Sweden - 2016

“Tak!” or "thank you" in Swedish we said after checking into the somewhat quirky and modern HTL Upplandsgatan Hotel in the heart of Stockholm after 36+ hrs of jetlagged-riddled travels door to door. Normally when in Europe, we try to stay in apartments so we can make meals to keep costs down and get the benefits of washing machines and larger rooms, but not this time.

Stockholm is an easy flight to London

Originally our exploration of Sweden was to take 10 days, but was later split into 2 visits after the arrival in May of granddaughter Evie to her London based parents, and our desire to meet her for the first time.  So after 2 nights in Stockholm getting a feel of the city, we ducked over to London and spent a wonderful few days with Rachel, Jarad & Evie taking plenty of photos.  

Rob with Evie

There was a great family lunch at a classic old country pub with Rosie & Martin, the UK grandparents joining all of us, then a very serene day including a picnic, in the very beautiful Kew Gardens.

Innovative breakfast in the hotel

Back in Stockholm in our base at HTL Upplandsgatan, with its cashless operation and great breakfast, we immersed ourselves in better understanding the Swedish way of life, its history and culture. 

One of many elegant settings in Stockholm

Stockholm is an interesting city surrounded by lots of seawater, access to many lakes and parks, built on 14 primary islands.  

The whole archipelago around Stockholm consists of 24,000 islands of all sizes, with some the locations for many of Stockholm’s tourist sites. 

Cafe's in central square, Gamla Stan

Within Stockholm is the delightful ‘old town’ area called Gamla Stan which we meandered through a few times, enjoying its sights and atmosphere whilst pin balling our way amongst large numbers of cruise ship tourists also visiting.

Rob liked Stockholm right from the start but it took me some time to warm to it, perhaps because it’s a subtle city you have to observe patiently to get the most out of, with its numerous old buildings designed to be almost understated whilst being very elegant. 

So we stopped regularly to observe it more closely and after not too long, I was a bigger fan also.  The Swedish have a reputation for good design and it seems this started long ago in the architecture around the city.

Looking across to Gamla Stan

Sweden is a country about the same size as Spain where ~80% of the population of 9.6M million live in the 3 cities of Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg, whilst the rest of the population are spread throughout villages scattered amongst Sweden’s vast pine forests, including those well inside the arctic circle.  We concentrated our time within Stockholm, out amongst the islands and ventured on day trips into the countryside.

Apartment living in Stockholm

We decided to break our exploration around Stockholm into 2 areas of focus… the city of Stockholm which is a great walking place to visit and Sweden’s history through visits to islands or countryside, the maps that follow showing our routes for each.

Stockholm the city…

To get a feel for this city when we first arrived, we spent a day using one of a few hop on/off bus & boat operators, which quickly enabled us to orientate ourselves and learn what we may want to explore later as well as actually visit perhaps the most popular destination in Stockholm… the Vasa.

In & Around Stockholm

The Vasa as it is now

What is the Vasa you ask, its a boat, a very old timber Swedish warship launched in 1627, which then sank in 1628 when it founded in Stockholm harbour!  

There it lay in the mud, fully intact for 333 years before being found and recovered in 1961, later being housed in its own fabulous museum since 1990.

It is quite a boat, big and magnificently decorated with hundreds of woodcarvings all over it and at its time of sinking was extremely colourful, but alas with not enough ballast to keep it upright!

The Vasa stern at launch

The Vasa stern now

We spent much time walking through and around Stockholm admiring the many ornate buildings and seeing some Scandinavian wildlife.

Great Grey Owl with mouse

Lynx

No they weren’t in the parks but at Skansen Zoo, which not only included animals but also many old buildings moved there to teach people about Sweden’s earlier way of life.  

We also ventured off to Skogskyrkogården, a cemetery near the city centre, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The setting was very serene and peaceful, with most gravesites located amongst the forest, one of them being that of Greta Garbo’s.

A very beautiful cemetery indeed

The rest of our time in the city was spent doing what the Swedes seem to like doing in droves when its sunny, sitting in either one of the numerous parks throughout the city or enjoying a quiet drink at a quirky bar on the waters edge somewhere.

What a setting for a drink or two

Swedish History…

To appreciate more of Sweden’s history we ventured north of Stockholm via train and bus for a day trip to the small but beautiful medieval town of Sigtuna, Sweden’s oldest town, founded in 980. 

Visiting Sigtuna from Stockholm

Located on Lake Mälaren, Sigtuna was also the location for the first coins minted in Sweden and is the home of 40 documented Runic Stones, created by the Vikings during the 12^th to 13^th Century as memorials to deceased family members but not grave headstones.

View across Lake Mälaren from Sigtuna

Oldest street in Sweden in Sigtuna

There were the ruins of St Peter’s church, believed built in 1100 for the King and also St Mary’s church built in the 1200’s by Dominican monks and the oldest brick building in the area.

With roads like Stora gatan, the main street in this quaint town and the first street in Sweden, old buildings, green trees everywhere and the lake, it was a delightful little historic town of a mere 8,000 residents to wander through.

Viking Runic Stone with a Christian cross

St Peter's Church ruins

The Islands…

To get a feel for the islands we decided to make 2 trips to very different island destinations, one to the left and the other to the right.

Drottningholm Palace left & Vaxholm Island to the right

The first was to the island of Lovön to visit Drottningholm Palace, still the private residence of the Swedish Royal family, built in the late 16^th century.  This was lavish as expected, but stylish and located within manicured the baroque gardens laid out in 1681, again looking out to yet more water.

Drottningham Palace

As t a current private residence of the Royal family... its well guarded

Then we also took a commuter ferry to Vaxholm located on Vaxholm Island about 90 mins from Stockholm.  We stopped at various other island locations about 10 times, the bow (nose) of the ferry rising and the hydraulic gangplank reaching out to land each time for fast boarding/disembarkation.

Up the goes the nose and you walk on/off... very efficient

It was during this trip we also saw more of the Swedes passion for owning what at times were very small recreation huts or homes.

These are typically perched overlooking the water, usually with a small deck out front, casual chairs standing guard, waiting for the owners to return and enjoy a drink during sunset.  

Local pub/hotel in Vaxholm

We were quite astounded by the volume of ferry traffic moving around the various islands and just how many Swedes live on islands and commute to work.

Vaxholm is home to almost 5,000 Swedes and is unashamedly a holiday destination for locals and tourists alike. 

If you stroll down any of the many little lanes, away from the waterfront and ‘castelette’ on its own little island just offshore, can be found very nice modest houses accompanied by beautiful gardens all of which looked very neat and serene.

Gröna Lund amusement park on Djurgården Island, Stockholm

It was a struggle to comprehend the need for icebreakers during the very severe winters in Sweden, used to keep various ferry routes open, allowing them to run all year round enabling residents to get to and from work.

We enjoyed walking many kms during our stay in and around the very elegant Stockholm but the time had come to catch the 200+ km/h express train back to Arlanda Airport for the flight to somewhere quite different.

Last night on the harbours around Stockholm

For a few more photos covering Sweden, please click on the link below:

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