hår (hair), barn (child) and hus (house) are all neuter nouns. The indefinite article is en before a common gender noun and ett before a neuter noun. Thus en stol is ‘a chair’ and ett bord, ‘a table’. The definite article is tacked on to the end of a noun, so that stolen is ‘the chair’ and bordet (with only one ‘t’) ‘the table’.

The