"A short afternoon in Uppsala" Uppsala by martin_nl

Uppsala Travel Guide: 310 reviews and 817 photos

After our infamous Roxette Room Service tour that you can read about on my homepage we stayed a week longer in Stockholm. But since we had already been to Stockholm a few times, we thought it would be fun to visit another city. Uppsala was our choice and so we spend half a day here. To start with I can already tell you that half a day is much too short to see this beautiful city, especially when you are visting in autumn or winter. Because of this fact we couldn't see much of the city, but what we saw was stunning. While it was still light we did a very short tour around town the city after which we did some record hunting in some of the many record shops Uppsala has to offer. After that at about 18:00hrs we returned to Stockholm.

On this page most info was taken from http://www.uppsala.se/ the official Uppsala homepage.

Longest history of Sweden

No Swedish town has such a long history as Uppsala. Even in the 6th century the area was a stronghold for politics and religion. From here the Vikings set out on their expeditions with their ships and at the pagan temple there were festivals where men and animals were sacrificed to placate the gods. The Svea king himself was the High Priest, a lineal descendant, said to derive his origin from the pagan gods.

Remaining as proof of this there are the burial mounds at Old Uppsala. That is where the Vikings buried three of their kings.

History is always present in Uppsala and the ancient monuments characterize the townscape even today. You will not see any Vikings or warlords in the alleys but their myths and stories will live on. In Old Uppsala you can still attend a " Viking carousal " drinking mead from mead horns and the castle houses a museum of wax figures where historical events are brought to life by means of light and sound effects. The King and his court, however, have moved out and the castle has been converted into a building for the Uppsala residents themselves. Everyone is welcome here. You will among other things find the City art museum, several university institutions and a spacious banqueting hall.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Beatifull old buildings
Cons:Get's dark early in autumn and winter
In a nutshell:Great city to walk around and relive some of 'Ancient Sweden'

Last visit to Uppsala: Nov 2001
Intro Updated Dec 6, 2002
Add to Trip Planner (?)
Report Abuse

Reviews (4)

Marie eating DAIM ice in X2000 - Uppsala

Train to Uppsala Transportation (1)

There are a lot of trains going everyday from Stockholm to Uppsala. There are X2000 high speed trains, but less... more travel advice

Uppsala map Favorites (1)

Walking around the city is great. You can feel that this city is very old. The buildings look great too!! On the pic you... more travel advice

Gustavianum/ Uppsala University Museum Things to Do (2)

On display in Sweden's oldest university building, dating from the 1620s, are the university's collections and... more travel advice

Uppsala Cathedral Things to Do (2)

Construction began around 1260, consecration took place in 1435 after 175 years of work. Now the largest church in... more travel advice

Comments (7)

Reply
- Report abuse
b1bob Aug 20, 2003 at 6:34 PM

Nice job!
Reply
- Report abuse
olja1234 Apr 7, 2003 at 3:29 PM

Very well written. And great pics. Thanks for sharing
Reply
- Report abuse
Madasabull Feb 14, 2003 at 11:03 PM

Looks really nice.
Reply
- Report abuse
AndyRG Feb 6, 2003 at 8:11 AM

Is she happy now that saw that picture here?
Reply
- Report abuse
Ken_Weaver Jan 23, 2003 at 3:49 PM

I missed the Univ Museum when I was there ....liked your history section
Reply
- Report abuse
Sharrie Jan 23, 2003 at 3:34 PM

I had a wonderful time here as well :-) Indeed one day is too short!
Reply
- Report abuse
MalenaN Jan 6, 2003 at 11:50 AM

Half a day! Well, you have to go back to Uppsala one day as there is so much to see.