Is it a Castle? Is it a Palace?

We wanted to break our journey from Stockholm back to England. Kalmar seemed the perfect spot. It’s a coastal town, and a busy one. But at its heart is a quiet community, featuring a Proper Castle.

Back in the 1180s, there were nuisance pirates. So a fortified watchtower was needed. Here, the castle began. It was strategically – and ideally -placed near Denmark.

It was here that the Kalmar Union took place in 1397, a treaty signed at the castle that unified Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single monarch. Scandinavia’s history has long been intertwined in different ways over the centuries. Then in the 16th century King Gustav Vasa and his sons upgraded the medieval stronghold into a spectacular Renaissance palace.

That didn’t stop it being a defensive castle though. There were sieges throughout much of the first half of 17th century, though they petered out when national borders moved further south. Kalmar Castle’s strategic days were over. By the late 1600s it was used first as a prison and then – the shame! – a granary. It had to wait until the 19th and 20th centuries to be restored to glory, and recognised as a National Treasure.

Midsummer meant that opening hours were fairly restricted, and we didn’t see inside. But we enjoyed the outside, and even some internal courtyards.

It was almost as much fun to watch the seabirds. One small island nearby was so very noisy with seaside birdlife that I promptly named it Bempton Cliffs, though there wasn’t a cliff in sight. Herons seemed omnipresent – and successful fisherfolk they were too.

One extra bit of history, noticed by us and a black headed gull, near the castle.

This is a memorial to Kalmar Nyckel‘s first voyage to America in 1638, taking (in 4 voyages) the first Swedish colonists to America. I assumed that Kalmar Nyckel was a man. Silly me. It was a ship. Since 1963, Kalmar has been twinned with Wilmington, Delaware, the site of the New Sweden colony.

And finally, for the Instagram generation, here’s the castle again. A view through one of the helpful ‘frames’ which surrounded the castle.

I’ve probably not done with Stockholm yet. I’m jumping around our holiday as the fancy takes me.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

51 thoughts on “Is it a Castle? Is it a Palace?”

      1. I can’t quite decide where to go. Which were your highlights? I’ve kind of done Stockholm and Lund, a fair bit of Skåne but I’m sure there’s plenty left, maybe I should go north?

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      2. This is hard. We loved Malmo and had only booked for one night which we regretted. But having done Lund, you douubtless did Malmo too? Gothenburg has lots to offer too. We may head north next time. Or not? We loved Skåne! We decided that it was hopeless to try to do more than one relatively contained area – Sweden’s so huge – probably anywhere would do!

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  10. The castle/palace looks very grand indeed! I love the shot with the black-headed gull and golden ship, also the herons 🙂 And I’m glad you’re planning on jumping back to Stockholm as it will be great to hear and see more of it!

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    1. We stayed two nights there, Jo, (though really only one day) and stayed really near the tower you may be referring to. It’ll be in my next post. After Kalmar, we had two whole days of train travel home. There’s a story there. It will be told …

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  15. My husband is from Kalmar so I have been many times (though he no longer has family there). Pity you couldn’t get into the castle, but you must have seen the ‘painted bricks’ trompe l’oeil? It is a very pretty place and there is an excellent fish restaurant there, Blomlofs. Did you manage to get over to Oland?

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    1. We didn’t get over to Oland. We knew we should, but we had limited time and something had to give. I wish we’d known about the fish restaurant, but on the other hand, many places were closed having stayed open at Midsummer itself. We’ll just have to go back!

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  16. What an impressive castle and palace. Glad it survived being a prison and a granary. I enjoyed seeing the birds too – in addition to the herons, swans and gulls is that an oystercatcher?

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      1. Interesting your oystercatchers are becoming more common. Here we have African oystercatchers – the feathers are entirely black, with just the legs, bill and eye being scarlet.

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  21. Beautiful. I’ll have to check that the next time we visit Sweden, although it might be a little out of the way.

    And such a good questions. I had to google to find the difference between castle and palace. I thought it might have to do with the fact whether a king or queen lives there but no. I found that a castle is a fortified, private residence designed for defense (featuring thick walls, moats, and battlements), while a palace is an unfortified, highly decorative residence. Interesting. And Kalmar is definitely defined as a castle. Understandable, given its situation.

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