Sweden Shopping Tips by Trekki Top 5 Page for this destination

Beautiful hand dipped paper, Lessebo

This is a fantastic shop, located in the same building as the hand paper factory at Lessebo. They make the paper all by hand in the old machines (see to-do tip for the factory visit) and then sell it. The paper is very beautiful and comes in a rich variety. You can buy paper with little dried flowers, little fabric threads, shredded money or confetti. You can buy watercolour paper in all different sizes. You can buy watermarked paper with moose and other symbols, little hangers for gifts, envelopes with cards, you name it. I loved their paper with shredded money (our good old Deutsche Mark, they said – I investigated it with my microscope and yes, it is true). Their A4 size paper with the shredded money was 20 SEK per sheet, 125 SEK for a sheet of A3 size, a set of five cards with envelope 50 SEK, the little hangers 10 SEK per piece. You could also buy a carton of their regular, machine made coloured paper (the one they produce next door but on industrial scale) for 78 SEK. That one contained approx. 70 sheets of paper, weighing approx. 110 g/m2.
(the prices above are before the 10% off with glass pass. But the discount is given here as well).

Currency converter

More photos of their work in my Lessebo albums.

Directions:
Lessebo Pappersbruk is located east of Växjo. From Växjö, drive road 25 eastward until the village of Lessebo. Turn straight ahead (east) at the roundabout just after ICA supermarket (which is on the right/south side), direction Kalmar/Eriksmala/Nybro and after 50 m, turn left (north) onto the parking lot of the paper factory.

Exact location of Lessebo Hand Dipped Paper Manufacturer on google maps.

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Region: Småland;
nearest airport: Kalmar (international) or Växjo (regional)
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© Ingrid D., October 2009 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).

Address: Storgatan 79, 360 50 Lessebo

Theme: Other

Website: http://www.vida.se/historia-1.aspx

Bergdala Hytta, beautiful blue rim glass

It is easy to fall in love with Bergdala’s simple blåkant plates and dishes because of the intense blue colour. That’s what happened to me before I travelled to Sweden and that’s why shopping at Bergdala was very high on my wishlist. Already before I bought some of these, I could get an idea how it feels to eat morning cereals in the bowls and pour milk from the carafes because Bergdala’s Wärdshus, where I stayed and had breakfast, has most of these as dishware.
The shop is rather small compared to the one at Kosta but this makes it easier to compare what you really want. At the end, I have decided to buy bowls, carafes and these cute milk bottles and milk cans. When I compared the prices I paid with the ones of a Swedish distributor, I was amazed of how much I saved! And in addition to buy directly in an outlet, I got 10% off with the glass pass! I am well aware that the prices seem high, but this became understandable I watched how these things are made in the glass factory next door.
More photos of their work in my Bergdala albums.

Prices for comparison (Bergdala prices with 10% additional glass pass discount):
Bowls, diametre 15 cm: 200 SEK at Bergdala, 325 SEK at the distributor,
Milk can, 12 cm height: 373 SEK at Bergdala, 625 SEK at the distributor,
Carafe, 1 litre: 328 SEK at Bergdala, 525 SEK at the ditributor.

Look at the prices of Bergdala’s distributorLM-Karlsson, left navigation menu “Bergdala” and then “Blå kant serien”.

Now add the prices for an international overseas ditributor and you know that it is a lot you save when buying directly at Bergdala. I will be back……

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Directions:
Drive east from Växjö, road 32. After the village of Hovmantorp, look for the brown sign that says “Bergdala Glasbruk” and turn north (left). Follow the road for approx. 5 km and then turn left (west) at the next sign. It is directly on the right side of the road.

Exact location of Bergdala Glassworks on google maps.

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Region: Småland;
nearest airport: Kalmar (international) or Växjo (regional)
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© Ingrid D., October 2009 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).

Theme: Other

Website: http://www.bergdaladesign.se/websites/bergdala/sd_page/2/1/index.php

Transjö Hytta glass works, simply the best

I am so grateful to Klas Nystrand of Bergdala’s Wärdshus (my accommodation) for having suggested that I should visit this glass workers! He said that they have the best of all glass work. And in my opinion they have indeed. In the meantime, I have regained a bit of knowledge about the chemical-physical background of glassblowing, that’s why I claim to be a bit in a position to judge. But for Transjö Hytta it is more than only their work, it is also the surrounding. They are located off the main road, accessible only by a small unpaved road, a river and lake next to them, surrounded by birch trees – something like a paradise! Unfortunately, they were not working (but start again in September) but this tip is about the shopping possibilities. You can buy work made by the masters Jan-Erik Ritzman or Sven-Åke Carlsson or by one of their students. As far as I could see and judge, the prices of the students’ work is equal compared to the ones of the masters, which seems good. And the students are really excellent as well. It was difficult decide which object I liked best. Given the prices, I wasn’t sure first if buying would maybe ruin me, but then I saw this vase and completely forgot about prices.. It is the vase “Konfekt” in yellow, something like love at the first sight. I loved the way, the traditional Venetian/Murano technique of millefiori was combined with a polkagris type of technique and the very vivid colours. Other really interesting glass objects were paperweights of different size and style, masks (sorry, no photo, because I don’t want to put them into trouble and see their special work being copied in dragonland…). I especially liked the ”Marina” series. It is fascinating to think about how they get the fish into the glass. I found out how they do it for some of the objects, but the majority of the work is still a mystery to me. Which is good, because that’s part of their secret and the fascination for us customers to admire the work.
Ok, prices. As I already mentioned, they are not cheap. It is a lot of work and a lot of experimenting with the techniques, the fish for example. As far as I could see, no object was less than 1000 SEK. But it is well worth the money, because it is unique art work. And I am sure that once I watch how they work, I would even more appreciate their art, more than I already do by only visiting their shop.

More photos of their work in my Transjö album.

Directions:
Transjö Hytta is located east of Växjo and south of Kosta Hytta. From Växjö, drive road 25 eastward until the village of Eriksmala. Turn north (left) here at the roundabout and watch the sign “Transjö”. It is on the right side of the road, approx. 1 km off the road. Careful: the sign is NOT brown as for the other glass work companies!! It is a simple white and can easily be overlooked!.

Exact location of Transjö on google maps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Region: Småland;
nearest airport: Kalmar (international) or Växjo (regional)
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© Ingrid D., October 2009 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).

Theme: Other

Website: http://www.transjohytta.com/

Buy your alcohol.. NOT on the ferry

You might be amazed abou this and might wonder if the “not” in my tip title is a mistake. But no, it is not, this is what I want to recommend:
If you take one of the ferries from Germany (which could easily be the case for anyone from western and southern Europe) try and find a German supermarket to buy your whatever kind of drinks. It is more expensive on the ferry. You won’t get the one litre bottles in supermarkets though. I was amazed myself when I compared and without my birthday I might not even have considered to buy in a supermarket. But with this day and an almost one week long party I needed quite a bit of supply and thought that it is better to buy it when I have full access to my car. On the ferry, it would have been a nightmare to go down to the car with several litres of spirit. And then on the ferry I compared the goods I bought and realised that they came mostly 5-10% more expensive than in the supermarket. And this wasn’t even a cheap supermarket. Just a normal Sky-Coop one, which are quite widespread in northern Germany.
As an example: for 0,7 litre of Baileys I paid 12,99 in the supermarket but it would have cost 19,99 for the one litre bottle on the ferry. Saved me approx. 1,5 Euro. It was similar for the other goods.

© Ingrid D., October 2009 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).

Theme: Food and Drink

If you like cider – this will be heaven !

I usually don’t like cider, as it is too sparkling for me. But… somehow I had to taste this one – how could I resist cider with berry taste?? (I could live on any kind of red berries for the rest of my life – somehow). So, while I was in Sweden, we often bought some cans of cider in several flavours. And I can hardly wait until I get back and can buy more of them.
By now, there are even more flavours available, which are listed in the website below. Rekorderlig cider is being produced by Åbro bryggeri and according to their website, made only with pure spring water and fruit wine of the highest quality. Maybe that’s why it tasted so good to me!

Haha, when I lokked up Vimmerby, where the brewery is located, I found out that this is also home of famous Pippi Longstocking :-)
Vimmerby tourism website

What to buy: It comes in two different strengths, 4,45% in the 500 ml bottle and 2,25% in the 500 ml cans and costs 18 Kroner. Well, in Sweden this is (or seems to be, according to the website). But I found a dealer in the UK, where the cider cans are also available in 4,45%. At least the alcohol content is easily to detect as it is written on the lower part of the bottle.

© Ingrid D., July 2008 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).

What to pay: 500 ml around 18 Kroner.

Theme: Food and Drink

Website: http://www.abro.se/eng/products.aspx?ID=ed5a8721-e5ce-492f-9fa6-5d866d6acae0&Parent=a9eaf212-ee63-4ac7-b781-5703b7871380&T=0&N=0&S=3

Fish – so fresh that you believe you swim :)

Ah, if you like fish then nothing is better than FRESH Swedish fish. (I have to mention maybe that I live in the centre of Germany and won’t even think to buy fish here, as I am never sure if it is him or maybe his grandfather…)
It is no matter where you buy the fish in Sweden – either in supermarkets or on fish markets, it will be fresh and you can see it ! These guys did swim and dream of fish babies just a couple of hours ago ! You can get the whole pallet, from salmon to tuna, fresh crabs and shrimps, mussels, marinated crabs in all sizes and spices. YUMM…

Prices vary of course, depending on the amount. But for me, the prices are still very much reasonable, much less than I would have to pay for in Germany. And this, despite usually food in Sweden is a bit more expensive than in Germany.

So if you are in Sweden and have rented a house for example, or are out for caming – what are you waiting for ? Fresh fish on a barbecue, with a beer in the evening – what can be better ?

© Ingrid D., April 2007 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).

Theme: Food and Drink