A gastronomic road trip

This is part one of our gastronomic road trip. You can read part two here and part three here.

We had actually booked an apartment in Italy to celebrate my birthday, but since the corona has put a stop to all travel, we had to rethink and rethink. We thought about the campervan and decided to take a gastronomic road trip in central Sweden where we would travel around between the restaurants that received the best ratings in the White Guide. Finding restaurants outside the areas where the infection is currently at its peak, and also at Easter time when many restaurants are closed anyway, proved to be something of a challenge. After revising our plans about a hundred times, we found a couple of real gems that we will tell you more about. By the way, changing plans is no problem at all when you have the house with you.

A campervan is a small motorhome, a so-called flatbed. As motorhome novices, we felt that it would be convenient to have a small car that is easy to drive and that you can drive on smaller roads. In addition to restaurants, we would also be hiking and hiking trails are rarely along a paved road. We rented our car from Rent&Travel which has collection points around Sweden. Easy and smart to rent instead of buying!

But what about travelling around in a campervan? Well, it's a bit cramped and you can expect to hit your head on all the cabinets and edges. You quickly learn that all doors should be closed even when you're standing still, but once you've learned to watch your head, it's actually both practical and cosy. You have the house and all your gadgets with you at all times and can stop at any time when the craving for coffee strikes. Staying for the night in a remote place along the water, drinking bubbles and eating goodies and then lying in bed and watching the stars through the small skylight is actually not so bad. We had been advised to avoid campsites but we still chickened out and chose a caravan site the first night and camping the second night. However, we quickly realised that apart from the occasional need to fill up water and empty the tank, you can manage just fine with free camping. The small bathroom, which makes an aeroplane cabin look spacious, actually contains a shower.

After we loaded up with a tasty lunch at the fantastic Oliverite and picked up the car in Kristinehamn, we headed down towards Mariestad. Mariestad is a real summer town on the eastern side of Lake Vänern. The town has a guest harbour with a nice walking path, bars and restaurants that are open during the summer. There is also a caravan park where we chose to stay our first night. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side this day, so our first evening on tour consisted of short walks through the city and dinner in the car. Of course, we had filled the fridge with delicacies so there was no need for us. The parking place down in the harbour was simple but it was clean and fresh, so it was still quite ok. 

Below you see some pictures of how we had it in our little camper. Not so big, but with a little good will you can get both bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. 🙂

After a good night's sleep with the rain hitting the window, we woke up to a sunny day and headed towards Norrköping where we had our first food stop. First, however, we made a small detour towards Tiveden National Park. Tiveden is Sweden's southernmost national park and is a large area between Askersund and Karlsborg. There is plenty to do here in the form of beautiful hiking trails, cycling trails, swimming and fishing lakes and more. For the hungry there is also Tivedens mat, one of the restaurants we wanted to visit but which unfortunately is only open in the summer. Since we were moving on, we only took a short hike along one of the trails, but we immediately got a taste for it when we walked along the well-maintained trails and are planning another visit here this summer. Then there will be a longer report on Tiveden and tips on the best food and fika in the area.

Strengthened and hungry after our hike, we went on to Norrköping and the restaurant GIN. As far as I know, GIN has nothing to do with the drink but stands for Gastronomi I Norrköping. They usually offer a 4- or 5-course menu, but during the current corona restrictions, only their 4-course menu is offered. You simply have to have time to eat before they close. However, we quickly realised that they are better at cooking than at counting, with snacks and a small extra dessert we were quickly up to 6 dishes, all equally good! The menu can be said to be a mix of "regular" menu and a tasting menu. The dishes were larger than in a tasting menu and especially the lamb was more of a whole composed dish. At the same time, they had taken out the swings a little more than what is usually the case with a traditional menu. The service was excellent and we had a very pleasant evening with really good food. A visit is highly recommended for those who have the roads past Norrköping.

On this second night of our trip, we had booked a campsite at Kolmårdens camping. Since the season at the zoo has not really started yet, it was relatively quiet here, but it was clear that the campsite lives on Kolmården's visitors. It was worn and run down, but at least we got all the motorhome stuff fixed and now we were ready to move on to new adventures. The tip we got about free camping we take with us and agree with. Why stay at a campsite when you have your house with you? The rest of the week we stopped the car where we felt like it and woke up to a breathtaking view of Lake Vättern or a beautiful sunrise. Rendahls like the campervan!