Småland Sweden: Part 1 - Day 1: Stockholm to Ramunderberget, Stensnäs, Byrums Rauka

This summer is spent in Sweden. This short 4-days' roadtrip was in Småland (pronounced as smo-lant). Here is a brief description of this area.

Småland is a historical province in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania (Swedish: Skåne), Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. Source from Wikipedia.

Day 1 of Småland Drive

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1. 

15/7 Day 1: Stockholm -- Söderköping (pronounced as 'ser-der sher-ping'). The drive started at 1.30pm -- Ramunderberget -- Stensnäs -- overnight at Byrums Rauka, Öland

No accommodation costs incur in this roadtrip as we slept in the car.

Must-Incur Costs

(1) Petrol in Södertälje - SEK783.74 / 49.51 liter / SEK15.83 per liter (I noticed the price of the petrol for our trip to Holland in 2017 was SEK13.45 and in 2018 (last year to Norrland) is SEK15.46 and a gradual increase to SEK15.83 this year. Wonder what will the price be like in 2020.)

Optional Costs 

(1) 15/7 Food from ICA Nörrköping - SEK265

The Story

15072019: The drive started from Stockholm at 1.30pm. A calm and sunny summer day. We arrived at Söderköping and went up Ramunderberget, the town's lovely 70m-high attraction to eat a simple dinner of shrimp sandwich. Ramunderberget is a low hill that is accessible by many steps and has a view of the town below. Söderköping is a charming town and has its share of houses and buildings from the past.

The drive continued on to Stensnäs to explore an abandoned mine. I did not have much information about this mine, so I wore cautiously. There was no signboard describing about the mine which makes me felt unsafe here. Thankfully, it is a short entrance into the mine and it was filled with water. It was very dark and slightly chilly in the entrance, and I was relieved that I have got my headlamp to shine the way.

We went up above the abandoned mine and got a view of this beautifully-lined trees.

The drive continued southwards into Öland (pronounced as er-lant) to Byrums Rauka (almost at the tip of the northern part of the island) where we slept here in the car. The below photo was taken at 4.20am. What a lovely dawn!