Marstrand Caves

Fru Arvidssons Barnkammare - St. Eric

The Bedroom of Mrs Arvidsson - St. Eric

Useful Information

Location:	On Marstrandsön (Marstrand island) west of Göteborg. From the town follow the path to the castle then turn right to the north. 20 min walk.
Open:	no restrictions. [2020]
Fee:	free. [2020]
Classification:
Light:	none, not necessary.
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Marstrands Turistbyrå, Hamngatan, SE-44030 Marstrand, Tel: +46-303-60087, Fax: +46-303-60018. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

The small island Marstrand is located north west of Göteborg. It is an island, only accessible by ship, the road has several bridges but it ends at Koön. A 200 m wide firth between the two islands my be crossed on a ferry. The village Marstrand is a nice Swedish village with the typical colourful wooden houses. It is crowned by the big castle Carlsten Fort.

The small island has numerous trails for the visitors, making it an ideal place for a pleasant walk. One of the trails starts at the castle and leads northwest through the center of the island, through a part with many shrubs. This is extraordinary, as most of the island is stony and bare, as typical for this western islands. The path uses a natural gorge and leads to the two small caves of the island.

Marstrand is formed of metamorphic rocks, like gneiss, which is not soluble. So there is no possibility for the formation of karst caves. The whole island is a result of the Ice Ages, when the whole area was covered by a more than 1,000 m high glacier. This glacier abraded and polished the hard rocks util they formed softy undulating hills. Today this hills are only slightly above sea level and form the typical Skärgården, shallow islands with little vegetation.

The shallow gorge on Marstrand, like the cave, was formed by the destruction of the rock through the glacier and the erosive melting waters of the glacier. Probably the rock was a little weaker at this place, or had a different chemistry. So this caves are erosive caves in non soluble rock, which means they are rather small and not very deep.

There are two caves very close. The Bedroom of Mrs Arvidsson is named after a legend. It tells that a woman called Mrs Arvidsson gave birth to a child inside the cave. The second cave is called St. Eric. Both caves are not very deep, just an overhanging cliff forming a comfortable shelter.