Any thoughts about lighthouses in Sweden? I have lookd on the internet and have seen some beautiful pictures but no listing of where they are located. Another business trip coming up and I was thinking...just maybe I'd get to see a few international lights.

Here is a link to the Swedish Lighthouse Society. The lights appear to be listed in regions. Also if you click on "Board" you will be able to email the webmaster who should be able to direct you.
http://www.fyr.org/indexe.htm

Am I jealous or what???? FL, Martha's Vineyard, and now Sweden.....Nabisco surely is good to you.....I remember seeing a lot of lighthouses from the ferry we were on, but was not into the collecting when I was there, so missed a lot.....the country is beautiful and I know you will enjoy your visit.

Derith

Must be nice! It's not quite Sweden, but Mombo came up with a couple of good links for Norwegian lights...

One serious

And one featuring a whole bunch of wackos

If you want to read a classic older link that really digressed, try here .

Dave
I'm probably going to get in trouble now....


[This message has been edited by Dave H (edited 04-18-2001).]

Nana,
The trips are a lot of fun. I usually try to add a day or two on to save the company money (Saturday night stay-overs are cheaper). This time I will be in Sweden for a technical conference where I have to give two presentations. I'm looking forward to the experience but traveling alone is not that much fun for me.
Martha's Vineyard is not a business trip. That one my husabnd and I are doing on our own. I jokingly told my boss I won't go on any trips where I will be land-locked. He didn't listen because he sent me to Atlanta. Oh well. I'll let you know what I find in Sweden.

http://www.worldlights.com/world/index.shtml

Carol, you may wish to try the above link for info on Swedish lighthouses. Click on "Go To Lighthouses" and then "At The Coast" (both in the lefthand menu. If you don't see what you are looking for on the site then you may email the site's owner, Nico Derks (his email address is on the site).

Good luck, have a great time and take some great pictures for a future issue of The New England Beacon.

"Keeping The Flame Alive"
Ron


[This message has been edited by RFoster (edited 04-18-2001).]

Carol, here is another site entirely in Swedish. There seems to be a lot here if you can decipher it!
http://www.algonet.se/~hindby/index.htm

[This message has been edited by mombo (edited 04-18-2001).]

Since I don't know Swedish that last site may be a problem. As per someones' suggestion I sent an e-mail to a name I got off one of the websites. I did get a reply from the Chairman of the Sweden Lighthouse Society with the name of 3 easily accesible lighthouses. I would have to rent a car and take a few public ferries. The thing is is that there are no driving directions written in English. A book does exist in Swedish but that is of no help to me. Maybe I can convince him to write something up in English. I'll work on that next. He seems very nice!!

Carol, that last site I gave you (the Swedish one) also has a link to their email. On the right hand side just click on SKICKA Mail. Just because the site is in Swedish doesn't mean they don't speak English??? Worth a shot anyway.

I actually found a website last night entitled Thirty-third Lighthose Expedition. It's a day by day, hour by hour,listing of a tour done by the USLHS with the Swedish Lighthouse Society from 1999. It was a 15 day, 20 LH event. There are no specific directions or pictures but at least it gives me an idea of how long it would take to get to some of the Swedish lighthouses. If anyone who went on that trip uses these forums please let me know. I'm anxious to find someone who knows where these ligthhouses are. For those of you who would like to see it here is the address. I don't know how to add a link yet. http://www.ipl.org/exhibit/light/Thirty-third.html

Carol,

Nancy Younger was on that trip according to the journal you linked to (even though you don't know how to!). You might try Nancy to see if she has any details or info. If she does, I am quite sure she will share them with you.

Dave

Well, I'm back from Sweden. I managed to see two lighthouses while I was there. Not too bad considering I only had 2 days to play with (the rest were for business). A friend and I drove south from Stockholm to a small town called Ankrarudden and caught a ferry over to Landsort. There we met a very friendly Swedish family who also like lighthouses. There was a tour guide who for 250 Krona (that's $2.50) allowed us to climb the 100 steps to the top. The head of the family, Bengt was his name, knew some English and managed to translate what the tour guide was saying. It was a little hard for him, but he did a great job!!! The Landsort lighthouse was built in the early 1600's. It is the oldest Swedish lighthouse (there is an older one in Sweden but it was built by Denmark when the lower part of Sweden was owned by them). It was built on a small, rocky island that has about 35 residents in the winter and a lot more than that in the summer. No vehicles allowed on the island so everyone rides bicycles. Ok. Back to the lighthouse. It is about 27km tall. The lens is a first order Fresnel and beautiful might I add. It's funny because the man said that the light bulbs are bought from the US. The architectural detail on the roof was really neat. They have these lion heads that spew water out of their mouths when it rains.
We also went to see the Landsort Harbor Light. It is much smaller, but is in a realy nice part of the island.
We were planning to go see more lighthouses on the second day but decided I probably should see Stockholm. It was a wise choice. The buildings and lakes were beautiful. Even ran into a lightship behind the Vasa Museum. Had a great time but could have used about 3 more days of touring!! Next time, the islands of Oland and Orska. I did buy a book of "Swedish lightouse places" (Sveriges fyrplasters). Looks really interesting...too bad I can't read it. But the pictures are quite impressive. I have a lot of pictures myself so I'll try to post a few. Maybe later today. If you ever get to Sweden be sure to take a look at the more than 100 lighthouses they have to offer.

Must be our first beacon for orbiting spy planes! If I remember correctly, it is about 1.6 klics (km) to the mile, making this light roughly 16.9 miles tall! What a climb you made! I am guessing it is really about 27 meters high, which would be about 88 feet? (Just picking on ya. I'm jealous of the travel opportunities you have!)

I hope you took some pictures which you will share with us. Most of us won't have the chance to visit these lights in the near future. (Unless, of course, Mombo gets the HL yacht back into seaworthy condition.)

Glad you got to visit these lights. You going to join us in Chicago? If so, bring the pictures.

Dave

I'm sure glad you got to at least a couple lights Carol! How exciting to have an "International Report" here in the Map Room!

Finally, pictures from Sweden. It took me a while to figure out how to post them from PhotoPoint but JTimothyA helped me back in the Play Room. Well here they are.

1. Landsort Light

[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1715500&a=13183892&p=49926936&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

2. Carol in font of Landsort
[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1715500&a=13183892&p=49926934&Sequence=1&res=high[/img]
3. A view of the Island from outside the lantern room
[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1715500&a=13183892&p=49926931&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

4. Landsort Harbor Light

[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1715500&a=13183892&p=49926929&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

Thanks for these great photos. We all know you had a great time.
Derith

Great pics Carol. I notice a cannon at the LH base in the first shot.I`m pretty sure its not a working gun, but why is it there?
terry (curious George)

Cannons at lighthouses are not uncommon, for two reasons.

First, lighthouses (a) were critical in their day, (b) cost big Krona to build, (c) were frequently situated on prominent points of land, and/or (d) at the mouths of strategic harbors, so they often made attractive targets for would-be invaders. The cannon could have been used for defense of (e) all of the above.

Second, they made darn good fog signals, and were frequently used as such.

Thanks for the story and the nice pics, Carol. Those may be lighthouses that I never get to see in person. Thanks for sharing.

------------------
-Art
[This message has been edited by Art (edited 06-11-2001).]

How cool!! Thanks Carol, where are you off to next? This is great, I get to go international lighthouseing while sitting in my liveing room. Thanks again.

TGIFIF

Thanks for those great photos Carol. Yes, you're right. It sure is rocky!

Great photos! Looks like there isn't too much grass to mow in that area...lol!

Bob

Yes, the area where the lighthouse was situated was a fort from years ago. There were many cannons, gun turrets and underground bunkers. I can't remember what wars were fought off the shores of Landsort but I do remember the tour guide telling us that they needed to defend the shores from the British (I really wish I had payed more attention in school). Now the area is used as the Landsort Maritime Training Center.
Glad you like the pictures!

Thank you for sharing your pictures, Carol. Looks like a great place for a rock garden! Will be looking forward to seeing more of your international pics.

Dave