Grebbestad is a city in Tanum and one of Bohuslän`s most popular seaside resorts. As in so many other places in Bohuslän, fishing and seafaring has in the past been significant industries, and even today there are still several fishing trawler left in Grebbestad.

In the area around Grebbestad are also several interesting ancient monuments, such as a stone labyrinth and an ancient castle. Remains of similar nature have been found in several places further south in Europe, which could mean that early Bohusläningarna had contact with people in southern European cultures.

History and curiosities

Remains from the Iron Age shows that the area around Grebbestad been inhabited since ancient times. The fist time Grebbestad appear in the historical sources is at the beginning of the 1600`s, when the locals put their mark on the tax roll and settlement marks on the maps.

Industries such as trading, shipping, canning and fishing industries contributed to the development of the city during the 1800`s. In 1858 there were seven cargo ships in Grebbetad, and there where mainly timber and grain that was shipped out. During the last decade of 1800`s many stonemasons moved in to the community when the stone industry started. (In fact one of the spectacular views when passing these areas with boat)

Already in the late 1800`s Grebbestad became a seaside resort with mud cure as speciality. Th mud in the bay was then considered to be very health. During this period there was both warm and cold baths, longest preserved cold bath house was demolished in 1974.

Poet Ebba Lindquist (1908-1995) grew up in Grebbestad and as a tribute to her; a place with four boulders with some of here poems has been created. Evert Taube also has some connection to the resort. Here he wrote "En solid morgon" and "Så länge skutan kan gå" when he was staying at Otterö outside Grebbestad in the summer of 1954.

Greby graveyard outside Grebbestad is the largest graveyard around Bohuslän. More than 180 graves are visible on the surface, but under the ground lies probably many more. According to legend, is fallen Scottish warriors buried in the mounds. The graves where investigated in 1873 and could then be dated to the Iron Age, around 400-500 a.c.

Outside Grebbestad is the labyrinth Ulmekärr, probably from the Iron Age. Labyrinths are among the most enigmatic ancient sites and they are almost always in costal areas. Similar labyrinths like the one in Ulmekärr, can also be found around the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of British Islands and elsewhere in Scandinavia. The purpose of the construction of the labyrinth is probably about luck and fertility.

Röö-stone on Otterön has inscriptions in runes of the so-called older runic alphabet. The text on the stone tells of Swabaharjar, who became betrayed. The name comes from the an area of modern Germany.

In the nature reserve at Otterön is remarkable shell banks. At the ponds are shell banks of special geological interest, since they are largely made up of fossils of lime stored red seaweeds and not of fossils from different animal species. On Otterön are most lime-plants occurring in northern Bohuslän, such as orchids.
Inside the city Grebbestad is local church in the Gothic Revival style built in granite in the 1890`s. The Church`s most prominent and most valuable decoration glass mosaic in the choir as artist Joe Milla, did in 1965. A church of a different kind is Monk`s Church by the sea just north of Grönemad. There is a tunnel -like formation from the ice age with a depth of 12 meters. At the beach is a large boulder called the altar stone.