In Tracks Of The Vikings Near Uppsala

Join us on a journey along the meandering river Fyris inn Uppsala city, where our ancestors spirits hovering, cultures were started and history were created. Our guide on the tour is one of Sweden’s foremost experts in the Viking Age with a PhD in archaeology.
The region where Uppsala is located  is full of ancient monuments and memories from our ancestors, the Vikings. Places like Valsgärde, Fullerö, Vendel, Gödåker, and Old Uppsala carries hidden treasures in the form of graves and traces of settlements, from over a thousand years ago. There are chamber tombs, boat burials, royal tombs and iron product on sites, which contain features suggestive of both extensive trade relations and raiding. With the help of our knowledgeable guide, you are moving to a turbulent  time in the dim past of bloody events, pagan customs and customs and traditions you’ve never heard of.

STORVRETA – Dating from the Bronze Age
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To get a general background to the different epochs, we start the tour at Storvreta Library. Here you will take part of the province’s development and the river Fyris varying flow over various periods, from the Bronze Age over the Vendel Age to the Viking Age. The land elevation on has led to ancient remains from different periods along the riverbank. In the center of village Storvreta was a big settlement, a graveyard and an iron-making site dating back to the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. Here were produced the earliest known iron in Sweden during the late Bronze Age, a tradition that later came to be the basis for Uppland’s special posi on of wealth and power in Swedish history. Before we leave Storvreta we get a good cup of coffee with a special Vikings cake.
Fullerö PARK – The start of Uppsala’s Vikings theme park
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The next stop on our trip is Fullerö Park. Soon here will be a Vikings theme park. Here we sit down and grill over an open fire in Viking style. After dinner we will have opportunities to try different Viking sports such as archery, ax throwing and spear, slash with the sword, try a chain mail, build a ’’sköldborg’’ walk in’’ svinfylking” and try to forge an iron nail.

Fullerö –  Legionnaire Fridtjofs strange trip
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On’’ Greta’s hill’’ in Fullerö we get acquainted with Fridtjof, a chieftain who had been legionary in the Roman army something  in the 300’s. Fridtjof’s tomb was plundered during antiquity but still contained three gold rings, one of which is probably a gift from the Roman emperor. Opposite Fridtjof’s tomb were found a furnace from the 200’s, with iron ore mined in the mines nearby. On Greta’s hill were even found a Viking burial fire, with one of the best kept swords in Sweden from this period.

Valsgärde – From the Great Migration to the Middle Ages
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Here in Valsgärde, in just a few meters, we move between the different eras, from the Migration Period to the late Viking Age. There are also links to the legend of Beowulf and the legendary Youngling dynasty. The chiefs in the area built probably their power on iron production dating back to the Late Bronze Age. In Valsgärde are 15 boat burials where the chiefs have been buried since the end of 500’s to the late Viking period. In the oldest Vendel Age boat graves were four unique splendor helmets, which together with the helmets from Vendel and Ultuna only has a counterpart in the English royal tomb from the Sutton Hoo.

Gamla Uppsala – Mythical place for religious rites
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We end the tour at Gamla (Old) Uppsala, which is one of Sweden’s most important historic sites. Besides the well known Kings’ Mounds, there are about 2,000 graves in the Council, among them four more boat graves from the Viking Age. During the Iron Age here was a rich and highly developed society and the Swedes were here to sacrifice to their gods at the so-called heathen temple. Even after Sweden was Christianized  Gamla Uppsala retained its importance as a religious center, when in 1164 were built a cathedral where the pagan temple ought to have stood. In 2000 opened Gamla Uppsala Museum that shows the finds from the graves. The summer of 2012, there is an extensive archaeological excavation in Gamla Uppsala village.

Duration 3-6 hrs, start/end Uppsala, approx 1 hour from Stockholm, 30 minutes from Arlanda airport.