A Week In Stockholm Video – ‘Click Here’
In The Air Again…. A short airline flight from Bergen to Stockholm, jump on the Arlanda Express Train to the city, then a short subway ride to our apartment in Sodermalm. As luck, or good planning, would have it the entrance to our apartment was 5 meters from the subway entrance. We unpacked and did some exploring of the local area which has everything we need. Shops, pubs, restaurants and easy public transport.
Our First Full Day….. Our first stop was back to Central Station to book rail tickets for two journeys out of Stockholm, one to Gavle and Uppsala, and the other to Gothenburg on the Swedish west coast. We then caught the Metro and a Tram to the Vasa Museum. On 10 August 1628 the ship Vasa set sail on her maiden voyage and sank in Stockholm Harbour after sailing 1300 meters. The wreck was salvaged in 1961 after 333 years under the sea. The reconstructed vessel is 98% original and is adorned with hundreds of carved sculptures.
Nothing can prepare you for the scale and grandeur of this ship. This is a wooden ship that weighs 1210 tonnes, is 69 meters long and 53 meters tall and was built between 1626 and 1628. The exhibition is on 7 floors which take you from the bottom of the hull to the top deck. Above that is still the first section of the mast. The next two sections of the mast are displayed outside the Museum extending from the roof. We spent a total of 4 hours in the Museum and probably still missed part of the exhibition. This is claimed to be the most visited museum in Europe.
On The Ferry…. We then jumped on the ferry across to Gamla Stan. This is the old town of Stockholm dating back to the 13th century, and consists of medieval alley ways, cobbled streets and archaic architecture. Gamla Stan has what is claimed to be the narrowest street in Stockholm, Marten Trotzigs Grand which has 36 steps leading down to the narrowest part which is 35 inches wide.
Another Day Making Tracks…. For our second day in Stockholm we again made use of our Eurail pass and went to Gavle and then down to Uppsala. In Gavle we did the city walk which takes about 1 1/2 hours which took us through the old town, across the rivers Gavlean and Testeboan, through their beautiful parkland and then back into the downtown precinct.
Back on the train to Uppsala, a university town with a beautiful Cathedral which is grand in scale and dates back to the late 13th century. It is the tallest church in the Nordic Countries at a height of 119 meters. Uppsala is a vibrant city with lots of young people and has a very different feel to Gavle. It has some beautiful old buildings particularly around the university precinct.
A Day On The Ferry….. On our third day we jumped on a ferry to see some of Stockholm from the water and traveled to Vaxholm known as the gateway to Roslagen because it is a hub for travel to most of the islands in the Swedish Archipelago. We walked the small town, had a nice lunch in a local restaurant and then rather than take the ferry back to Stockholm jumped on a local bus to see some of the countryside. Bridges connect many of the small islands making this journey possible.
And Yet Another Ferry….. Saturday turned out to be a beautiful Autumn day so another one hour ferry trip to Drottningholm Palace on Lake Malaren where the Swedish Royal Family live. Part of the Palace is open to the public and for a small fee you can have a self guided tour of the main staircase and many of the rooms within the lower two floors of the Palace.
Back on the ferry to Stockholm and then immediately on another ferry to Norreport Malarstrand to walk along the foreshore to see the display of boats of the Stockholm Ship Association. Some of these vessels date back to the mid 1800’s with most being built in the 1900’s particularly during WWII. This is almost an outdoor museum of boats and was an unexpected highlight of our day as we had not set out to find this display but purely tripped over it by accident.
We then walked back to our bus stop via City Hall to see the many brides and grooms having their photos taken after the ceremonies at City Hall Registry Office.
A Day Trip To Gothenburg….. We decided to see more of the Swedish countryside so took a day trip to Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. The train journey took 2 1/2 hours in a very comfortable high speed train. This was one of the longest passenger trains we have ever seen. 16 carriages long and four locomotives to pull the train at 200 kph. We arrived in Gothenburg, orientated ourselves and walked around the city for a couple of hours before jumping back on the train back to Stockholm. Trains in Europe are a very relaxing way to travel particularly in first class.
Our Final Day….. For our final full day in Stockholm we decided to visit the Fotografiska Museum (Photographic Museum) which turned out to be really interesting, particularly the works of Anton Corbijn a photographer renowned for taking photos of pop stars. His black and white photos were outstanding.
After spending 2 hours in the Museum we went to the top floor restaurant for lunch and wow!!! The views from this restaurant are amazing and on a sunny day made each large window look like a photo. This is a must if you are visiting Stockholm and it is a sunny day.
We Say Goodbye….. From the Museum we walked around to the ferry terminal for a our final goodbye to Stockholm from the water.
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