I love Bamburgh Castle. The village of Bamburgh itself is always a great place to stop off, have a cuppa and do some exploring; this is a beautiful corner
A wandering window on the world
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We took a tour of Malmo; it was fabulous
![The Øresund or Øresund Bridge (Danish: Øresundsbroen, Swedish: Öresundsbron [œːrəˈsɵnːdsˈbruːn], joint hybrid name: Øresundsbron) is a double-track railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Scania (southernmost Sweden) and Denmark. The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which lies in the middle of the strait. The crossing of the strait is completed by a 4 km (2.5-mile) underwater tunnel, called the Drogden Tunnel, from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager. The term Øresund Bridge often includes this tunnel.](http://www.broady964.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/L1003212.jpg "A tour of Malmo")
The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which lies in the middle of the strait. The crossing of the strait is completed by a 4 km (2.5-mile) underwater tunnel, called the Drogden Tunnel, from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager. From Copenhagen airport, the train takes around 25 minutes to Malmo and costs around 1 Danish Krona (DKK) - around £7; amazing value given that the crossing cost over 31 Billion DKK to build, being completed in the year 2000.
Malmö (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈmalːˈmøː] (
listen)) is the capital and most populous city in Skåne County, and the third largest city in Sweden. Together with Copenhagen, it constitutes the transnational Øresund Region, the most densely populated area in Scandinavia.
Malmö is classified as a global city, placed in the gamma- category by theGaWC,[4] ranked 5th in Scandinavia by the Global Cities Index in 2012.[5] It is ranked the fourth-most inventive city in the world based on the number of patent applications per 10,000 residents[6] and the 7th-most bicycle friendly city in the world, according to the Copenhagenize Index in 2013.[7]
Malmö was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia, but it struggled with the adaptation topost-industrialism. Since the construction of the Øresund Bridge, Malmö has undergone a major transformation with architectural developments, and it has attracted new biotech and IT companies, and particularly students throughMalmö University, founded in 1998. The city contains many historic buildings and parks, and is also a commercial centre for the western part of Scania. Malmö was ranked #4 in Grist Magazine's "15 Green Cities" list in 2007.[8]
The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which, as of 31 March 2013, has 309,105 inhabitants in eight different localities. Malmö is also a bimunicipal locality, as part of it is formally situated in Burlöv Municipality.[9][10] The total population of the urban area was 280,415 in December 2010.[2]
Greater Malmö is one of Sweden's three officially recognized Metropolitan areas (storstadsområden) and since 2005 is defined as the municipality of Malmö and 11 other municipalities in the southwestern corner of Scania.[11] On 31 March 2012, its population was recorded to be 664,428.[3][12] The region covers an area of 2,522 square kilometres (974 sq mi).[1] The municipalities included, apart from Malmö, are Burlöv, Eslöv, Höör, Kävlinge, Lomma, Lund,Skurup, Staffanstorp, Svedala, Trelleborg and Vellinge. Together with Lund, Malmö is the region's economic and education hub.
One of the best areas to walk around is the newly developed small harbour and appartment blocks in the North, around the Turning Torso; a residential skyscraper iand the tallest building in the Nordic countries, built and owned by HSB Sweden.
The project was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005; it's great to photograph!
![Turning Torso is a residential skyscraper in Sweden and the tallest building in the Nordic countries.[citation needed] Located in Malmö on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait, it was built and is owned by HSB Sweden. The project was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 stories and 147 apartments.[5] In August 2015, it was announced that the building was the winner of the 10 Year Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.[6]](http://www.broady964.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/L1003219.jpg)
Out and about in Malmo
The old town central areas of Malmo are nice for eating and drinking, even with a crazy festival going on, it was always a pleasant atmosphere for the visitor at night.
Another sunny day in Malmo
Being a bit hooked on Strava and not wanting to spend half the day in a museum, I hired a bike and took off to visit the outer edges of Malmo - this was the right thing to do!
Riding around here was certainly more fun than this.......
A tour of Malmo must include a cycle in the park!
After such a busy morning it is always good to be sat in park, read books and having some quiet time.....
It was with some saddness I dopped off my bike back at the hotel ( I may be ditching carbon for a basket and a comfy saddle soon); and then walked up through town to the Sankt Petri Church (Swedish: Sankt Petri kyrka) .
This is a large gothic style church, construction started in 1319 - beautifully plain inside, there were some interesting rehersals going on - part of the festival no doubt.
As a major bonus, this weekend sees the start of Malmo Festival -a week of music, dance and partying for the whole region, little did we know the festival starts with the crayfish party in the main square
- where everyone eats crayfish, drinks and sings, wearing a silly hat of course (or a crayfish claw on their nose)!
A combination of fast food from around the world, mad crayfish people and two days hard sightseeing had a detremental effect on my feet and it was clearly time to sit down and have a been and reflect on this strange but friendly city.
So that was Malmo - a town full of mad people, which I found rather comforting...
Ttomorrow is Saturday, its time to go to Gothenburg and leave on the train; as for Malmo, I will certainly come back another day!
