Uddevalla and Fjällbacka and Grebbestad! Oh, my!

We are the opposite of the people on the show Survivor: we can't wait to get off the island. Especially on the weekends. Since there's no bus service, we're stuck here unless we can borrow or rent a car.

This weekend, we rented a car and spent the weekend doing some exploring.

On Saturday, we started in Uddevalla. Our goal was to visit the nearest bike shop, and it did not disappoint. It was more like a bike warehouse than a bike shop.

So many bikes! All the bikes!!!

The prices were outrageous. Cheapest kids bike, on sale, was 2900 kronor. We still get sticker shock, even though we know the prices are in kronor and not dollars. (In our minds, "That bike is THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS?!") Even after the conversion, $300 for a kids bike was just too much for us.

We did a quick drive through Uddevalla, just to check it out. We found a cute playground, ocean-themed, as most of the local playgrounds seem to be. (We are on the coast, after all.) Uddevalla is much bigger than our little town, with a population of about 30,000 (Strömstad has just 6,000, but will swell to 60,000 with the summer tourists.)

Interesting furniture at the park. Each one was slightly different.

Uddevalla reminded me of a smaller Gothenburg: a big city, as opposed to a little town. It boasts two major attractions: a faux medieval castle, built in the early 1900s, and a local art and culture museum. I wanted to visit the museum, but Jeremy had other ideas, and I couldn't really blame him. It was a gorgeous, warm and sunny day. Not a good choice for poking around in a regional museum.

We found a cafe for lunch in the town square. It had some outdoor seating, and it was just warm enough to sit outside. Some of the restaurants here in Sweden have baskets full of fleece blankets for customers to cuddle up under when they sit outside. We wrapped up in eggplant-colored fleece as we ate our lunch.

Lunch in the square in Uddevalla. Don't know why I have resting angry face.

Next stop: Fjällbacka. It's a completely adorable seaside town with (no joke!) 859 residents. It's famous as the place where Ingrid Bergman spent her summers; it even has a square named in her honor. It reminded me a bit of Gloucester or Newburyport in Massachusetts: narrow, twisting roads up against the water, boats and fishermen everywhere you look.

Driving into Fjällbacka.

Fjällbacka Family Foto!
(Yes, that's Ingrid Bergman's head, but this isn't her square.)

The number one attraction in this tiny fishing village is called Kungsklyftan (King's Cliff). You climb through some sketchy narrow cliffs, up way too many wooden stairs, and then you get an epic view of Fjãllbacka and the surrounding archipelago.

Starting point.

Hiking through the gorge.

I needed my Walkman for this Stairmaster workout.

View from the top? Worth it. We followed a marked path along the top for a while before turning back for the descent.

Resting after the climb.

A heart-shaped puddle.

Savannah at the top!

Chelsea and I having another rest.

We ended our adventure day in Grebbestad, another tiny adorable fishing town. More twisty streets, narrow roads, and seaside splendor. This time of year, it was empty. Most of the shops were closed, restaurants boarded up for the off-season.

This guy's called Malkolm. 

Sisters swinging.

We found one cafe that was open, just in time for afternoon fika (too-strong coffee and the cafe's specialty: cheesecake). We found out later that Grebbestad has its own craft brewery. Now we have an excuse to go back!