Stora and Lilla Essingen: the funkis islands
Two midstream islands of 1940s modernism, shore paths, and the motorway roaring overhead. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Essingetorget (Lilla Essingen)
Bus 1 drops you at the little square — a grocer, a bakery, the everyday business of an island that mostly keeps to itself. Get a coffee here; the rest of the walk is shore and water.

2. The funkis blocks
The pale 1940s *funkis* (functionalist) housing is the reason to slow down: flat roofs, ribbon windows, balconies turned to the light. Built when this was new modern Sweden, and still lived-in, not preserved.

3. Lilla Essingen shore path
Pick up the waterside path and follow it round. Boatyards, private jetties, allotment-shed clutter — a working shoreline rather than a manicured one. The water is *Mälaren* on one side and the city on the other.

4. Under the Essingeleden bridge
The motorway viaduct crosses high overhead, the whole country's traffic roaring above your head while you stand on a quiet jetty beneath it. The contrast is the photograph; stand a minute and let it be strange.

5. Stora Essingen shore (Essinge strand)
Cross to the larger island and the shore opens out — wooden jetties, swimming spots, the water wide and bright. This is where the islanders actually spend summer evenings.

6. Essinge kyrka (Essinge church)
Cyrillus Johansson's 1959 brick church, modest and well-made, the kind of building that rewards a look up. A quiet end before the bus back from the square.

Stora and Lilla Essingen: the funkis islands