Kevin DuBois Travel and Photography: Denmark, Sweden, Norway: Day 3

We woke up in Copenhagen and got a quick breakfast at Rug Bakery before hopping the train to Malmö Sweden. After a short 45 minutes we arrived at the station around 9:15.

Maybe a little early, but never too early for fika. After dropping our bags at the Scandic Kramer, we grabbed a pastry and coffee at the Espresso Bar next door.

Such a selection!

Across the street was another bakery - Kathi's namesake!

Next, it was time to tour the city that hosted our friend Lars early in his life.

The Scandic Kramer is strategically situated on Malmö's central square, the Stortorget.

Our friend Lars had mentioned the Swedish penchant for severely cropped trees. See the ones on the left vs. those on the right (in the picture above). I'm not sure I understand the reasoning; to me it's not attractive.

Onward! Our first destination was Saint Peter's Church, built in the 14th century. Malmö's oldest church and oldest preserved building, dedicated to saints Peter and Paul.

One of only four occurrences of violence due to iconoclasm during the Danish Reformation (Malmö used to part of Denmark) occurred in St. Peter's Church in 1529, when Claus Mortensen led the destruction of much of the ornamentation in the church, deemed "too "catholic" by the Reformer. Of the more than sixty pre-Reformation altarpieces in the church, only one survived more or less intact.

The walls, pillars and vaults were whitewashed in the 17th century, giving the interior a light and bright atmosphere.

The pulpit, inaugurated in 1599, was commissioned by a member of the city council, Engelbret Fris and displays a certain likeness to the pulpit in the Lund Cathedral.

It's made of black limestone and light sandstone and gilt in several places. The rich ornamentation depicts scenes from the life of Christ.

In the back of the church is the original 16th century organ.

Below, a beautiful monument adorning one of the walls.

The alterpiece in St. Peter's Church is the largest wooden one in northern Europe. It's made of oak and reaches a height of 15 meters.

The altarpiece consists of four levels, one above the other. In the lowermost part, there is a depiction of the Last Supper in the centre, and on each side wooden sculptures of Moses and John the Baptist. Above, there is a depiction of the Crucifixion flanked by the crests of the Swedish King and Queen and, above that, there is a representation of the ascension, with Peter and Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. At the very top, the name of God, "Yahweh", is displayed.

A small nook with a place to leave prayers for those affected by war or disaster...

Not sure, but this looks like it may have been one of the original alterpieces that survived the reformation purge.

In the Chapel of Saint Mary lies this 1995 oak sculpture, painted with tempera and adorned with gold. It was inspired by a medieval Madonna in the Historical Museum at Lund University.

Not sure of the significance of this plaque, but I love the painted face and gilded locks.

The Merchants' chapel (Krämarkapellet) is richly decorated with late medieval murals. Some of the paintings may have been made in the 1460s while others date from the early 1510s. The murals have been described as being both "iconographically sophisticated" and "technically accomplished" in stark contrast to the naïveté typical for the many murals made in the countryside churches of the province at approximately the same time. The murals cover both the walls and the vaulted ceiling, and display several different motifs, both secular and religious, set among a background of flowing, green vines.

If you look closely you'll spot a griffin, which also appears in the coat of arms of Malmö.

Below, the seal of the church? Perhaps with a nod to the sea and the herring fishery that made Malmö prosperous.

Saint Peter's Church is a pilgrimage site, part of the Pilgrimsvägen Skåne Blekinge, the long road that will connect the pilgrimage site from Vadstena in Sweden to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Leaving Saint Peter's we continued to walk around the city and ran into some street art.

The Swedes had a lot to say about the Donald.

This graffiti was on an electrical box.

Our next destination was Lilla Torg, once voted as Sweden's most beautiful square. It's a small square packed with bars and restaurants but in the 1590's it was a large, low-lying "wasteland" (perhaps a wetland). After being filled in, it became the place where the burgher's wives and maids went to buy their daily household goods. On the west side of the square, people crowded around the meat counters, while the bakers on the south side of the square offered freshly baked bread. Along the eastern side of the square were the fishmongers and in the north the grocers. The small stalls of the hawkers and fishmongers disappeared in the 18th century and were replaced by timbered houses.

We stopped into a a Swedish clog shop to see if anything might catch Kathi's eye. The colorful clogs are known as Träskor and are usually made from alder wood and have leather uppers -made to wear or display.

South of the square is Hedmanska gården (The Hedman Estate), an old half-timbered house dating back to the 1590s. We ducked through an opening and checked out an interior gallery and its exhibitions.

The Form Design Center was not open when we were there :(

We walked south and then west on Stora Nygatan and then ran into something unexpected. As we were about to hang a left into Malmö's old cemetery, Gamla kyrkogården, we heard drumming and what sounding like a parade.

We stepped aside as a group of young women, all clad in white dresses and naval hats, marched by, singing songs and reveling in our attention. What was this?

We were later told that this was a high school graduation tradition, which we saw repeated throughout the day with busloads, floats, and marching girls celebrating their graduation.

What do the boys do? Who knows, but they better get out of the way!

After that slice of Swedish culture, we entered the cemetery for some calm. What a lovely space for peace and reflection!

The grounds were lovingly kept and beautifully landscaped, often seeming more like a botanical park than a cemetery.

Rather than lawn, the small, fenced plots were decorated with living flowering plants.

Simply beautiful!

We crossed the Södra Förstadscanalen river and made our way to Davidshalltorg where we waited for our friends to meet up. We used the spare time for a quick selfie.

Around Malmö (and later in Skanor-Fasterbro) I kept seeing stickers on posts and flags like the one below. Lars later explained that the flag is a means of identifying the Scania people who take pride in their unique lifestyle and distinguished accent.

Parts of southern Sweden used to be eastern Denmark, before wars and conquest, and the flag represents the red field present on the flag of Denmark and the yellow cross present on the flag of Sweden; they combine to form the Scania flag which was first developed in the 1870s.

When our friends gathered, we decided it was time for lunch, so we grabbed some outdoor dining spaces and some cocktails and waited our turn for some shade.

When we were there, parking areas had been converted into community gardens, Davidhallstorg Sommartorg, with artwork and kid play areas.

With the group in tow, we continued wandering south and came upon St Johannes Kyrka, Saint Johns Lutheran Church, and decided to check it out. It was built around 1903 to relive pressure on St. Peter's and St. Paul's parishes.

I loved the lighting! What a beautiful place to worship!

On the pulpit, there are five sections which are made of carved oak, depicting the life of Jesus, showing the stable with Mother Mary and the Child Jesus, Jesus at the age of twelve in the temple, Jesus' baptism, the bearing of the cross and Jesus leaving the open grave.

The art-nouveau artwork was stunning...

As were the organ pipes...

After visiting the church, we started our march north, along the Södra Förstadsgatan, one of the city's main access roads from the south since the middle ages.

As we moseyed, we window shopped and browsed, stopping along the way to get some very strong licorice candies (that took all of even my willpower to finish!). An acquired taste for sure!

Another unique sewer cover, this one with the griffin in the coat of arms of Malmö.

We finally made it back to the Stortorget square where our hotel lay.

Toni told me about the Apoteket Lejonet pharmacy - "probably the oldest working pharmacy in Sweden". In the 18th and 19th centuries, each pharmacy in Sweden was assigned an animal symbol to differentiate them and this pharmacy was awarded the lion symbol and, subsequently, is known as the Lion Pharmacy. At the top of the building, if you look closely perhaps you can see the Rod of Asclepius, the Greek symbol for medicine and healing.

In the square, you can also find the Residenset (the Governor's Residence) that was originally built at the end of the 16th century but last rebuilt in 1849.

Stortorget square is also where you will find the Malmö City Hall.

Before long, we struck out for dinner at a place that "Yef" and Fie had scoped out - said to have the best meatballs in Malmö. So after a short walk, we found ourselves at Gustov Adolf, named after the regent who developed and raised Malmö's prominence when it served as the capital of Sweden.