A trip back to the Viking Age

On Sunday we decided to take a tour I found on the internet called the 'Golden Viking Tour' and it involved visiting places where the vikings inhabited Sweden back in the early 1100's. It was a mini-van type tour, and since it was low season we had the guide (who also happened to be the owner) take us on a private tour (for 8 hours!). Steinthor was our guide. He is from Iceland and has a viking name that means 'stone hammer'. He was VERY knowledgeable about the area and didn't stop talking for the entire 8 hours! He had many views not only on history, but on modern Swedish taxes (taxed at 60%!) and economics/politics etc. I'd like to say that I was riveted to every word...but everyone has their attention span limits!

He told us that the word Viking comes from Vik meaning wide open fjord where they would dock their boats on land but have quick escapes, and ing meaning people. The people of the sea fjords basically. They were a strong-willed intelligent race of warriors (men and women alike). Almost all of the vikings could read, which was a stark contrast to many other Europeans in the 10th century! Viking parliaments were conducted with 36 chiefs standing in a circle, hence the origin of 360 degrees for the circumference of a circle. ;o)

The first stop was an old Viking Bridge named “Jarlabankes bro” (pictured above), where we first learned of viking history and saw some runic stones. There were pictures and characters (runes) carved on stones all over this and many places we stopped at. In the days of Vikings (a thousand years ago) people raised stones in memory of friends and relatives. Many historians believed them to be of religious significance, but they actually were not. I learned that my name was derived from those times too! A powerful viking woman who basically started the viking clan was named Estrid. Estrid was a rich and powerful woman with a long family saga written all over the runestones. She was the grandmother of Jarlabanke and helped him build the trade bridge and road (below) that we visited. I'm so pumped to see the origins of my name!

The highlight of the day was a walk around the town of Sigtuna, an old viking village that had cute little chocolate shops (yummy homemade chocs!) and other such boutiques. In this small farmhouse (now a cafe) we had to bend down to enter and sit down. I still have a bruise on my noggin from that experience. We look like giants next to this house don't we?
It is a town that boasts a high quality of life for its residents and is said to be the most romantic in Sweden, even with candlelit skates on the lake during the Christmas season! It was here that we learned that the Dala Horse (shown below) was the symbol of Sweden. I personally wasn't too impressed by them, but they were carved and painted by hand in 1928 and the tradition has continued. Stora Gatan is the main street in town and also the oldest street in Sweden. The town was founded in the 10th century by Swedish King Eric the Victorious and the first Swedish coin was minted there in this little shack called King Olof's Mynthus.
From Sigtuna we went to Gamla (old) Uppsala, probably the most historic place in Sweden because of its old Viking parliament and ancient burial mounds from the iron age that are 1500 years old! Made for a great picture spot.The area was very rustic with a medieval parish church (in the background above) that was once a cathedral constructed in the year 1164. The church that stands there today is only half the size of the cathedral, but traces of the cathedral can be found in the church walls.

We then visited the "Younger Uppsala", where the Cathedral was just breathtaking. There was a concert in the cathedral at the time which added to the magic of the place. Our brains definitely expanded with knowledge and a better idea of Sweden from doing the tour and enjoyed that we had a different experience!