TRAVEL REFLECTIONS

It was late afternoon when we left Naturum Tåkern for our lodgings in the 14th century city of Vadstena situated on the eastern shore of the second largest lake in Sweden, Lake Vättern. With a finger shaped length of 81 miles (130 km) and a width of 19 miles (31 km), (between the counties Västergötland on the west and Östergötland on the east) it was often in our travels in southeast and southwestern Sweden that glimpses of the lake would be seen from the coach window.

Our two night stay in Vadstena with Sweden's long summer daylight hours and finally clear weather, gave us the opportunity to enjoy the park setting by the lake and the town after our day trips of gardens.

Competitive sailing and recreational boating and fishing are popular at this lake with alpine char, pike, perch, grayling, salmon, brown trout and pike perch as the popular sport fish.

This crystal clear lake, possibly the cleanest large body of water in the world, is connected to the North and Baltic Seas by the Gota Canal system. The lake is bounded by cliffs to the east and west.  

Light sweater June temperatures would make one pause longer to enjoy the evening outdoors after dinner.

Ending the day of travel with a sunset on the lake for quiet evening reflection.

In the park setting along the lake the fragrant common lilac Syringa vulgaris “L” were in bloom.  Carl Linnaeus named this lilac, whose native habitat is the Balkins and southeastern Europe, in 1753 in Species Plantarum. Ancient Greek doctors used the hollow stems of lilacs to inject medicine into their patients or to bleed them. It is recorded that the lilac was given as a gift by Suleyman the Great from his garden, to the Ambassador of Austria in 1562. Lilac plants were imported from Sweden to Finland in 1728. From the European gardens it was brought to the colonies in North America eventually traveling west across the country in covered wagon wrapped in burlap and wet straw. The English merchant, Peter Collinson, considered the lilac collection of John Custis in Williamsburg,Virginia to be the best in the colonies. Also in Virginia Thomas Jefferson planted lilacs in 1767 in his garden at Monticello and George Washington grew lilacs at his Mt Vernon Estate.  

Our hotel Vadstene Klosterhotel (the surviving buildings) was an important convent and monastery founded by St. Bridget in 1350 as the Bridgettine Order. The nuns, besides being skilled in embroidery for vestments and alter clothes, also provided remedies prepared from herbs in their garden for health care. The monks may have been skilled workman as it is known that they knew the art of making window glass. The convent was wealthy with the ownership of large estates and farms. With a large library it was a culture center in Sweden at that time.

A well preserved castle from the era of Gustav Vasa in the 16th century, built by King Gustav as a fortification in 1545 to defend against attacks by the Danish, is now a museum and tourist attraction.

The city of Vadstena is small in population but well preserved from the 16th, 17th& 18th centuries.

The streets have not incurred any substantial change over the centuries. The main street of the town with its shops, are as they would have been during the Middle Ages.

Our trip to Falköping to visit a private garden started early Wednesday morning. We would travel about a 2 hour drive from Vadstena (which is in county of Östergötland on the east side of the lake) to the county of Västergötland on the west side of Lake Vättern.

It was the National Day of Sweden, June the 6th.  Early in the morning a young boy was enthusiastically hoisting the Swedish flag on a flag pole in the front yard of a farm house as we passed by. Winter wheat, barley, milk (from the Swedish red dairy cattle I saw grazing in a sparse grove of birch trees on the western side) and meat are the most important products of the southern farms that stretched for miles along the highway.  Rye,oats, sugar beets and sorghum, rapeseed and sunflower seed are also grown. The southern provinces growing season is 100 days longer compared to Sweden in the north where crops are mostly forage and coarse grains. It is the potato that can be grown throughout all of Sweden.

In the mid18th century Swedish scientist gave attention to improvements in agriculture with Carl Linnaeus and agriculturist chemist John Gottschalk Wallerius (also from Uppsula University) as “important representatives”. In the 21st century  Uppsala, Södermanland and Västergötland have the largest proportion of farmland certified organic in the country.

The terrain can change quickly though. A turn in direction on the south west side of the lake and the miles of flat land abruptly turned rocky with forests of pines, spruce, beech, maple, poplars and mountain ash.

Our final destination was near Falköping where George said that thousands of cranes gather annually in the farm fields on their northward migration. Our visit was too late for that sight.  Our visual delight was a June garden intentionally elevated above the flat landscape. We were in time for lady slipper orchids in bloom.

Photo of Deborah McMillin by Elli Logan.  All other photos by Deborah McMillin.