Meandering around Malmö (Sweden)

On Friday last week I had a meeting in Malmö (pronouced Mal-mu) with a professor at one of the universities there about a case study I am working on for my course in Advanced Natural Resource Conflict Management. The meeting went great and I used the opportunity of being in Malmö with some free time to explore the city, which will be the nearest big city to me once I move to Sweden in late August for my second year of study at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences or SLU for short. Malmö is about a 35 minute train ride from the central station in Copenhagen and its population is around 250,000. The cities are so close that many people make the commute everyday for work. Living in Sweden is cheaper than in Denmark, but the salaries are higher in Denmark - I think these people are on to something...

Although the details have yet to be worked out it seems likely that I will end up living in an area just at the edge of Malmö called Arlöv. SLU has some reasonable student housing options there. There is a train to Arlöv from the central station in Malmö but also a bikeable distance to the university, which sits in a beautiful forest. The best of both worlds in a way.

Following my meeting I was drawn to check out this impressive and well-known structure called the Twisted Tower. The building is 190 meters high and is composed of 9 cubes with a combined total of 54 storeys. The twist from bottom to top is a full 90 degrees! Cool huh?





















In a new neighborhood near the tower called West Harbor people were sitting and enjoying the sun at cafes lining the sidewalks along the sea. Once summer hits there is no doubt that these piers and the nearby area will be swarming with swimmers and sunbathers.
















Also from the harbor area you can see the Øresund Bridge, which connects Malmö and Copenhagen (and the two airports in between). When I came to Denmark to visit my friend Katarina in July 2000 we went to a big outdoor party to celebrate the opening of the new bridge. At the time it was the longest bridge in the world, although the record did not last long. The Japanese completed the Akahashi Bridge to Shikoku Island and took over the longest bridge title.
















I took bus number 2 back down to central station in Malmö and decided to meander around the downtown area as it was such a georgeous sunny Scandinavian afternoon. The downtown area is very friendly to pedestrians with many streets blocked off to automobile traffic. The main shopping street called Södra Förstadsg has many cafes and cute shops as well as this endearing band of metallic musicians.













This photo was taken just off from a very charming square in Malmö called Lilla Torg where there are many restaurants and outdoor cafes. Apparently people can AFFORD to eat out in Malmö as prices in general (except for alcohol) are a bit cheaper there than in Copenhagen (or so I am told ;-)
















Any of you tempted to come for a visit?