so if you have been watching me for a while
welcome back to the channel and if you're new here my name is Eric I love
to travel and in this video I'll be showing you why west Sweden is one of my
top travel destinations for 2018 the first activity on my list is island
hopping now the coast of West Sweden is dotted
with more than 8,000 islands and each one has its own unique charm summertime
in this part of the world is actual perfection with long warm days and cool
short nights we have the Sun out actually some nice lens flare action
going on I think it's 9:30 p.m. but it looks like it's four o'clock in the
afternoon I'm starting in the south you have the island of rano which is a close
20 minute ferry ride from Gothenburg the island has about 350 year-round
residents it's primarily a fishing Island and if you come to this island
ask for ho con so my name is Hong Kong called stem and we are in my garden a
brutalized man basically runs the island he is one of the nicest people I have
ever met in any of my travels he owns a local hotel on the island go
show him some love go show him some business if you're looking for that
escape from Gothenburg that isn't too far away this is your Island further up
the coast north right on the border of Norway and Sweden are the koster Islands
the car-free costs our islands are Sweden's most westerly inhabited islands
and they are 100% the place to go for nature as in Sweden's only marine
National Park since there are no cars allowed at the islands are best explored
by bike there's not many places on earth where you can get this kind of peace and
quiet and the beauty points what do you think Mike we as Americans feel like
this is the type of place that you would go to retire it's quiet it's with nature
there's water but this is actually a place that people come they choose to
live here and start families here and this is their life they don't retire to
move to a place like this this is it this is where they live we come from New
York so this is the complete 180 of the lifestyle that we live I say good half
the year when I'm not traveling in life it's so important to see the other side
of the coin you to see the world and live in the world how other people
totally different from your lifestyle choose to live I highly recommend it
stopping at Koster garden for a delicious locally grown vegan lunch when
you're there ask for Stefan at the owner and tell them Eric sent you finally make
sure to stop in the town of smirkin which is the liveliest summer town in
West Sweden if you look behind me this almost looks like a postcard I'm in the
coastal town of Bergen in West Sweden and it's known for these tiny little
boat houses all along the canal my biggest tip for smirkin like all my
travel destinations if you want to get here and experience it like this with no
crowds no people no noise you have to come on an off day come on like a Monday
or a Tuesday right at sunset and here in West sweet and the sunsets at let's see
it is just about 9:20 and you can see look behind me there is not a single
person here besides those seagulls the next thing to experience is fishing
culture West Sweden runs deep with a seafaring and fishing a culture
throughout all generations wall and Gothenburg makes sure to stop at the
restaurant Gabriel in the fish church which is a massive hall that only sells
fish and seafood have asked for Johanna the stud at with the long beard he's the
guy who owns restaurant Gabriel the West Coast and Sweden's of shellfish is
amongst the best in the entire world not making that up the entire
world that's thanks to cold clean that mineral rich water there's a bunch of
companies that offer crayfish safaris currently on a boat heading 30 minutes
out the sea to learn how to create fish like a local Sweden we're joined here by
the captain mr. Martin fish got 70 pots and normally they do 700 oh it's pretty
light today but there's no the best things that
traveling you get to experience different ways of living in Martin is
the pro at this I'm slowing down the operation so you see this this guy's too
small about you said what a year two years two three
you throw him back we just found this random island that we docked the boat
all right so I have to work slow for two or three minutes and you let him cool
off I'm going out here and now we are enjoying actual fresh crayfish that you
just saw his catch moments ago and if you really really want to fully immerse
yourself in Swedish Island and fishing life rent a boathouse with a few of your
friends in the town of Gribbs data alright so it is just about 6:30 in the
morning and listen to how quiet it is here this is where we stayed last night
we are staying in an actual boathouse this is one of the most unique places I
have ever stayed just because they kept it with the natural rustic feel of an
actual boathouse I mean I haven't seen a single person other than jarrod and Mike
since we arrived here that's the isolation that you'll find here in West
Sweden up next on my recommendations is ocean
kayaking the weather and the water are actually so perfect that it feels like
you could be somewhere in the tropics and it's hands-down one of the most
beautiful stretches of water in the world go and rent the kayaks with some
friends and head out for a day-long excursion through the coastal waterways
throughout this trip you know Sweden has been very relaxing very just peaceful
and tranquil and I feel like this is the first bit of treachery we've come across
not quite treachery but I guess danger a little excitement we're kayaking around
and we just come across a cliff right there are you sure this is our guide
Marcus is it good to jungle course it's good to jump and smile we've come so far
to Sweden you want to jump off the cliff are you nuts of course he did say
jumping your own risk but I think we'll be okay a dashing 70 metres swim across
the channel scaling of the 20 metre high rock face oh I wasn't recording just
kidding Mike and I made our way to the edge of this cliff which was much higher
from up there than down by the water I'll say that we counted it and on three
we sent it off the cliff Mike landed kind of kind of bad a few if
you look at this still frame Mike landed on his side
so if you are jumping off something this high do a pencil dive unless you are
trained at doing flips off of high cliffs and now a traditional Swedish
lunch with some good old smoked mackerel some bread eggs and of course coffee and
cake my next recommendation is to go to West Sweden door mid summer celebration
midsummer is the celebration of the longest day of the year
there's tons of dancing around a maypole good friends schnapps and of course
saunas now I've made a whole video on the topic of midsummer which I'll link
down below in the description so make sure to go check that out for a full
in-depth look on this Swedish holiday and finally I recommend enjoying the
city of Gothenburg again I've made a full in-depth video on my top things to
do in Gothenburg so make sure to go check that out as well in the
description and with that I will see you in the next travel series which will be
in New York City thanks for watching and I'll see you then