Gustav’s dragon slayer

We didn’t start our bike tour to Vadstena until 10 am. After 13 km of nice bike lanes but also some sand and gravel road along pretty wheat and oat fields, horses, and cows, we finally arrived at the castle, past 3 pm. So we didn’t even have an hour to look at the chambers and grounds.

The girls were impressed by the royal outfits. Amazingly, they were not too exhausted to dress up themselves.

Vadstena castle is the best-preserved renaissance castle in Scandinavia. Building work began in 1545 on the order of King Gustav Vasa. He first intended the castle to become a fortress, then a residence for his son Duke Magnus. In the end, it never played a significant role in defending Sweden or as a royal residence.

We restored our energy with some cake and – astonishing enough – playground time before we looked at the rest of the city.

Of course, it was too late and we were too exhausted to bike back to Motala. So we fulfilled a wish of Erna‘s: we rode the bus, which only took 20 minutes!

When we asked Erna how she liked the ride she said: “Good, not always just riding horses.” ;oP