Uppsala is a university town on the Fyris River, about seventy kilometres north of Stockholm, and its centre of gravity is the cathedral. It is the largest church in Scandinavia, with towers that rise to over a hundred metres, built of brick in a French Gothic style from the late thirteenth century onward. Swedish kings were crowned and buried in it, including Gustav Vasa, the founder of the modern kingdom, and so was the scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. Carl Linnaeus, the man who gave plants and animals their two-part Latin names, is also buried here, and his garden, a short walk away, is kept as he planted it.
The university, founded in 1477, is the oldest in the Nordic countries, and it gives the town its character of cyclists, students, bookshops and red-brick buildings. On the last night of April, Walpurgis Eve, students gather along the river in white caps to sing and drink, and the town is lively. The Carolina Rediviva library holds the Codex Argenteus, the Silver Bible, a sixth-century Gothic manuscript written in silver and gold ink on purple parchment, which is one of the most precious books in Europe.
Just north of town lies Gamla Uppsala, Old Uppsala, where three great burial mounds stand on the plain. They date from the fifth and sixth centuries and are traditionally linked to early Swedish kings. In the Viking Age, a famous temple stood nearby, described by the medieval writer Adam of Bremen, who told of a sacrifice held every nine years. The mounds are quiet and grassy, and a small church and museum stand beside them. It is a place that rewards a slow walk.
The ride south to Drottningholm, the royal palace on an island in Lake Malaren, follows quiet roads through farmland and along bays, with views of water. The route is flat, with gentle bends and limited traffic. Wind from the lake can be cool. In Uppsala, parking for motorbikes is easy near the centre, and fuel stations are on the ring road. Traffic cameras are common in Sweden, and limits are strict.
Eat a kanelbulle, a cinnamon bun, in one of the old cafes by the river. Summer evenings are long, and the best months are May to September.