Directory ANGLING Sweden's 96,000 lakes make for a lot of fishing. It's free along the coast or in the larger lakes, but for anywhere else get a fishing permit from the local tourist office. A leaflet is available from the Swedish National Tourist Board (see Basics for addresses). CUSTOMS Your dutyfree limit entering Sweden is one litre of spirits, one litre of wine and two litres of beer (or two litres of wine if no spirits are taken in). Other restrictions, if you're taking in a car are: no potatoes (seriously), fresh, smoked or frozen meat and a limit of 5kg of fruit andveg. EMERGENCIES Dial w90 ООО for police {PoUs). fire brigade [Brandkai] or ambulance {Ambulans], free of charge from any phone box. HOLIDAYS Banks, offices and shops are closed on the following days and may shut early on the preceding day: Januar 1, Januan 6 (Epiphany . Good Friday, Easter Monday, May 1 (Labour Day), Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Midsummer's Day, All Saint's Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day PHARMACIES Apotek in Swedish are generally open shopping hours, although Stockholm has a 24hour pharmacy. Larger towns operate a rota system of late opening, rota and addresses posted on the doors of each apotek. SHOPS Open MonFri 9am6pm, Sat 9am1pm. Some department stores stay open until 810pm in cities, and may open on Sunday afternoons as well. TIPPING Hotels and restaurants include their service charge in the bill, usually ten percent Where you will frequently have to hand over cash IS to cloakroom attendants in bars and discos around 7kr a time. History Sweden has one of Europe's longest documented histories, but for all the upheavals of the Viking times and the warring of the Middle Ages, during modern times the country has seemed to delight in taking a historical back seat. For one brief period, when Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot dead in 1986, Sweden was thrust into the international limelight. Since then, however, it's regained its poise, even though the current situation is fraught. Political infighting and domestic disharmony is threatening the one thing that the Swedes have always been proud of and that other countries aspire to: the politics of consensus, the passing of which, arguably, is of far greater importance than even the assassination of their prime minister. Early Civilisations It was not until around 6000 ВС that the first settlers roamed north and east into Sweden, living as nomadic reindeer hunters and herders. By 3000 ВС people had settled in the south of the country and were established as farmers; and dating from 2000 ВС there are indications of a development in burial practices, with dolmens and passage graves found throughout the south em Swedish provinces. Traces also remain of the Boat Axe People, named after their characteristic tool shaped like a boat. The earliest Scandinavian horse riders, they quickly held sway over the whole of southern Sweden. During the Bronze Age (1500500 ВС) the Boat Axe People traded furs and amber for southern European copper and tin.