Yesterday evening we returned to where the adventure started about three weeks ago – Vagnhärad. Our car has now taken us from Sweden to France and back. It has been a great trip with many interesting stops along the road. We will try to summarize it better later on, here is our last day of the road trip – the last long drive back home.
Leaving Aalborg
We had had two nice nights and an even better day in Aalborg in northern Denmark. Our alarms woke us early, before 5 a.m. We still had to drive to the harbor in Frederikshavn and the ferry was scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. It was still dark when we left, luckily Frederikshavn is only a 45-minute drive north of where we were staying and we were soon waiting in the harbor. We had arrived over an hour before check-in opened and unfortunately the weather was too bad for us to take a walk in the area. Instead, we spent the time in the car waiting.
Stena Line – Frederikshavn to Göteborg
From Frederikshavn, we took the ferry Stena Jutlandica across Kattegat to Gothenburg (or Göteborg) in Sweden. The ferry took only 3 hours and 35 minutes and we had no problem spending the time onboard. We began our journey in the restaurant enjoying the breakfast bufé. It wasn’t so big and not the most delicious of breakfasts. However, it was more than enough to keep us happy for an hour of our trip. And the coffee tasted good.
When we booked our tickets we decided not to book seats onboard. Instead, we booked the breakfast to make sure we had somewhere to sit and it was kind of the same price. Onboard we noticed that there are several seating places and the seats that we could have booked in advance were actually available for everyone. As long as nobody had reserved the seat, that is. As we had left early in the morning and Jesper still had four hours to drive from Göteborg to Vagnhärad, he made sure to take one of the free seats and get some sleep. They were actually quite comfortable with a reclining back. I ended up entertaining Little A even though I wasn’t really at my brightest after about two hours of sleep.
Anyway, we can imagine that it might be nice to book those seats during high season, but now we are happy that we did not waste unnecessary money. Upon arriving in Gothenburg, there was also a nice view out over the harbor, the city, and the surrounding islets and islands.
Brahehus Outside of Gränna
We were back in Sweden before lunchtime and set our direction towards Vagnhärad and the E4 highway at once. We had several places marked as possible stops for lunch. It all depended on Little A and for how long she would be happy in her seat. Jesper wanted to reach at least Jönköping before stopping. That would be almost halfway to Vagnhärad. It was actually a few kilometers after Jönköping that Little A woke up. We quickly decided to drive to Gränna for our stop. Just next to Gränna is one of the easier-to-reach stops along the E4 highway. That way we could make it a quick stop and then continue onwards. Little A got her food and her diaper changed. We got some food from the gas station. There was even a toilet! Before continuing the drive, we took a short walk to stretch our legs. Just next to the rest stop there is a ruin – Brahehus. This building must have been impressive once upon a time, today it is located just next to the highway. But if you walk up to the ruin, you get a great view out over the second largest lake in Sweden – Lake Vättern.
Back in Vagnhärad
After Brahehus we continued towards Vagnhärad. We had now reached halfway and the last part, a two-hour drive, didn’t take long. Passing by Linköping, Norrköping, and Nyköping we got closer by each passing minute. Eventually, we were back to where we had started our road trip three weeks earlier – Vagnhärad. A long drive had almost come to an end. Our plan was to stay in Vagnhärad for one night at Jesper’s parents before continuing back home to Stockholm. Once in Vagnhärad, we had a nice dinner and then we started with the boring stuff – the laundry. We made sure to wash all our clothes so that we wouldn’t need to do it at home. That is something we are really happy about now, for sure.
We will summarize the trip even more in the next few days. Until then, happy travels!
Join us on the road through Europe here!
