Österlen in south-eastern Skåne has a climate like that of Paris and a light that has attracted painters for a century. Along the coast lies a ship setting from the Iron Age, Scandinavia's best-preserved medieval castle and Sweden's largest Bronze Age grave – and in autumn the apples are harvested. Our route along the Österlen coast.
Österlen is a region in the southeasternmost part of Skåne comprising the municipalities of Simrishamn and Tomelilla and part of the Ystad countryside, with between 35,000 and 40,000 permanent residents and many more in the summer. The name means "the road eastward", the old route from Ystad towards the northeast. As a modern term it was launched in the tourist brochure Till Österlen vill jag fara in 1929, by editor John Osterman and author Theodor Tufvesson, and author Fritiof Nilsson Piraten helped to make the name known. The area is known for its nature, its fishing villages, small towns and its agriculture.
The climate is mild: Simrishamn is warmed by the Gulf Stream and the Baltic Sea and lies in growth zone 8a, comparable to Paris, and Österlen is drier than the rest of southern Sweden. In autumn, when the summer visitors have left, it is apple harvest time. The route below starts in the south and follows the coast northwards.
Kåseberga and Ales stenar
Start in Kåseberga, a fishing village in Ystad Municipality already mentioned in medieval times among Skåne's regulated fishing villages, together with, among others, Skanör, Falsterbo and Simrishamn. From the harbour, steps and a path lead up to the headland of Kåsehuvud, nearly 30 metres above sea level, and to Ales stenar.
Ales stenar is a ship setting made up of 59 large boulders weighing up to five tonnes each, with the largest stones at the bow and stern. Carbon-14 dating points mainly to the monument having been erected around 1,400 years ago, towards the end of the Nordic Iron Age. During the excavations in 1989, a decorated clay pot containing burnt human bones was found. The purpose is disputed – grave, cult site or solar calendar – and one theory holds that the ship is aligned towards the sunset at midsummer. Regardless of interpretation, the site, high above the sea, is one of the most tranquil in Sweden.
Glimmingehus – the knight's castle
Drive inland to Glimmingehus, Scandinavia's best-preserved medieval castle. It was built 1499–1506, when Skåne was Danish, by the knight and admiral Jens Holgersen Ulfstand, with the North German stonemason Adam van Düren, who also worked on Lund Cathedral. The walls are 2.4 metres thick at the base, and the castle is full of defensive mechanisms: false doors, dead ends, pouring holes for boiling pitch, moats and drawbridges. Archaeological finds of Venetian glass, stained glass from the Rhine region, and Spanish ceramics bear witness to the family's standard of living up until Ulfstand's death in 1523.
Simrishamn – the harbour town of Österlen
Simrishamn is first mentioned in 1161, as Symbrishafn, and as a town in 1361. When Skåne became Swedish through the Peace of Roskilde in 1658, the town had around 200 inhabitants. It is built around Storgatan and the square, and the railway arrived in 1892; since 1997 the Pågatåg trains have run here. It is a natural stop on the route, with the harbour and the low houses around the square.
Stenshuvud – the national park by the sea
North of Simrishamn rises Stenshuvud, a hill by the Baltic Sea that sailors have long used as a landmark and that has been a national park since 1986. Most of the park is broadleaf woodland, especially hornbeam, with heather heaths, meadows and fens. Thanks to the mild climate, rare species such as the hazel dormouse, the golden oriole and the European tree frog live here, along with around 600 vascular plants, among them several orchids. Near the summit are the remains of a fort from the 5th or 6th century, and below lies a bathing beach. The Skåneleden trail crosses the hill between Simrishamn and Kivik.
Kivik – apples and the King's Grave
Kivik is known for herring, apples and must – and for the King's Grave (Kungagraven), a round burial site from the Bronze Age with a diameter of 75 metres, the largest in Sweden. Kivik's market in July, which according to tradition came into being when the Hanseatic League bought herring here, is Sweden's second largest, with around a thousand stalls and 100,000 visitors. In autumn, it's all about the apple harvest.
Brösarps backar – Prince Eugen's landscape
End inland at Brösarps backar, an undulating landscape of lime-rich Ice Age deposits that is kept open through grazing. In the northern hills grow maiden pink and St Bernard's lily, while in the southern hills grow cowslip and pasque flower. The painter prince Prince Eugen came here for several summers in the 1930s to paint the hills, and during the filming of The Brothers Lionheart, Källagården's apple orchards at the edge of the southern hills played the role of Cherry Valley.
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