Gamla Uppsala

For every living creature that is male nine are sacrificed, the blood of which is offered to appease the gods.......

The bodies are hung in a grove near the temple....dogs and horses and also people...

Adam of Bremen, German church historian, 1070s, on the Pagan Temple in Uppsala

Turns out though, that Adam of Bremen never actually visited Uppsala. This account was based on hearsay from a Danish king. And they both had an agenda to convert the heathens to Christianity, so it clearly served the purpose to create horror stories about "pagan rites".

And while Gamla Uppsala was unquestionably the seat of power from which the Kings of the Ynglingar dynasty ruled, and the place where they were buried in huge grave mounds, modern scholars doubt there was ever a temple there.

It was a gloriously bright day on Saturday. Perfect for the twelve-kilometre bike ride there and back, through viridian fields and woods misted with the pale silver-green of emerging leaves. And for strolling around the burial mounds, and through the sunny museum.

Like men they journeyed
far for gold.
And in the east
they fed the eagle
in the south they died
in Saracenland.

Icelandic saga on Scandinavian expeditions to the eastern Caliphate