15.9.18 Day 16. Eksjö to Kosta.

After an early morning walk around the old wooden houses and brekky we left Eksjö with Eksjo buns in hand. Mixed reactions when we ate them because of the cardoman flavour  and abundant sickly lingonberry jam.

View from Nic’s room.

Looking down.

Our hotel sits on town square

Eksjö Stadshotell. Historic.

The Patisserie window from where Suzie purchased the Eksjö buns.

Old wooden buildings

Plaque denoting old building of cultural significance

Beautiful waterway wends it’s way through town.

The cobblestones glistening in the light rain. 

Main shopping strip 

The Stadhotell built in 1862 was a quaint hotel with another good brekky.

A dragon atop the hotel. 

This explains the full bar last night. Happy hour. 
Crisp breads. 

Bread rolls 

More dry bickies. 



Just so much variety



Ägg Koop = egg cups. There were usually soft or hard boiled to choose from.

Didn’t try the peanut butter but thought the gadget to squeeze it was a good example of Swedish design. ACTUALLY it’s not peanut butter it’s some sort of caviar that goes well with eggs. Check it out at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalles_Kaviar

The selections of muesli, fruits, nuts etc was extensive at every place we stayed.
Then it was time to pack the luggage and hit the road.

A lake beside the road. One of many.

Suzie was after some Autumn colour.

We stopped here by the lake. There was a loo and info about Glasriket.

Glasriket is the kingdom of crystal with at least 11 glass blowing factories. 

First major stop was Gullaskruv with a master glass blower, Carlos Pebaque.

Carlos’ work




That’s $185 AUD. 

Carlos’ gallery.

Loved his work but too hard to carry home. He fled atrocious conditions in Montevideo to build a renowned glass blowing business.

He has created trophies for major football matches and been recognised by the king of Sweden.

We fluked visiting him because the original destination was shut. 

Stopped to capture the soft, mossy green forest floor with a stone fence.

Nic taking the forest floor

Some toadstools hiding by the roadside

Our car

Moss covered a tone wall.



Across the road was some kind of stone building built into the land.



We arrived at Orrefors and Suzie’s urgent need for a toilet stop at a convenient museum resulted in learning Orrefors factory is no longer at Orrefors but has moved to Boda in 2013. This resulted in us being able to watch two glass blowing students making an octopus. A tour guide who happened to be there translated for us. 

Into the furnace

It took team work. Putting the eyes on

Flattening out the whites of the eyes.

Rolling out some more glass. This was then stuck to its head so they could work on the legs.

Finally detaching the octopus and smoothing out the separation point.

The Swedish guide for another group translated for us.

Some of the pigments they use to colour the glass.



Shaping the head.

We visited a gift shop there with glass from Orranäs bruk as displayed in the following pics. 

Next stop Nybro/ Pukeberg. Suzie was really was really excited and it was a total disappointment. A gift shop full of tourist tack, no apparent factory.

We are travelling through forest and many lakes. Some horses and farming.

Onto Kalmar to visit the slott. Magnificent castle It began as a medieval fortress and was turned into a renaissance castle. It overlooked a channel between the island and the mainland, and was also used as a woman’s prison. The variety of punishments was gruesome and they mostly spent their incarceration in darkness.

It was the scene of many sieges and fierce battles.

Weddings have been held at the castle since 1276 and the castle chapel is one of the most popular in the whole country.

Kalmar Castle.

Courtyard

The King’s bed chamber

Ornate ceiling.

The chapel.

The Fortress wall with cannons.

Ornate ceiling in entrance tunnel

Courtyard

Dinner table.



View out to the battlements

Chapel

Leaving


Then it was coffee time in Kalmar.

Olandsbrun a six kilometre bridge, joins the island of Olund to the mainland.

Crossing Olands brun (bridge)





Windmill on the Island of Öland



The old Unesco listed windmills.

bridge looking back to Kalmar/mainland

Old windmill

Farjesttanen had UNESCO listed windmills. 

Captured a rainbow 

Back over the bridge to our overnight home in Kosta.

Arrived in the tiny town of kosta to the beautiful Kosta Boda Art Hotel. 

Room tour

The hand basin was solid Kosta glass



Glass art

It is FULL of fantastic glass pieces. Drinks and dinner in their cafe and then ready for bed.

The glass bar where we had a drink and dinner



All glass

Pool from Suzie’s room.








Nice Swedish cider with elderberry