THE GRANDMA LOOKS FOR THE LILLE PRINSEN IN MALMÖ

Today, The Grandma has been visiting the Swedish city of Malmö, in Skåne. Located 35-40 minutes by train from Copenhagen, The Grandma has come not only to see and get to know the city but also to look for a cultural treasure of incalculable personal value.

The Grandma is passionate about literature and when asked the seemingly impossible question of what her favourite work of fiction is, she has no doubt about choosing The Little Prince, the masterpiece by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. And for this reason, whenever she has the opportunity to be away from home, the challenge is to find a version of this wonder in the language of the place she is visiting, so, while being in Copenhagen and already having the Danish version, she could not resist the temptation to take the train and cross the Øresund Bridge, from Denmark to the Öresund Bridge in Sweden and go in search of this extraordinary treasure and yes, she has been able to do it. 

The visit has been so short that she has not had enough time to really visit the city, so she has put it on his list of upcoming must-sees. In addition, she has taken a short break to watch the Northern Star, who had an important match today, which has not gone well, but from which many lessons can be learned.

Tomorrow morning, she will cross the bridge again towards Kastrup, where she must take the return flight to Barcelona at mid-morning, saying goodbye to these Scandinavian lands that she loves and admires so much. 

Malmö is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the seventh-largest city in the Nordic region. Located on the Öresund strait on the southwestern coast of Sweden, it is the largest city in Skåne and is the gubernatorial seat of Skåne County. Malmö received its city privileges in 1353.

Malmö is the site of Sweden's only fixed direct link to continental Europe, the Öresund Bridge, completed in 2000. The bridge connects Sweden to Denmark, and carries both road and rail traffic. The Öresund Region, which includes Malmö and Copenhagen, is home to four million people.

The city was one of the earliest and most-industrialised in Scandinavia, and the birthplace of several of Scandinavia's largest industrial groups, such as Kockums, Skanska, and Scania AB. The city has undergone a major transformation in the 21st century, and today, Malmö is characterised by many small and medium-sized companies in biotech, logistics, IT, construction, and real estate markets. It also is home to Malmö University and other higher education facilities.

Malmö contains many historic buildings and parks, and is a commercial centre for the western part of Skåne. It is home to Malmö FF, the Swedish football club with the most Allsvenskan titles, and the only Nordic club to have reached the final of the European Cup. It is also home to women's football club FC Rosengård, the most successful club in the Damallsvenskan.

Malmö has a mild climate for the latitude and, normally, average high temperatures remain above freezing in winter, with prolonged snow cover being rare.

The earliest written mention of Malmö as a city dates from 1275. It is thought to have been founded shortly before that date, as a fortified quay or ferry berth of the Danish Archbishop of Lund, 20 kilometres to the north-east. Its original name was Malmhaug, with alternative spellings, meaning Gravel pile or Ore Hill.

In the 15th century, Malmö became one of Denmark's largest and most visited cities, reaching a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. It became the most important city around the Öresund, with the German Hanseatic League frequenting it as a marketplace, and was notable for its flourishing herring fishery. 

In 1437, King Eric of Pomerania (King of Denmark from 1396 to 1439) granted the city's arms: argent with a griffin gules, based on Eric's arms from Pomerania. The griffin's head as a symbol of Malmö extended to the entire province of Skåne from 1660.

Lutheran teachings spread during the 16th century Protestant Reformation, and Malmö became one of the first cities in Scandinavia to fully convert (1527–1529) to this Protestant denomination. 

More information: Malmö Stad

We had spent two months in Malmö, Sweden, 
the place for which God saved all the most beautiful things in nature. 
The greenest grass. Sky the colour of cornflowers. 
Children who seemed born of that landscape, 
their hair spun from white clouds, eyes of cobalt sea.

Martha Hall Kelly