Day Tripping on the Swedish Island of Ven

Before leaving for our trip to the US last spring, I decided to take the ferry over to Ven, an island I had been curious about since moving to Sweden. It was a lovely way to spend the day with my sister-in-law and her family..

Ven is very rich in history. Located in the northern stretch of the Oresund and across the water from Landskrona, it was a very strategic spot back during the fights between Denmark and Sweden which came to a head in the 1600s. It's most famous claim to fame is Tycho Brahe. Tycho was a reknowned astronomer, astrologer, and alchemist back in the day.

On 11th November 1572 he observed a new brilliant star in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Tycho's measurements showed that it really was a distant star and not any local phenomena. This was very intriguing at that time, since the sphere of the stars was considered to be divine and perfect, hence no changes ought to take place there. Tycho observed its brightness evolve until it faded away the next year. He reported the event in his book "De stella nova", which made him famous all over Europe. ~ http://www.tychobrahe.com

The Danish king of the times decided it would add much to his prestige to have ol' Tycho under him and so decided to give Ven to Tycho as a fiefdom.

Tycho immediately went to work building his castle, Uranienborg, on the highest part of the island. He then proceeded to throw lavish parties while practically enslaving the indigenous farmer population. He wasn't a real popular guy in spite of his importance in history. He finally ticked off the next king of Denmark to the point of exile in 1597, losing his island, his castle, and his elaborate observatory. He tried to rebuild in Prague, but ended up dying of suspicious circumstances there in around 1600.

The Tycho Brahe museum which is now located in the old All Saints Church is the main attraction of Ven. Admittance is 50sek (6 bucks) and includes a few 15 minute movies in a number of languages, and full access to the very small museum and old castle grounds. They have a small gift shop with books written by Tycho, shirts, and a variety of miniature repros of Tychos instruments... along with the usual tourist schlock.

This is also a good place to stop for a rest and grab a nice ham & cheese pie at the Tycho Brahe Cafe. Man. I gotta tell ya, those pies are fabulous! Lars' sister (who went with me) said they were over-priced at around 70sek, but I was in heaven. Great stuff, those. They also have sandwiches, and daily specials. The day we went it was help-yourself fried fish with boiled potatoes.

At a mere 4.5km long and 2.6km across, getting around is mainly by either foot or bicycle. Its total area is a mere7.5 sq.km. so the roads are very narrow. For this reason, the community strongly asks you not to bring your car over on the ferry. They have over a thousand bicycles for rent, everything from the standard 10 speed to bikes equipped with baby seats to 3-seaters. We opted to go ahead and walk it. There are a few steep hills on this walk from the east side of the island where the ferry lands and the west side where the beach is, so do be aware that it is a bit of a chore if you are handicapped. There are frequent busses available though if you want to skip the scenery. We took the bus back for 12sek (a bit less than 2 US bucks.)

Up until recently, the Island's name was Hven. Not sure why they decided to drop the 'H', but the t-shirts and what have you all still carry the original name.

According to http://www.hven.net, Hven's landscape is mainly made up of loose deposits -- morain clays, rich in flint, chalk, outwash sand and gravel plus a great deal of granite and all sorts of stone dragged here by the great glaciers of the last ice ages.

It is a beautiful stroll, with lots of old style Scandinavian houses along the way, and farming is still very big here. My main disappointment is that there were not as many little shops along the main road which crosses the island. We managed to find a great little Glass Shop, where Irene bought a big ol' milk jug and had them paint it for her with some really pretty flowers. I gasped when I saw she paid over 700sek for it though... that's almost a $100. Yeesh. We also stumbled into a very nice Plant Shop with lots of potted plants and garden toys. I bought a few silly butterflies and what have you on sticks to put in flower pots at home for about 10sek each.

The next shop we found was when we reached the narrow beach on the other side. This one was full of local art. I picked up a little carved wooden ship for Lars for a very good price. I don't recall how much it was now, but I do remember gawking at how low it was. Also at this beach is a long row of restaurants along the pier. At the walk-up hot dog & hamburger joint on the end you can also get stickers of Hven if that's your thing. I like to sticker the hell out of my suitcase, so this was a happy find for me.

The beach itself is small, but pleasant. It won't trip your trigger at all if you are expecting Miami or Santa Monica type action, though. This is a relatively unknown spot so far and not over-run with tourists yet so it is a pleasant place to lay out and play in the gentle waves. It is mainly folks from Sweden and Denmark.

I am giving Ven 4 stars for out-of-country tourists. I certainly do recommend adding it to your itinerary if you like quaint, pastoral type of places. If you are more into hustle-n-bustle with lots to do though, skip it... except for a stop at the Tycho Brahe museum. The castle got destroyed after his exile, but it's still a very nice place to visit.