As a welcome stop-over on my trip from Laponia to the High Coast, I visited Gammelstad near Lulea. It’s not a big old town or site. You have a church on a hill and Falun-red painted houses around it. Honestly, “houses” is stretching it: The old town primarily comprises sheds. And it left me wondering how poor the local farmers were that they could not afford bigger and better houses.

So after 30 minutes give or take, I finished my visit and was about to file this away as another lackluster site and quick tick. This is when I ran into the official signboard providing some much-needed background information. The sheds were not the principal homes of the proprietors. The town itself wasn’t even a real town in the sense of being the primary residence of its inhabitants. Instead, it was a church town, a place the surrounding farmers would congregate in on weekends for the Sunday sermon. I would assume they would also traded and enjoy each other’s company and plenty of drinks. I pictured the church crowd attending sermon with huge hangovers. And plenty of nightly shenanigans happening in the sheds.

There were hundreds of church towns in the past in Sweden, each owing their existence to the wide distances between each farm which prevented ordinary towns from forming. Gammelstad is the best preserved example. To this day, the locals keep the tradition of weekend stays up, although far less frequently. You may also not set up permanent residence.

In sum, it may not be the greatest site, but it provides some background on the development and history of Sweden and is a nice addition.

Getting There

Gammelstad is a suburb of Lulea with half hourly bus connections. Most buses stop at the main road from where it’s a 15 minutes walk to the site. You can also go by bus to Porjus and Gällivare for Laponia. These don’t run all that often, though. Alternatively, you can take the Nordbanen in either Lulea or Boden.

From Lulea you can travel south by bus to Umea and the High Coast. Lulea also has a large airport with multiple connections to Stockholm.

While You Are There

Lulea is nothing to call home about. I would recommend keeping your time to a minimum. In Winter, you may see the polar lights.