It’s our first full day in Hjo (pronounced like the word “you” in English) so we decided to do some sight-seeing. The accommodations Hotel Bellevue were simple but very comfortable. To get us in the mood, we stayed in one of the villas- they’re Victorian era houses that have been adapted as modern hotel rooms. Here’s the view from our room:

We got up early and decided to take a stroll around the waterfront. Even though this was early September, the weather was starting to turn brisk and Fall-like with intermittent rain showers and mixed clouds and sunlight. You can tell that Hjo is definitely a summer report town- most of the beachfront facilities were closed now and there weren’t a lot of people about- a month before, this whole area would have been crowded with vacationers.

Heading towards the waterfront, we took in some of the sights:

Here’s a couple of the villas with views of Lake Vattern:

This is the one that we stayed in. Our room was the on the left side of the villa.

And the beach, complete with little cabanas. At this point, it was way too cold to swim so everything was closed up for the winter.

And then we headed to the little harbor:

The ship in the above pictures is the SS Trafik, a steamship that was originally built in 1892 and was used as a mixed  passenger/cargo vessel until the late 1950s. In 1960, the ship was turned into a fixed floating cafe. Eventually, the ship was fully restored in the early 1970s and today functions during the summer months as a tourist cruise ship.

(To Be Continued…)