Photographer, translator and writer Ben Love, originator of the popular Wild Guide books, has traveled to Scandinavia to explore its incredible hidden places. Over 800 adventures and wild experiences are covered in this spectacular photography guide with maps.
Follow Ben sea kayaking around Norway’s stunning Lofoten islands, or hiking to Sweden’s coziest mountain lodges and feasting on locally sourced regional specialties.
This book, published by WildThingsPublishing,is recommended for family explorers as well as romantic adventurers and includes informative descriptions and 24 detailed maps. Don’t miss it if you want to discover the best of Denmark’s golden sandy beaches.
Ben Love has been travelling from high above the Arctic Circle to the very south of Sweden and Denmark. He says, “The landscapes you will discover are as varied as they are idyllic.”
Gnesta Sodermanland, Sweden
Although not in Scandinavia, the book includes adventures on Iceland as well.
If you are an adventurous person, you are about to discover fantastic hikes and canoe trips as well as mountain train and boat adventures. You will also be able to find special and unusual accommodation, and Ben advises you on local food and foraging.
Vingelen mountain range, Roros, Norway. Photo: Ingrid Eide
This book is incredibly wild!
About Ben Love
Ben studied Scandinavian languages at university in London and Stockholm, spending his summers working as a river and canoe guide in Iceland and Sweden. He is a photographer, translator and writer, specializing in Scandinavia and the outdoors. Currently researching theSwedish right to roam, he is passionate about having wild adventures with his family and embracing the concept of friluftsliv (roughly translating as ‘open air life) – the Scandinavian philosophy of having a true connectedness with the outdoor environment.
Feature image (on top) Lofoten Islands by Kristin Folsland-Olsen
The Norwegian designer Daniel Rybakken (b.1984) has received numerous awards, including the ‘Best of the Best’ Red Dot Award in Singapore, 2007; the Anders Jahre’s Cultural Prize for Young Artists in Oslo, 2008; the Design Report Award for best designer at Salone Satellite in Milan, 2009; the Bruno Mathsson Award in 2011 and the XXIII Compasso d’Oro ADI in 2014. This year he and the Italian lamp company Luceplan received the prestigious design award from the Norwegian Center for Design and Architecture (DOGA).
“It is important for us to highlight Norwegian designers who really succeed abroad,” said Thea Mehl, project manager for the design awards at DOGA. “Daniel Rybakken is one of our foremost designers of his generation, and he deserves more attention in Norway.”
Daniel Rybakken studied at the Oslo School of Architecture and the School of Arts & Crafts in Gothenburg, Sweden. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 2008, he started his own practice in both Oslo and Gothenburg.
The work of Daniel Rybakken occupies the area between art and design, forming limited editions, art installations and prototypes for serial production. His main focus has been to work with daylight and how to artificially recreate its appearance and subconscious effect.
The collaboration between Daniel Rybakken and the iconic Italian lighting manufacturer Luceplan has created lighting innovations as well as solid sales figures.
Counterbalance by Daniel Rybakken, produced by Luceplan
The wall-mounted lamp, Counterbalance, has since its launch in 2012 become one of the design icons of Luceplan, an object that seems to defy the laws of physics. The led lamp evokes the dynamic equilibrium of a sculptural mobile equipped with a fluid balancing system, making it possible to adjust the heavy lamp head with the little finger.
The lamp also earned him the London Design Medal in the category of Emerging Talent in 2013. “Once in a while a designer comes along who takes into account not just form and function but light and dark, graphics and mechanics, positive and negative space – the whole shebang,” said the jury.
“It is something completely different from what I have designed before,” says Rybakken.
Award Winning Norwegian Designer, written by Tor Kjolberg
Born and raised in Helsingborg, Sweden in 1906, Greta Magnusson Grossman represents a literal link between European design and California modernism. Grossman remained in her hometown until the late 1920s upon finishing a woodworking apprenticeship.
Awarded a scholarship, she attended Högre Konstindustriella Skolan (Konstfack) where she reportedly focused on furniture, textiles and ceramics. In 1933, having successfully completed her fellowship at the renowned Stockholm arts institution, she and classmate Erik Ullrich opened Studio, a combined store and workshop. The same year Grossman married jazz bandleader Billy Grossman. Here she took numerous commissions, including a crib for Sweden’s Princess Birgitta.
In 1934 she became the first woman to receive a prize for furniture design from the Swedish Society of Industrial Design. She traveled throughout Europe and filed reports of her observations on interior design and architecture for the “Women and Home” section of the Swedish paper Nya Dagligt Allehanda.
The Greta Magnusson Grossman exhibition in Stockholm
She rose to a level of prominence in her native Sweden, and In 1940 she and her husband, immigrated to Los Angeles, where she opened her second shop, Magnusson-Grossman Studio, on Rodeo Drive, which was popular with clients like Greta Garbo, Joan Fontaine and Gracie Allen. There she sold her designs as well as imports from her native Sweden.
Bel Air Mid Century by Greta Magnusson Grossman
Greta began designing furniture and fixtures for Glenn of California, Sherman Bertram, Martin Brattrud, Cal-Mode and Modern Line Inc. When Barker Brothers’ Modern Shop launched in 1947, Grossman began designing exclusive pieces and taking interior design commissions.
Table Lamp by Greta Magnusson Grossma
Grossman’s compact, functional and visually lightweight modern aesthetic appealed to a previously ignored, but ever-growing demographic: single, savvy, career-minded women. Some of her pieces, like the Cobra floor and table Lamps, designed in 1950 for Ralph O. Smith (and recently brought back into production by Gubi) and her 1952 Desk with Storage for Glen of California, have become icons of California modern. In 1950, the Cobra lamp won the Good Design Award and was subsequently exhibited at the Good Design Show at the Museum of Modern Art.
Her achievements were many and encompassed industrial design, interior design and architecture. Through the 40’s and 50’s Grossman exhibited her designs at museums worldwide, including MoMA in New York and The National Museum in Stockholm.
Architectural design by Greta Magnusson Grossman
In an era where too few women garnered public acclaim for their design and architectural talents, Greta Grossman enjoyed the spotlight in a number of articles in publications that ranged from daily newspapers to sophisticated magazines and journals focused on her homes, furniture designs and her savvy. Her work was photographed by Julius Shulman, she appeared frequently in John Entenza’s Art & Architecture magazine and she received two prestigious Good Design Awards from MoMA.
Greta Magnusson Grossmans Mid-Century Masterpiece in the Hills hitting the market for the first time
Grossman’s creativity and brilliance were also evident in at least fourteen homes she designed between 1949 and 1959. Often building them on spec and then living in them until she found a buyer, her residences were defined by their diminutive scale and lightness of form, frequently balanced perfectly on the edge of a hillside. Crafted of classic modern materials like steel and stone, Grossman also incorporated rich woods and natural light to create warmth. Unfortunately, many of these homes have since been demolished, though several do remain.
Rare occasional table by Greta Magnusson Grossman
In 2013 the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) arranged an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Greta Grossman Exhibit, followed by a tour of homes by this talented designer.
Grossman was highly influenced by European Modernism, which had been imported to the US by influential architects, such as Walter Gropius (founder of the Bauhaus) and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Grossman, in turn, played a significant role in defining the aesthetic of mid-century Californian Modernism.
The Backus House by Greta Magnusson Grossman
In 1951, Grossman is quoted as saying that California design “is not a superimposed style, but an answer to present conditions. It has developed out of our own preference for living in a modern way.”
In the late 1960s she dropped out of site in moving to Leucadia. She ended up largely unknown and almost forgotten. Recently, renewed interest in this pioneering modernist has resulted in some of her pieces being brought back into production.
Interior design (Sweden) by Greta Magnusson Grossman
Today, Grossman’s product designs are highly collectible and are sold at auctions all around the world. Grossman’s products are unique, modern classic designs.
Stockholm-born photographer Helene Schmitz spent more than ten years exploring how nature is described and represented in science, art and literature. The mysterious Chinese killer climbing plant Kudzu has engulfed parts of southern USA, and there’s no way to stop it. Schmitz exhibition in Oslo runs through 11 June.
“Biological Invasion” is the correct term for the spread of a species in an area where it is not native, and it can have immense effects on the ecosystem of an entire region.
Kudzu (pueraria lobate) is the worlds most aggressive and invasive plant species. Helene Schmitz strives through her photographs to illustrate the contradictions and complexities within the concepts of nature.
Alabama Fields by Helene Schmitz
With her “Kudzu Project” the Swedish photographer has documented such a so-called invasive plant in its new habitat in the United States. She spent the summer of 2012 traveling through the American south with her assistant Felix Bridell to capture the plant.
Georgian Backyard by Helene Schmitz
The natural circulation area of the Kudzu extends over Asia until North Australia. In the late 19th century Kudzu was introduced to the U. S. where it established itself as an ornamental and as a crop plant. But in the early 20th century botanists raised concerns regarding the invasiveness of the species. Schmitz was interested in the idea that a plant could be ‘invasive’ which is usually a term used to describe an act of war. Nowadays it is considered as one of the worst invasive species in the world.
Southern Landscape by Helene Schmitz
In Schmitz’ images there are a wonderful, mystical darkness. The viewer experiences a landscape, its history, and its character, almost as a mystical experience of nature. The created wondrous forms in their immense size rise majestically in their new environment. The dark vitality of this invasive plant implies downright a mood of doom.
The Swedish jazz singer Neneh Cherry is starring in the Mark Cousins-directed film “Stockholm My Love”, in which she also provides voice overs and five songs in the film’s soundtrack.
The film portraits the Swedish capital and Neneh Cherry plays a 47-year-old architect who loves buildings and the way they influence people’s lives.
In 1996 she released her album “Man”, which featured hits with the likes of Youssou N’Dour, and after that she stopped making solo alkbums, but got frustrated at the idea that she had suddenly “disappeared”.
Neneh Cherry isn’t necessarily making a “come back” since she has been here all the time. But in an interview in The Guardian last year, she was asked: “Where did you go for 18 years?”
“I knew my kids were growing up fast and I decided to catch those years. That’s an option, isn’t it?” she answered.
Neneh Cherry is 52 years old now and living in Stockholm, where she was born to a Sierra Leonean father and a Swedish mother. She is still making music and now also acting. Her breakthrough came with the hits “Buffalo Stance” and “7 Seconds”.
Some ad company bought a lot of air time during March Madness this year and filled it with a commercial featuring some generically pretty blonde woman, supermodel Natasha Poly, expressing her fun, sexy style with some of the hottest looks from a Spring 2016 collection, dancing around to “Buffalo Stance”.
Neneh’s daughter Mabel McVey is also a talented musician. “Cities have their own personalities,” she says. “They get into your head and influence your relationships. The city you live in can make you the happiest or the saddest person in the world.” Mabel, born in Malaga, Spain and raised in Stockholm, truly found her home in London after moving to England a couple of years back. “It’s quite straight and conformist in Sweden,” explains McVey, who studied music production in Scandinavia. “I felt as though I wasn’t able to admit to liking all the music I really love, like Destiny’s Child and Justin Timberlake. There’s more freedom in London.”
Mabel McVey
About “Stockholm My Love” says the Irish film maker Mark Couisins, who’s best known for the 15-part “The Story of Film: An Odyssey” documentary series 4 years ago. “Stockholm My Love” is his first feature-length fiction film, “We wanted to make a city symphony. Cities are noisy, messy, but teeming with life. Our story tries to capture this.”
Shooting “Stockholm My Love” in Stockholm
The story sees the architect (Cherry) still in shock after a traffic accident, and taking long early-morning walks through the city she loves.
Mark Cousins
It reads like a filmed love letter of sorts to the city – Stockholm – one of those seemingly plotless, quiet films that’s more about individual moments experienced by lead characters, however unrelated, with an entire city as a starring character.
Karl XII is a highly debated figure in Swedish history. One the one hand, he is seen as a national hero: courageous, faithful, and tolerant. On the other hand, he is criticized for being pigheaded and stubborn; a man who didn’t use diplomatic resources or listen to the advice of his councils and generals.
Karl XII coin
In 1716 the Swedish king, Karl XII, raised an army of 20,000 men to meet a planned invasion by Denmark. However, Denmark abondoned the offensive plans and Karl seized the initiative and invaded instead Norway in March 1717 with 8,000 troops. He thought probably he could win an easy victory and use Norway as a bargaining chip with his enemies.
Akershus fortress today
The Swedish king approached the Norwegian capital, then named Kristiania, and occupied the city. When it was clear that the city could not be held, the garrison of Akershus was reinforced and the rest of the Norwegian army withdrew to Lier, southwest of the capital. However, it did not come to a battle since the Norvegians were well prepaired to stop the Swedish army at Gjellebekk, so they turned back before the battle became a large tragedy. Only 39 people lost their life at Gjellebekk.
Norway was at this time in union with Denmark, so invading Norway was political also an attack on Denmark.
Karl concentrated his efforts on breaking through to the the west, but Akershus fortress was too strong to capture, and every road was stoutly held, the people rising en masse to defend their country and cautiously taking the offensive in several small actions. He began his return march to Sweden on 29 April and turned to the equally important task of capturing Fredriksten. This fortress, guarding the southeastern border, was a constant threat to any invader of Norway, and besides, the neighboring city Fredrikshald (now Halden) had a splendid harbor.
Fredriksten fortress with view of Halden beneath
After violent fighting Karl captured the city by a surprise attack but had to retreat because the people evacuated it, burning their homes, while the fortress opened fire on the city. He had slight hopes that he might still capture the fortress if his transport fleet lying in Dynekilen, a little inlet a few miles to the south, could reach him with supplies.
Peter Wessel Tordenskjold
The final nail in the invasion coffin was delivered by Norwegian Admiral Peter Wessel Tordenskjold, who on 8 July captured the Swedish supply fleet at the Battle of Dynekil. When the news reached Karl, he broke camp and two days later the last Swedish soldier left Norwegian soil.
Karl XII’s skull (from opening of the grave in 1917)
In the Autumn of 1718 Karl again attacked Norway. While on an inspection visit to the forward trenches on 30 November, the king was hit in the head by a Norwegian sharpshooter’s round fired from the fortress and was immediately killed.
The Durants write that “he died as he had lived, stupefied with bravery. He was a great general, and won unbelievable victories against great odds; but he loved wars to intoxication, never had victories enough…”
Oslo: Town hall to the left and Akershus fortress to the right
This precipitated an immediate retreat of his war-weary forces back to Sweden, effectively terminating the Norwegian campaigns.
Norway was at this time in union with Denmark, so invading Norway was politically also an attack on Denmark.
Sources: Karen Larsen: A History of Norway (Princeton Legacy Library)
Martina Sprague: Sweden – An Illustrated History (Hippocrene Books, Inc. New York)
We wish to thank Tor Elling Halvorsen for additional details.
Half a million cruise passengers are expected to visit Stockholm this summer season and spend a combined total of around SEK 0.5 billion during their stay. 240 cruise ships will call in before the season closes.
Each year, Stockholm sees more than 40 cruise shipping companies docking at its ports. This year the season opened when MSC Musica called at Stadsgården last Tuesday. Cruise passengers come primarily from Germany, the USA, England and Italy.
Nynäshamn
It is anticipated that 240 cruise liners will call at Ports of Stockholm before the season closes on 13 October with the departure of the cruise ship Aidamar. The shipping company Viking Ocean Cruises will continue its turnarounds in Stockholm and will increase its presence with an additional vessel, the Viking Sea.
Marco Polo arriving at Nynäshamn 21 October 2015
The work to develop the city as an international cruise destination is a joint effort shared between Ports of Stockholm and the Stockholm Visitors Board.
Vessels are becoming bigger and can accommodate more passengers. In time for the start of this cruise season, Ports of Stockholm says it “substantially improved service” at Nynäshamn port with a260-metre extendible pier that can connect directly to the vessel.
The port of Nynäshamn is the most southern port of Stockholm and is located approximately six kilometers south of Stockholm.
Karin Wanngård
“Cruise tourism contributes enormously to visitor revenue and is significant for the entire Stockholm region. The number of vessels seeking overnight berths at Ports of Stockholm continues to rise, which is positive as those passengers remain in the region for longer, visit more attractions and therefore spend more on sightseeing, hotels, restaurants and shopping in Stockholm,” says Karin Wanngård, City of Stockholm Commissioner of Finance.
Johan Castwall
“This year’s cruise season is expected to be almost as good as the record-breaking previous year. We are however concerned about the proposed increase in the fairway dues to be paid to the government, as this could have major consequences for cruise traffic,” says Johan Castwall, Ports of Stockholm Managing Director.
Record Number of Cruise Passengers to Stockholm, compiled by Admin.
Stokke Sculpture Park in the county of Vestfold, Norway, is a two kilometer long trail set among crags and ridges amid the oak forest south of Oslo, just a little more than an hour’s drive by car from the capital.
The sculpture park, named ‘Trail for the Eye’ was instigated in 2001 and opened to the public in the autumn of 2009. 12 works have been installed by Scandinavian artists, or artists living in Norway. Lighting along the trail has been designed by Erik Selmer.
As you enjoy the woodland walk throughout the park, you will reach the highest point of the site. There, a steel and wooden installation is waiting for you to enter, climb the stairs and reach the platform to enjoy the eastern views of a castle and creating an optical illusion for the entire space.
Todd Saunders
Canadian architect Todd Saunders has designed the stair in the middle of the remote Norwegian forest. It stands there alone, like a surrealist memory of a long lost ruin.
Saunders moved to Norway in 1996 and set up his practice in Bergen. He has since then embraced the quality of nature in this part of the world with projects that interact beautifully with the different surroundings. He is internationally known for his award-winning architecture.
Grethe Meyer Iversen
It was Grethe Meyer Iversen who had the idea to transform a pathway in the forest to a sculpture park. She was inspired by the Aurland Lookout, which Saunders designed with Tommie Wilhelmesen in 2006. In Aurland an abrupt bridge leaps out from a cliff into the open air, giving an extraordinary view over the dramatic mountainous scenery. Meyer Iversen invited Saunders to create an architectural sculpture at the highest point of the path that would function as a final destination for the visitors.
Blueberries
Saunders calls the stair a “one-liner in the landscape,” a stairway to nowhere that works through the simple act of raising the viewpoint a few feet in the air.
Two dogs. Photo: Raymond Eigilson Jakobsen. The real dog belongs to Thorger Tvetene
Entering the stair, the visitor is embraced with this warm environment that reflects the forest. The glass-balustrade emphasizes the thinness of the structure and its aesthetic side.
Dog on Blueberry
As with all Saunders’ landscape-based projects, be they residential, sculptural, or commercial, the site was intensely and thoroughly surveyed, resulting in a contour map accurate to 25 cm.
Danish Joern Ronnau created seven granite houses made from larvikite stone
“It’s an absurd thing to place a staircase in a forest, but in a flat landscape you need some verticality,” says Saunders, “so it’s important that the object reads well in the landscape.
Hilde Eirin, Play with balls
The final structure was flown in by helicopter. The careful surveying ensured that not a single tree had to be cut to accommodate the new stairway to the sky.
Salamander pond
It turned out that the trail Meyer Iversen had learned to love was covered with rhomb porphyry, which is known to exist in only three rift areas in the world — in East Africa and Antarctica — besides Stokke. The forest on both sides of the trail also has the richest deposit of deciduous trees in Norway.
Scandinavians are passionate about nature and the outdoors. Unfazed by the weather, they hike, ski, skate, sail, cycle, fish and climb.
The people of the Scandinavian countries are so at home in their natural surroundings that they seldom pause to consider how intertwined their daily lives are with the climate, the seasons, and the amazing and diverse beauty if the Scandinavian landscape.
Hiking in Sweden
In spring and summer, the mountains beckon backpackers to scale their heights, the Swedish archipelago is dotted with thousands of sailing boats, and serious hikers and day-trippers wend their way through the Scandinavian forests.
From Loekken, Denmark
Danes head for their magnificent beaches while Swedes and Norwegians celebrate the cool refreshing plunge of the thousands of lakes that dot the landscape. In recent years, hordes of Scandinavian ski enthusiasts have taken to the open roads and mountain trails.
Ice fishing in Lyngenfjord, Norway
Winter poses no obstacle to the hardy Scandinavian. They take to their skis to traverse fields and forests, pull on skates to blaze paths across icy lakes, fish through the ice and climb frozen waterfalls just for fun.
Scandinavian etude, by Viktor Nunin
Scandinavians often manage to combine a practical outlook with a sense of adventure and sporting spirit – where better to exercise all three than in the great outdoors?
Active Life in Scandinavia, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top): Biking in Vesteraalen, Norway. Photo: Øyvind Wold
Since earliest times the county of Vestfold has been one of the main traffic routes through Norway. Vestfold county was navigable from north to south and to the west of the country. The European continent, being also accessible from Vestfold, has created trade with other countries to the south. It is for this reason that rich finds from the Viking Age are found here. Records exist in France from the late ninth century telling of the Viking fleets from Vestfold.
The districts of Larvik and Jarlsberg were merged in 1821 into the smallest county in Norway and was named Vestfold. From then on Tonsberg took over Kaupang’s function as port and trading center. Kaupang in Viksfjord, Larvik, was an important production and trade village for the Vikings in the 800s.
Kaupang – Viking trading town
Due to its natural conditions, Tonsberg was also preferred as a royal residence for many years in that the height of its tower on Castle Hill (Slottsfjellet) enabled detection of an approaching enemy from great distance.
Slottsfjellet – Castle Rock – in Tonsberg
Residents of Vestfold have always been oriented towards the sea and seafaring. Whaling earned wealth and good days for the residents. Other cities such as Horten and Larvik, have also played a part in promoting Vestfold internationally.
Harbour of Stavern. Photo: Wikipedia
Has the influence of this trade with other countries altered the distinctive Norwegian culture, tradition and way of life of which Norwegians are so proud? Perhaps the answer is both yes and no. By studying Vestfold compared to other nearby counties, we see tendencies to keep Norwegian traditions alive.
Vestfold national costume
There are exciting traits when it comes to food in Vestfold.
Living on large feet with much conviviality and delicate dishes spiced the food traditions of this county more than elsewhere in Norway.
Nature has also been generous to Vestfold. One does not have to wait long before spring bears fruit. Much earlier than in other parts of Norway, berries and fruits from nature’s own larder can be enjoyed here, something food recipes from Vestfold are marked by.
Herman Wildenvey
One of Norway’s great poets, Herman Wildenvey, after a long and wandering life, settled down in the little village of Stavern with his wife Gidsken, also a great writer.
Vestfold has more than just poets; you find also many talented culinary artists there. Maybe it’s worth to try Grilled Salmon?
This is our favorite way to eat salmon other than smoked. Prep time includes marinating.
From the Viking Age to the Present, written by Tor Kjolberg
Grilled Salmon
Ingredients Servings 4.
1 1⁄2lbs salmon steaks or 1 1⁄2 lbs salmon fillets
