Sweden - 2000, 2017

We were in Stockholm seventeen years ago, in 2000, as the first part of a trip to Russia.  On that trip we only spent two days in Stockholm before boarding an overnight ferry to Helsinki, and then taking a train to St. Petersburg.  We liked what we saw and planned to visit Stockholm another time.

In November, 2017, at the end of a trip through Norway, we decided to spend our fourth and last week in Sweden.  We had just driven 1500 miles down the Norwegian coast, from Kirkenes in the north to Trondheim, and didn’t want any more time behind the wheel.  We flew from Trondheim, Norway to Stockholm and booked a room at the First Reisen Hotel in the old town (Gamla Stan), for a one-week stay, allowing enough time to rest and sightsee at a leisurely pace, before heading home.

We booked a standard room on Hotels.com, which was OK, but it seemed a bit small, especially since we were staying a week.   It was the final part of our trip and we thought we’d splurge, so we upgraded to an amazing three-room suite overlooking the waterfront, and since we were staying for a week, got a substantial discount to its normal cost.  The view from our windows included the yacht that the Queen of England gave the King of Sweden; how nice to be royalty.  It’s room 604 at the First Riesen Hotel for anyone traveling to Stockholm wanting a special treat.

Stockholm is the largest city in Sweden and is referred to as the “capital of Scandanavia”.  Its population is just under a million with almost two and a half million in the metro area. The city is spread across fourteen islands, but navigation is simple with bridges, ferries and a subway, and since there are no hills, most everything is within walking distance.  Human settlement goes back to the 6th millennium BC and the city was founded in 1252.

Stockholmers call their city “Beauty on the Water”, and the Old Town takes its place with other medieval European cities for its charm, history, imposing palace, cathedrals and narrow cobblestoned streets and alleys.  It’s a vibrant city with world-class restaurants, cafes, shops and throbbing with residents and tourists exploring all the city has to offer. 

We like to wander through neighborhoods just soaking in local life, and Stockholm is a great city for doing just that.  While we love the comfort and security of having a car, we were glad we didn’t have to worry about driving or parking and the local transportation system of buses and ferries served us well.

Gamla Stan, the old town, is an island connected to the rest of the city by bridges and ferries.  It’s one of Europe’s oldest and best-preserved medieval city centers, steeped in history and oozing with atmosphere.  Our hotel was in the middle of old town, close to the Royal Palace, and we spent hours wandering the back streets exploring.

One day we took the ferry to Djurgarden Island and visited both Skansen Park and Grona Lund amusement park.  It was a sunny, Sunday afternoon, and both parks were filled with young families enjoying the last days of summer. 

Opened in 1891, Skansen is the world’s first open-air museum developed as part of a European movement to show the history and way of life in Sweden, before the industrial revolution.  It has been used as a model for open-air museums in other countries, including the United States, and the word “Skansen” has become a noun to describe these parks.

The park contains more than one hundred historic buildings from all over Sweden, including homes, shops, schools, etc., which are hosted by docents in traditional Swedish garb, demonstrating period skills such as cooking, woodworking, baking, glass blowing, and so on. We were there on October first, considered in Scandinavia to be the first day of fall, and there were several exhibitions on cooking and bread making.

The amusement park, Gröna Lund, is also on Djurgarden Island, across from Skansen.  Compared with the giant amusement parks in the US, this one is small, because of its location, tucked in among other buildings near the waterfront.  It’s definitely not high-tech; just the opposite, it’s like a walk back in time with old style rides and games like the U.S. in the 1940’s.  We just strolled through, picking up on the kids enjoying what looked to us like death-defying rides; not our cup of tea.  It was good we decided to see it on Sunday, since the park closed the next day until Halloween, the end of October.

The highlight of Stockholm attractions is the Vasa Museum, containing the Vasa Swedish warship and its amazing story.  Vasa was completed in 1628, and, when launched, she sailed about 4,000 feet before capsizing in a light breeze with the loss of most aboard.   The exhibit explains that there were design flaws, which caused the ship to be top-heavy and unstable.  Once it capsized and turned on its side, water flooded through the gun portals and it sank in ninety feet of water in Stockholm harbor.

Because the Stockholm harbor water is brackish, and not as salty as seawater, much of the ship and its contents were preserved.  The ship was found in the mid 1950’s, and after 333 years at the bottom of Stockholm harbor, was raised mostly intact.  It’s now housed in a large building alongside the harbor, and the museum is one of the best I’ve ever visited.  Google “Vasa ship” to read more about this incredible story.

While Stockholm is filled with world-class restaurants, one memorable culinary experience was Kajsas Fisk restaurant in the Hotorgshakllen underground food market.  We had read about it online and learned that the Kaksas Fisk fish soup is a Stockholm legend and considered one of the greatest fish soups in Scandinavia; we had to try it.  The market itself was an interesting experience with an international array of shops and restaurants.  Kajsas Fisk is a tiny restaurant, hidden in a corner of the market, with a counter and just a few shared tables.  Misti grabbed two seats while I waited on a long line to place our order for two bowls of soup.  We were not disappointed.  The soup may be the best fish soup we’ve ever eaten and the entire experience was fun. 

We spent our last afternoon at the Nobel Museum, located in the former Stock Exchange Building in Stortoget Square in Gamla Stan.  This is an outstanding museum, which presents a history of Albert Nobel, founder of the Noble Prize, as well as exhibitions of the more prominent Nobel Laureates including Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Marie Curie.  We were fortunate to arrive just as a docent tour was beginning, and the one-hour tour, with audience participation, was one of our more memorable museum experiences.

The next day we flew home on United by way of London and that concluded our one-month trip through Norway and Sweden.

Art Faibisch, May, 2019