Northern light
WELL READ: Seafood safaris, murder mystery tales and kingsize prawn sandwiches, Sarah Marshall takes an alternative Scandi seaside break.
INDING inspiration to write a postcard home from a small Swedish fishing village Fjallbacka isn’t difficult. Anyone lost for ideas need only glance at the elaborate, adjective-laden travel scripts pinned outside globally-themed rooms in the boutique Stora Hotellet Bryggan hotel.
Each letter was supposedly written by fictional character Captain Klassen, regaling tales of his adventures around ound the world. Given the breadth of his voyages – from Indonesia to Africa and the Americas – it’s somehow ironic that his words should wind up in a sleepy seaside town barely acknowledged on a world map.
But when hotel manager Susanne Maxvall invented the character, she was clearly tappingg into a sense of nautical adventure that drenches Fjallbacka like the spray from the refreshing North Sea. Set along a coastline of rough-hewn bluffs with an archipelago of 8,000 islands and skerries, Fjallbacka is the star attraction in the scenic Bohuslan region. An easy one-and-a-half hour drive from Sweden’s second city Gothenburg, it’s a favourite weekend haunt for naturestarved urbanites and also attracts tourists on a city and surf two-centre trip.
I’ve come here for an alternative seaside break, where fish ’n’ chip shops take the form of seafood safaris and the only sticks of rock I’ll encounter are towering cairns atop the town’s dominating Vetteberget mountain.
Passing rows of classic clapboard houses, and buildings decorated with intricate designs known as snickargladje (carpenter’s joy), I head to the harbour where a bust of Ingrid Bergman is surrounded by wild flowers.
The Swedish Hollywood actress first came here on holiday in 1958, then spent every summer, bar one, until her death in 1982 on nearby island Dannholmen. Her ashes were cast out at sea and it’s here that th the magic of West Sweden really tak takes hold.
A Along with seven other tourists, IjI join fisherman Ingemar Gr Granquist on a boat trip to look for lan langoustines, a speciality in this re region. Visitors can join seafood sa safaris throughout the year, alt although the delicacies on offer differdi depending on the season. LangoustinesLa can be fished from springsp through to autumn, while theth lobster season starts at the end of September.
S Shellfish in this part of the world is exceptional. Ingemar, who ditchedd his office job to become a fisherman in 1990, has supplied langoustines to Saudi Arabian princes and some of his catch was even served at last year’s Nobel Prize Award Ceremony.
There are strict regulations governing fishing in the area, and Ingemar carefully casts back the few female langoustines we find in order to stick by sustainable practices. Along with the 10 professional fishermen who operate in this region, residents are also permitted 14 pots per
I imagine that it could easily provide fodder for a Scandi
noir thriller
household. Lobsters in particular are carefully monitored by marine police, although Ingemar hints that sometimes foul play is afoot.
It almost sounds like a case for bestselling crime novelist Camilla Lackberg, whose stories set in Fjallbacka have caused a surge of interest in the town. Every Friday