Return to Copenhagen With Us
	Return to the Europe/Cruise Trip Index

Getting to Malmo

When we arrived at the nearby subway station in Copenhagen, we navigated the ticket machines to find out which ticket to buy and how much it was, and got our tickets for Malmo. We then descended the multiple levels of escalators down to the platform, waited for the right train, and then we boarded.

The trip involved a couple of stations on the subway, then a transfer to an actual train. The train headed out past the Copenhagen airport, crossed the channel between the North Sea and the Baltic, and arrived about forty minutes later at the Malmo train station.

We stopped in the tourist office at the train station to get some information about what to do and where to go, and then headed outside the station.

During our trip over to Malmo, we took a number of good pictures, and if you will click on the thumbnail images below you can take a look at them:

A Walk Through Malmo's Old City

   Walking to City Hall Square

We came out the side entrance of the train station, and there was a canal immediately to our left, and we could see older city buildings in that direction. Looking off to the right, we could see what appeared to be a new section of the city. We decided to explore the older part of town first, and so we headed off to our left, crossing the intersection across from the train station. Then we headed down what appeared to be a fairly major street to our south. Along the way, we passed an incongruous sight, given how cold it was- a flower shop. Fred said that everything out on display was winter hardy, at least for a short while. We continued down this street until we reached a main city square (A).

Along this short walk, we took some good pictures, and if you will click on the thumbnail images below you can look at them:

The street we were following came out into a large public square. Off to our left, there seemed to be some public buildings, and we later learned that the main one was City Hall. At the southeast corner of the square there appeared to be a major shopping street, and when we crossed the square and had taken our pictures there, we headed down that street, passing a typical building entrance.

Here in this first square, we took a number of other pictures, and if you will click on the thumbnail images below you can look at them:

The first large square we came to was bordered by stores and, we think, the Malmo City Hall. This movie pans 360 degrees around the square so you can see what it looks like.

   Walking Through Old Malmo

From City Hall Square, we followed the shopping street that led out of the southeast corner of the square.

We walked south along this shopping street, doing a lot of people watching and admiring the architecture. As we were walking, Greg pointed out an outlet of Zara, a high-end clothing store chain and, coincidentally, Tim and David's favorite. (At the end of the cruise, I ended up with a very nice sweater from Zara; David bought it before getting to Barcelona, and didn't like the way it fit him, and so I became it's new owner.) When we got to the next street intersection (all these streets seem to be pedestrian only) we turned right just on a whim, and from a ways down that street looked back the way we'd come.

Along this part of our walk, we took a fair number of good pictures; click on the thumbnail images below to look at them:

As we walked down the side street, we could see, up ahead, that we were coming out into another city square- but a smaller one than the first. When we got there, we found that the buildings bordering this square seemed to be much older than those in City Hall Square, and we were amazed at the old architecture but also how well-kept-up these buildings were. It brought home again how nothing at home is very old at all- maybe a hundred years for some buildings in Dallas. But these looked to be three or four times that old.

One example of this interesting architecture was the brick and beam construction of some of these buildings, and the rich wood framing for doors and windows. On the southwest corner of this square we found a pub and restaurant done in this same style.

We took quite a few pictures of these interesting buildings and the architectural detail they displayed. You can look at these pictures by clicking on the thumbnail images below:

In some of the pictures above, you saw the interesting old architecture and building designs that we encountered. This movie will take you close up to a couple of these buildings, and you'll get a better idea of not only what they were like but also of the wide variety of architectural designs that we encountered.

   The Center of Old Malmo and Lunch

From the square with the old buildings, we exited at the southwest corner and headed south on another typical Malmo street, towards what appeared to be the old city center. We were all working up an appetite and were thinking about where we might have lunch. Fred was, I am sure, disappointed that we couldn't just have lunch in this bakery.

At the end of the street we were on, we came out on what appeared to be the square at the center of old Malmo. Next to the square was a large cemetery that you can see in the aerial view. When we walked into the plaza itself, the first thing we noticed was that there was some sort of flower market going on. We looked around for a place to have a light lunch, but most of the restaurants seemed to be more formal (and more expensive) than we wanted (lunch being the day's big meal in Europe). We spotted a place across the square and past a small interesting sculpture (I'm not sure if the crown has anything to do with the restaurant in the background) and headed over there for some lunch.

We had lunch in a local restaurant just off the main central plaza in Malmo. This movie is a panorama of the activity in that central plaza, capturing the pedestrian traffic and the impromptu market laid out in the middle of the square.

After lunch, we headed back up the first street we'd come down, passing a beautiful bank building, the City Hall again and then one other interesting building in that square that we hadn't noticed before. Finally, it was back to the train station.

A Walk Through Malmo's "New City"

Once back at the station, we thought that we would walk in the other direction to see what the new part of Malmo was like. Also, Greg had seen pictures of a new building that had been built recently- the "Turning Tower"- and he wanted to have a look at it.

The older part of Malmo was very interesting, and the architecture very attractive. If I were to live here, I would probably want to live in this older, more active part of the city. But across the canal and the other way from the train station is an entirely new part of the city, looking as if it had just been constructed- as indeed it had in the last decade or so. At the left is an aerial view of this area, and I have indicated not only the path we walked (in the VERY cold wind) but also the sites of some of the buildings and things we took pictures of.

I say "sites" because the aerial view that Google Maps has is too old to show most of the structures we saw. Some of the commercial buildings are visible, but an interesting library, a new apartment building, the Turning Tower itself and even a bridge that we walked across on our way back are not visible on the aerial view. My guess is that the aerial view is somewhere between three and six years old; certainly the areas we were walking through had buildings that were just finished or under construction, so I am not surprised that they don't show up.

We began by walking across the bridge in front of the train station, crossing over to an area of new construction. One very interesting building had contrasting curtain-wall and wood architecture; you can see a picture of it in the section of thumbnails below. We took the street behind these commercial buildings and headed north. The aerial view does not show the university library that we passed, and neither this picture nor the one in the thumbnail section below can really show how there was a good deal of writing (library-oriented quotations, I would assume) on the building but that the writing was only viewable in sections when your angle of view was correct. It was kind of like advertising that followed you along.

We continued to the end of the little island, and then crossed a bridge right by the old Malmo lighthouse. Then it was down the street and past the new apartment building shown in the thumbnails below, at which point we could see the Turning Tower in the distance. We walked over to it and took the pictures that are included in the thumbnails below. You may have seen this building on television or on the Internet; Greg said it's been on "Modern Marvels" or some show like that. The tower does not actually turn; it just looks as if it does. All over this area there were lots of new buildings under construction or just completed. On the way back, we stopped to examine a new skatepark that will, I guess, be used by the new residents in the area (at least the young ones).

On our way back, we took a new, different bridge to get us back to the area where the train station was. Our path then took us by the buildings along the canal until we ended up back at the Malmo train station.

This walk, although cold and windy, was extremely interesting, and we took a good many more pictures that don't require a lot of explanation. If you will click on the thumbnail images below, in order, you'll be able to follow us on our walk through the new part of Malmo:

The "Turning Tower" was a pretty amazing building, and maybe the still pictures don't do it justice. I took a movie of the building from bottom to top.

Well, we've really enjoyed our walk around Malmo, Sweden, but now it's time to re-enter the station for our return trip to Copenhagen.

Returning from Malmo

When we returned to the Malmo train station, we got our tickets and a half-hour later were on our way back to Copenhagen. On the train, we took a couple of pictures and a movie or two. Use the links below to see the pictures, and use the movie player below that to watch the movies:

We thought that all kinds of transportation here in Copenhagen were well-designed, well-thought-out, comfortable (perhaps except for bicycling in 40-degree weather) and efficient. This movie will show you what riding on a typical train was like.

Please use the link below to return with us to Copenhagen.

	Return to Copenhagen With Us
	Return to the Europe/Cruise Trip Index