Explore The southwest
An hour by local train from Malmö, the medieval market town of YSTAD is exquisitely well preserved and boasts a prettiness that may come as a surprise if you’ve arrived at the train station down by the murky docks. In the historic centre though, you can marvel at the quaint, cobbled lanes, lined with cross-timbered cottages, and the town’s chocolate-box central square, oozing rural charm. With the stunningly beautiful coastal region of Österlen stretching northeast from town all the way to Kristianstad, Ystad is a splendid place to base yourself for a day or so. It also offers the option of a quick hop to the Danish island of Bornholm.
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Wallander country
Wallander country
Kurt Wallander, the anti-hero of author Henning Mankell’s crime novels, is one of Sweden’s best-known fictional characters. Millions of people across the world have followed Wallander’s investigations as he hurries through Ystad’s streets, the location for the novels and the spin-off TV series. With the tourist office’s special guide in hand, fans can set off in search of some of the town’s most famous fictional sites such as Wallander’s apartment on Mariagatan and his favourite café, Fridolfs. In line with Mankell’s no-nonsense approach to his fame, he specifically requested that there should not be a Wallander theme park in Ystad.
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The Night Bugler of Ystad
The Night Bugler of Ystad
Staying in Ystad, you’ll soon get acquainted with a tradition that harks back to the seventeenth century: from a room in St Maria church watchtower, a night watchman (tornväktaren) sounds a bugle every fifteen minutes from 9.15pm to 1am. The haunting sound isn’t disturbing, though it’s audible wherever you stay in the centre. The sounding through the night was to assure the town that the watchman was still awake (until the mid-nineteenth century, he was liable to be executed if he slept on duty); however, the real purpose of this activity was as a safeguard against the outbreak of fire. The idea was that if one of the thatched cottages went up in flames, the bugle would sound repeatedly for all to go and help extinguish the blaze. The melancholic bellowing only ceased during World War II, though then the residents complained they couldn’t sleep in the unbroken silence. If you look carefully from Stortorget, you can just see the instrument appear at little openings in the tower walls each time it’s played.
