Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
WALLANDER COUNTRY
Kurt Wallander , the anti-hero of author Henning Mankell's crime novels, is one of Sweden's
best-known fictional characters. Millions of people across the world have followed Wallander's
investigations as he hurries through Ystad's streets, the location for the novels and the spin-off
TV series. With the tourist of ce's special guide in hand, fans can set off in search of some of
the town's most famous fictional sites such as Wallander's apartment on Mariagatan and his
favourite café, Fridolfs . In line with Mankell's no-nonsense approach to his fame, he specifically
requested that there should not be a Wallander theme park in Ystad.
placed here on the orders of Karl XII to remind the preacher of Christ's suffering. The
figure of Christ wears a mop of actual human hair - sacrificed by a local parishioner in
the nineteenth century, in an attempt to make it look realistic. Notice also the green
box pews to either side of the entrance, which were reserved for women who had not
yet been received back into the church after childbirth.
Norra Promenaden
Not far from Stortorget, up Lilla or Stora Norregatan, is Norreport , the original
northern arched entrance to the town. From here, you can stroll through Norra
Promenaden , an avenue lined with mature horse-chestnut trees and surrounded by
parkland. Here you'll find a white pavilion, built in the 1870s to house a genteel café
and a dance hall with a brass band.
The monastery
June-Aug Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat & Sun noon-4pm; Sept-May Tues-Fri noon-5pm, Sat & Sun noon-4pm • 30kr •
W klostret.ystad.se
Another short stroll from Stortorget, past Garvaregränd's art-and-craft workshops (one of
which, Krukmakaren, is in a fantastically higgledy-piggledy house on the right), then up
Klostergatan, brings you to the town's thirteenth-century monastery , now a simple
museum . The collection is pretty standard local history paraphernalia, but given piquancy
by its medieval surroundings. After the monks were driven out during the Reformation,
the monastery declined and was used, among other things, as a hospital and a distillery,
before becoming a museum in the early twentieth century. The museum has a small café
serving coffee and cake for 30kr. Brightly painted low cottages line the streets around here;
a brief stroll down the most picturesque of these, Vädergränd , of Lilla Östergatan, makes
for a worthwhile foray. Look particularly at no. 4 - the 1727 Gamla Handtwerfargården, a
grocery in a timewarp.
THE NIGHT BUGLER OF YSTAD
Staying in Ystad, you'll soon get acquainted with a tradition that harks back to the
seventeenth century: from a room in St Maria church watchtower, a night watchman
( tornväktaren ) sounds a bugle every fifteen minutes from 9.15pm to 1am. The haunting
sound isn't disturbing, though it's audible wherever you stay in the centre. The sounding
through the night was to assure the town that the watchman was still awake (until the
mid-nineteenth century, he was liable to be executed if he slept on duty); however, the real
purpose of this activity was as a safeguard against the outbreak of ire . The idea was that if
one of the thatched cottages went up in flames, the bugle would sound repeatedly for all
to go and help extinguish the blaze. The melancholic bellowing only ceased during World
War II, though then the residents complained they couldn't sleep in the unbroken silence. If
you look carefully from Stortorget, you can just see the instrument appear at little openings
in the tower walls each time it's played.
 
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