Sweden Part Two {Lacko, Spiken, Bjertorp Slott, Gothenburg}


Today I’m going to share with you the second half of my trip to Sweden with Amanda (www.kevinandamanda.com).
We stayed at two castles, ate a truly farm-to-table meal and had some amazing pastries!



Day Five
Day Five was a lot of driving. We got up bright and early and drove to Knack & Brack.
Knack & Brack is a local crisp bread producer.
They gave us a tour of their production process and we got to sample the final product!
I loved the cute moose crackers!
After our bakery tour, we hopped in the car and headed to Sivan’s Cheese Shop. 
Sivan’s is the premier cheese in Sweden. It is used by all the top chefs in the country. 
We got the sample seven cheeses. They were really good! 
My favorite part of the lunch was the blueberry tart for dessert. I could have eaten the whole tart by myself! Amazing!

After lunch, we drove to our final destination of the day, Lacko Castle.
We took a tour of the castle and the gardens.

The gardens supply the restaurant with most of their produce.
There is a real trend in Sweden towards farm-to-table and local food. 
Similar to what is going on in The States.

Simon, the head gardner, showed us all around the gardens.
He picked some vegetables that he gave to the chef for our dinner.
These are yellow carrots.

Next, Simon picked some beets.

Love these white beets!
Finally, Simon took us to see his compost pile.
They use the compost to fertilize the gardens.
He was so passionate about his work. It really showed!

We stayed on site at the castle grounds.
The hotel looked so cool!
We ate dinner at the hotel in The White Hart Restaurant.
Dinner was the most beautiful meal I’ve ever eaten.
Steak with beets, yellow carrot puree, homemade pigs belly and cheese.
I LOVED the yellow carrot puree. I am on the hunt for yellow carrots at home. 
This was the highlight of the trip for me.
Our dinner a few hours earlier.
It was truly farm-to-table!

Day Six

Day six started with this amazing view!

We took a 3 kilometer walk over to the fishing village of Spiken.

Like most of the other villages we visited, Spiken was so cute!

We passed tons of wheat fields on our walk.
I loved this tree on our walk. I can only imagine how old it is.
After our walk, we hopped in the Volvo and drove to Bjertorp Slott for the evening.
The castle was SO beautiful.
I loved the bear holding the guest book!
View from the back of the castle.
Day Seven
We got up and left the countryside behind.
We headed back to Gothenburg for the remainder of our trip.

Lunch was at Norda Bar and Grill.
I can’t tell you how happy I was to have “American Food”. The burger was amazing! 
I loved the presentation – the take out box was so cute.
The fries were seasoned with vinegar and dill. They were perfectly crispy!
After lunch we got the chance to talk with the pastry chef, Patrik Fredriksson.
He was the 2013 Past Chef of the Year in Sweden.
We sampled some of the most amazing chocolate I’ve ever eaten.
After we ate the chocolate, Patrik offered to make us a couple of desserts.
They were delicious, to say the very least.
He talked with us for almost an hour. He was incredibly nice!
Day Eight
Our last full day in Sweden started with a trip to the Fish Auction.
This is where all the wholesalers come to buy fish directly from the fishermen.
I’ve never seen so much fish!
My favorite might have been the blue lobsters! 
I’ve never seen a blue lobster before. SO cool!
After the fish auction, we were able to explore Gothenburg on our own.

We bakery hopped all around town. 
We tried Kladdkaka (the chocolate cake on the top left). It was really good!
We also sampled some blueberry rolls, cookies and had a cronut!
The cronut came from the grocery store and was actually really delicious!

I loved all the tables and chairs outside the cafes.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. 
It was a great way to end out time in Sweden!

Our adventure didn’t end in Sweden. 
We boarded the plane and headed to Amsterdam for four nights.
Well, we went to Amsterdam, but my bag decided to go to Istanbul.
I’ll tell you all about Amsterdam next Saturday!

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Comments

  1. Oh wow! What a beautiful country! 🙂 And that farm-to-table experience?? Amazing. I can only imagine what it must be like to walk through a city in Europe. The places are so steeped in history and are so much older than our "young" America. One day I will make over the pond…

  2. Wow! I must admit, Sweden had never been on my list but after looking at those gorgeous, colorful photos, I want to go!

  3. Your colorful photos make me want to travel to Sweden! It looks as though the country has so much to offer a curious traveler.

  4. Second effort at publishing a comment – to say I loved the photographs and had no idea about this region. Have been to Stockholm but clearly I need to go beyond the capital – when it comes to food it would seem Swedes are true artists! Leyla

  5. In all these posts about Sweden the colors have really blown me away. But what I am the most surprised about is the food. I haven't seen a lot of awesome Swedish food and now I will forever put that statement away never to be said again, because it looks amazing and now I want to visit there really bad!

  6. Your pictures are incredible! Looks like a wonderful trip. It's hard to believe those place names are real. They sound so funny to my English-accustomed ears!

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