Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
run every 10 minutes from Nyköping to Skavsta (Skr25, 20 minutes); alternatively, a
taxi
(
21 75 00)
to Nyköping costs about Skr240.
The bus and train stations are roughly 800m apart on the western side of the central
routes, including Stockholm-Norrköping-Jönköping-Göteborg/Malmö, and Stock-
holm-Norrköping-Kalmar. SJ trains run every hour or two to Norrköping (Skr93, 40
minutes), Linköping (Skr174, one to two hours) and Stockholm (Skr143, one hour). Most
X2000 services don't stop in Nyköping.
The tourist office has bikes for rent (Skr50/200 per day/week).
Eskilstuna
016 / Pop 100,000
If you're here from abroad, locals may very well ask you, 'Why Eskilstuna, of all places?'
Although its suburban ordinariness doesn't exactly scream 'tourist destination', Eskilstuna
has some family-friendly sights, primarily its famous zoo, and just northeast of town is one
of the most extraordinary rock carvings in Sweden. The old town is also an attractive
shopping district.
Sights & Activities
Sigurdsristningen
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
(
www.illustrata.com/pages/sigurdsristning
; 24hr; 225)
The vivid, 3m-long Viking Age rock carving Sigurdsristningen illustrates the story of Sig-
urd the Dragon Slayer, a hero whose adventures are described in
Beowulf
and the Icelandic
sagas. The story inspired Wagner's
Ring Cycle,
and
The Hobbit
and
The Lord of the Rings
also borrow from it. Runes in the dragon's body, unrelated to the legend, explain that a wo-
man named Sigrid raised a nearby bridge (the abutments can still be seen) in memory of
her husband Holmger.
Carved into the bedrock around AD 1000, the carving shows Sigurd roasting the heart
of the dragon Fafnir over a fire. Sigurd's stepfather Regin persuaded him to kill Fafnir for
the dragon's golden treasure. Sigurd touches the heart to see if it's cooked, then sucks his
