Dalarna literally means "the valleys" - a couple of river valleys run thorugh the province from norhtwest
to southeast. Dramatic landscape by Swedish standards, with far-away blue hills at the horizon. Dalarna literally means "the valleys" - a couple of river valleys run thorugh the province from norhtwest
to southeast. Dramatic landscape by Swedish standards, with far-away blue hills at the horizon.
Dalarna has preserved more than its share of old culture, so it's been used a lot in marketing Sweden abroad. Folk-art furniture, folk costumes, old farm houses (including a number of 16th or 17th century buildings - way more than in any other part of the country), and even ancient dialects. Part of the reason is that it's so far from the coast - in past times when it was far easier to transport goods far distances by boat than through the forests and over hills, people living far inland often tended to be conservative while those living in port cities were much more up-to-date with current trends. Today there's of course plenty of modern houses and industries, but Dalarna is still probably the best place to get a glimpse of pre-industrial Sweden.
There's plenty of birch trees, traditional Midsummer celebrations with fiddlers and dancers in folk costumes, antique furniture with rosmålning (nowadays usually called kurbits in Swedish), and of course Dala horses for souvenirs. Dalarna was popular among artists already a century ago, e.g. Carl Larsson lived there. In the copper-mining town Falun, Swedish red house paint has been produced since the 16th century (the pigment is a mining byproduct).
This village is beautifully situated near a bay of the lake Siljan, Swedens 6th largest lake. Siljansnäs has a population of about 1300.
 Among the houses there are also barns and outbuildings, often put to new uses as the farmers are much fewer nowadays |
 Nearly every house is built from wood, painted red, and covered with clay roof tiles |
 Fancy chimney top, these seem to be traditional but not overly common |
 A 1940s or so house - one of very few non-red houses we saw |
 No pavements (sidewalks) in sight |
 On one of the hills surrounding the village, there's a café with a marvellous view |
Dalarna's oldest town, granted town rights in 1446. Current population is a bit over 7000.
 At first it looked very much like any Swedish 20th century small town or suburb... |
 ...except that it was a little more hilly than average... |
 ...and perhaps had more flags |
 Then all of a sudden the facades started looking more promising |
 Town hall built in 1761, after the earlier, humbler, one had been destroyed by fire |
 Across the town square, there's the town hotel, built in 1860 and still in use as a hotel and restaurant |
 The 1752 building that earlier housed the pharmacy is situated at another side of the square |
 Across the street from the pharmacy there's a panelled house that uses planks painted white to suggest "pilasters" in the facade - a characteristic of neoclassical style wooden architecture in Sweden |
