Written by Hayu Hamemayu
Every season has its own charm but for me there’s something about autumn that enchanting like no other season.
The crisp breeze. The sweetness in the air. The amazing colours when every leaf is a flower as Albert Camus puts it.
Maybe that’s just because I’m a hopeless romantic by nature. But regardless of your personality type, autumn is definitely one of the most beautiful times in Lund. It is when the old buildings in the city are covered in red vines and every lane turns into a yellow carpet.
So, if you’re new in Lund and wondering where to get instagrammable autumn pictures, here are my suggestions:
Lund University Library
This building at Helgonabacken has been the main library for Lund University (LU) since 1907 and is one of the most iconic buildings in Lund. When the season changes, it changes its appearance too due to the vines that cover most part of it. The look of it becomes brown or sometimes white on winter, green on spring and summer, and red in autumn.
With such a beauty, the picture of this building is probably the most used picture in every LU student’s desktop wallpaper 😀
The area around the library also offers a beautiful view of autumn as shady trees surround the building; some of them even create canopies above the streets.
Lundagård
As the heart of the city, Lundagård is where many old buildings in Lund are located, such as Kunghuset, Palaestra et Odeum, AF-borgen or Akademiska Föreningens, to name a few. During autumn, these buildings and the trees in the park are dressed in autumn colours, which really give the area a character.
Norra Kyrkogården
This is probably an unusual place to take pictures, as Norra Kyrkogården is actually the biggest cemetery in Lund. Located at the opposite of Lund’s University Hospital, Norra Kyrkogården is claimed as a lung in the city due to its 25 hectares total green space. Therefore, this place is really pretty during autumn. If you’re not too afraid to stroll in between tombs, you should visit this place.
Lund’s Stadsparken
As a park that was inaugurated more than 100 years ago, Lund’s city park is still a favourite for many Lundensians, including me. It’s an important green space for young and old: to relax, to play, to exercise, to party and even to preserve tradition. With its rich vegetation, this park is one of the best places to enjoy autumn colours in Lund.
There are, of course, many other places to get a lovely autumn pictures in Lund. Basically, any park and building with vines would turn into scenic spots during this season. But, if you don’t know where to start your autumn stroll this year, the places I mentioned above are definitely worth visiting. And this is my impression of autumn in Lund in a poem, which I wrote two years ago:
The leaves turned red,
On those days of October,
When fall was here and,
Winter was near
Could you taste,
The sweetness in the air?
The taste of life,
Free from despair?
I pictured us,
Walking hand in hand
Along the way,
Where everywhere was a yellow lane
I remembered,
How I would have waited for you,
On that old wet bench in Lundagård,
Around 1 pm or two
Our love grew strong,
Despite the wind,
Flourishing like mushrooms,
Under the autumn rain
I became gold,
You were getting brown
To the colours of heaven,
We did all belong.
About the author
Hayu Hamemayu is a Lund-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Jakarta Post, Media Indonesia, Kompas, Majalah Kartini, and Indonesia Travel Magazine among others. A traveller mommy by nature and random thinker by inclination, she keeps memories in her Instagram @hayuhamemayu and writes her everyday stories in her blog.
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