Gävunda – Kicking Back in Traditional Sweden

No, this is not Gävunda. This is merely on our way there. We left Vadstena, to make our way to the small village of Gävunda, in Dalarna, to visit my sister and my  brother-in-law, who are building a summer cottage there. Since we have a bi-fuel car, and want to drive on natural gas as much as possible, and there are basically no CNG stations in Dalarna, we planned to make a stop in the small town of Karlskoga to tank. We had to make another stop in Vansbro, to buy groceries, since it is the last town with a grocery store on our way to Gävunda. But the most noteworthy stop we made, was in Stjernsund Manor, that was home to a prince in the 1850’s. Aparently it contains one of the best preserved interiors of the 19th century, but we didn’t feel we had time to take the guided tour, we walked around the park and had a coffee at the picturesque café by the lake.

Dalarna is one of those places that seem to encapsulate everything that feels typical and traditional Swedish. Lakes, forests and hills scattered with small cottages in the traditional red color, Falu-red. Though not everybody paints their house in red, some want to be a bit different and try another color, for example my sister and her husband. The name Falu-red comes from the red color manufactured around the town of Falun, Dalarna. The word “falurött” (Falu-red) has existed in the Swedish language since late 19th century, but the idea of painting your timber-house red comes all the way from the 17th century when red was a symbol of wealth and meant to imitate brick houses from Europe.

We spent some lazy days in the tranquil village of Gävunda with my sister, her husband and their children. We bathed in the lake, played with the kids, ate lots of food, picked berries, played board-games, went to the local flea-market by rowing over lake Gävunda and tried to do some fishing. After some hectic days out on the road, we finally found our vacation-mode and were able to relax a bit.