The Tourist Hotel changes name
Selma Lagerlof selling novel “Gösta Berling’s Saga” created a huge public interest in the lake Fryken and the valley Fryksdalen. The good influx of travelers made it possible for Steamboat Company Fryksdalen to purchase two new steamers, which were among the most elegant that has ever sailed in the Swedish inland lakes. The two boats, which were named Gösta Berling and Selma Lagerlöf was put into service in 1900 and 1905.
At the same time the tourist hotel changed its name for marketing purposes to Hotel Björnidet because the small town Torsby was called so in the novel.
The boat Gosta Berling, which was slightly larger and more beautiful of the two, traffic Frykensjöarna until 1931, when she was posted as a result of trains and road vehicles had become a serious competitor to the steamboats as a more popular communication. The boat Gosta Berling was then cut down to scrap in Fryksta in 1940.
The sister boat Selma Lagerlöf, who was a more practical built, continued to sail alone for a couple of decades.
Read more about boat traffic on Fryken:
Text: Håkan Larsson
