Motala, Swedish Vacation Favorite

A major stop on the Gota Canal Cruise, Motala, is also a popular vacation spot with Swedes. Whether you have a few hours or a few days to spend, it’s a delightful place to learn about life in a small Swedish town.

Located on the northeastern shore of Lake Vattern – Sweden’s second largest – Motala (pronounced MOO-tah-lah) was originally a market center. In 1822, the town was firmly established when Count Baltzar Bogislaus von Platen, who was in process of building a canal across the country, founded Motala Werkstad, the engineering works that became known as “the cradle of Swedish industry.” As it turned out, Motola was the only one of four towns Von Platen planned that actually came into being.

The old market square now serves more often as a carpark. Trees still ring the square, though, and under them teenagers and middle-age couples sit on benches as they savor ice cream cones from the kiosk nearby.

Step inside the stores surrounding the square to get a sense of everyday life in town. Since it’s light in Scandinavia until midnight (and later), passengers whose cruise boats are tied up for the night in the canal can window shop if the stores are closed. One furniture store window features lampshades trimmed with fringe and cotton lace. A painter’s palette of down comforters cascade from a display rack in another. Tables, chairs and sofas are clean-lined; rugs and wall hangings woven in contemporary designs.

Down the block, there’s a ready to wear store with not-so-stylish clothing in its windows and a hardware store with miscellaneous houseware – irons for making heart-shaped waffles, casseroles with a country Swedish motif, egg poachers and soup kettles. The window that seems to draw the most attention is one containing Orefors crystal and fine porcelain. As one fellow window-shopper says, “We Swedes are very interested in things to buy for our homes. They cost a a lot, but we do not have to pay for health care or education, so we spend the money to make our houses nice.

Not all of the town’s attractions are out of doors. At the junction of Lake Vattern and the canal, the Canal Museum chronicles the waterway’s history with ship models, photographs and other memorabilia. About a half-mile up the canal at the 15th Century Charlottenborgs Castle, a collection of intricate wooden carvisngs by Sophie Esberg and a permanent exhibit of works by Swedish artists are highlights.

You can also visit a Radio Museum in the station that during the 1920s had one of the strongest signals in Europe, a Firefighters Museum with antique equipment and an extensive herb garden.

If the weather’s fine, take a walk around the town. Spring brings apple trees in full blossom and early blooming flowers. In summer, the modest houses look at their best, with flower and vegetable gardens. Whatever the season, Motala is lovliest at the lake. A wide path follows the shoreline, with wood and wrought-iron benches every hundred feet or so.

When mealtime comes, you’ll find that restaurants are cozy rather than chic. There are curtains at the windows and lots of lights with fabric lampshades – no doubt to insure that it’s cheery inside even on the grayest of winter days. The food isn’t generally fancy, but it tastes delicious and home-made – tiny sausages called prinskorv (prince’s sausages), meatballs and cabbage rolls, mashed rutabagas, rice pudding. If the day is fine, you might choose to buy an unwrapped loaf of Swedish rye from the bakery, a hunk of cooked sausage from the meat market and have a picnic in the park beside the canal.

If you’re not booked on a Gota Canal Cruise, you’ll find that there are a variety of accommodations on land.

Typical house by lake

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