Exploring Tällberg,
This trip I will truly recommend, not only because it is in the heart of Dalarna and my home province, but this place is truly amazing. You can access it either from Leksand or Rättvik. There is an old highway that will take you through old farm lands and little villages. Beautiful scenery and it actually feels like you do travel back in time when you drive through this almost untouched area. Tällberg is a really old village but the charm and history you can almost breathe as you walk around between the old buildings. You can feel the generations that have been here, I am not sure how old this village is but the “Smith” was dated 1666 as you can see on one of the pictures, so somewhere around 1600 I would guess.
The atmosphere is so filled with history and you can picture all the different markets and people that gathered here to celebrate life and trade their unique handmade things. All the details show how much effort they put in to make this their special place. Even look at the windows and the doors. All the houses here are made from wood and they are built in the old fashioned way, as you can see on the pictures even the chimneys are art. In the 1800 some new entrepreneurs moved here and transformed this old farmer village to a tourist village but the most important things is that they kept all the cultures and traditions. Some of them are how to make “tunnbröd and how to paint “kurbits”.
Tällberg is developed high above the beautiful lake “Siljan” with an amazing view over the lake and the nearby mountains. The artist Gustav Ankarcrona lived here and they transformed his home to a museum where you can see some of his art and how he was fascinated of the beautiful surroundings.
Across from this little market square is a café called Klockargården and if you go there you have to have Waffles with cloudberry’s and whipping cream, so Swedish and so traditional. All their baking is home made and the smell lingers as you walk in down stairs where there is a little gift shop with local hand made souvenirs. Don’t forget to try their “Dammsugare” mmm so delicious. After you had a treat just drive up the hill past the new built hotel “Dalecarlia” which I think destroys the surroundings, it is a brand new hotell and Spa.
There are other hotels to but they are old buildings that have been restored to keep that old fashioned style. I know everyone is trying to make money by tourism, but it takes away from the beautiful scenery. How you can see the beauty of the old fashioned wood houses next to a gigantic luxury hotell?? But you have to try to see beyond that, anyways just drive up all the way to the top and you will come to this other little old market place, this place is called “Holen” a group of old buildings and an open area where they celebrate “Midsommar” and other special events that includes swedish folklore and traditions.
In one of the pictures you can see above the door it dates 1911, but look at the details on the door, the metal and even the houses how they are built, they had everything in mind, they are built above the ground for reasons and the roofs to protect from heavy weather. Old sleighs and boats are stored underneath the old wooden houses, the windows aren’t that big so not much light could penetrate through them and even the doors aren’t that tall, but you can really see the old way of life here, and I like to share this with you because I feel that history and culture are so important, that’s where we come from our family’s and our ancestors why destroy our own cultures and build brand new buildings…What do we have left from our past to remind us about our heritage if everything gets ruined?
