Lysekil, Sweden

It is our last port of call for the Braemar Mystery Cruise to Maiden Ports. In the early morning, we sailed past large, granite rocks to dock at the town of Lysekil, Sweden. as we docked, ABBA was playing from the tourist information area, just to verify that yes, we were in Sweden. I had arranged another tour for this area, so while we did drive through part of this beautiful town, most of my day was seeing other things.

Our first stop was to the fishing village of Smögen where we learned that many of the local churches were designed by the same person and built with the local granite stone.

From there, we went to Vitlycke Museum to see the Bronze Age stone carvings.  The museum is set in a beautiful park-like setting and the stone carvings were really interesting, especially considering how hard the stone is to carve and the type of tools they had to work with in the Bronze Age. We had a guide give us detailed information about a couple of the stones. In the pictures, you will see that the images are painted red.  This is not how they were originally, it is just to help us see the images better. There is also a nice museum, gift shop and restaurant there.

Our next stop was the fishing village of Fjällbacka. It is very picturesque and is famous for two people. Camilla Läckberg, an author of crime novels, and actress Ingrid Bergman who had a summer home there. It is said that she enjoyed the peace of the town and being able to live quietly. We had a wonderful lunch, with fresh, local fish and topped by the best coffee I had on the entire cruise!

When we returned to the ship, we had to go through a passport inspection — and it was really nice to  be able to actually talk and have pleasant conversations with immigration officials!

We sailed away to more ABBA music — and everyone on shore dancing (even some of the immigration officials!)

It was a wonderful the end to a perfect day — and a perfect cruise on the Braemar.