Walking Gamla Stan, Old Town Stockholm
Zagan the motorhome’s back in his original fantastic parking spot on the island of Skeppsholmen (N59.32438, E18.08844), we prefer this spot because we have neighbours in the form of boats moored up next to us. One side of Zagan being splashed with rays reflected from the Baltic Sea as the sun steadily rides over Stockholm. To my right, squinting past the glare, I can see the huge white side of the Birka, a cruise ship which runs out through the archipelago to the south and east. The Viking Line Cinderella rode into port yesterday as I was failing to catch fish from Kastellholmen (the adjacent island), looking for all the world like it would ram the city as it spun on a six-pence, before easing into place alongside the dock. When these boats depart, they’re so enormous, it feels like the city’s calved a piece of itself to the sea.
Gamla Stan from Skeppsholmen
There are ladders here along with life belts. I couldn’t work out why (they have them against lakes too, which have no wall to climb), but Ju’s nailed it I think – the brackish Baltic Sea freezes…?
Big coats on folks – sunny but down to 10 degrees now, only 4 degrees at night
Hey, what can I say, the past couple of days have been well used doing not much! The location of the parking isn’t helping me want to get out and about, as it feels like it’s all come here to me. The island behind me’s calm, green and amber, and leafy. The Baltic glints as a few tourists wander past, some setting up tripods and photographing the views across to Södermalm. In front of me folks are living on small yachts and motorboats anchored in between us and a view of Gröna Lund on Djurgården. This, to me, is a wonderful place to be.
Being only a fifteen minute arm-in-arm amble from Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town, we’ve managed to drag ourselves over there a couple of times for a look round. On our way over yesterday we got chatting with an American chap from Boston, as he closed the gangplank gate to the af Chapman, the white 128 year old full-rigged steel ship anchored just off Skeppsholmen. Ju had worked out the ship’s part of the youth hostel on the island, and we were curious what it was like on board. He’d booked one of the officer’s rooms (a full year ago!) for only US$36 a night, and was well pleased with his basic but unique digs. As we took different paths on our way to the old town he told us “you’ll love it, it’s very European”. After a couple of days easy walking around the old streets we can confirm he was 100% correct: we do, and it is.
Door(s) of the Day in Gamla Stan
Depending on your viewpoint, Sweden either cleverly manoeuvred itself from, or cowardly side-stepped conflict in World War 2, managing to stay neutral throughout as the countries around them were engulfed in the chaos. I’m of the former opinion – good for them to avoid the idiocy of it all. One effect of this was to ensure their cities weren’t bombed to dust, like a previously beautiful Dresden was, and Stockholm stands proud as a result. On walking into Gamla Stan memories were washed-fresh in my head of baroque wonders on Sicily, Italian hilltop towns in Tuscany and even, on a far more intimate scale, the majesty of Vienna. I enjoyed Stockholm and its old town much more than I had expected to, certainly more than (what I felt were) the tourist-crushed Baltic equivalents in Riga and Tallinn.
In a couple of day’s easy walking, we’ve watched the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace, eaten herring from the stand near the Slussen T station, exchanged some leftover Norwegian Krona (ouch, how much commission!), squinted in wonder at the carriages and arms in the Livrustkammaren (the Royal Armoury – free admission folks, get in), peered up the graffiti-scrawled narrowest street in the city, eaten out in a cafe alongside the Nobel Museum and smiled at the enormous range of imported plastic tat for sale in a modern tourist hotspot.
The Royal Guard’s drawn from across Sweden’s armed forces. At the moment it’s the turn of the army’s Air Defence units. A small insight into how Sweden thinks, maybe, with one royal guard sporting a goatee and hair bobble, and two ladies in the guard
Looking back towards Gamal Stan from Sodermalm. To the right (out of shot), the city’s two road bridges are being town down and replaced with a new, sleek one
Herring and Mash at Strömmingsvagnen
Swedish royal wear – very nice!
Some of the beautiful armour on display in the Royal Armoury
Cafe culture in Gamla Stan
Gamla Stan’s main tat route. Take any of the side roads and boom, you’re on your own
Narrow? Check. Tagged? Sadly, also Check.
I’m thinking tonight will be our last in Stockholm. It’s a cracking city. I especially love the boats here, everything from cruise ships to war ships to one-man yachts to motor cruisers to ribs to ice breakers to tourist cruisers to lighthouse boats to rigged wooden ships to Dutch barges to an enormous racing trimaran just opposite us. They’re all here and, unlike so many of the boats we’ve seen over the months and years of travelling, they feel shot-through with life. This isn’t a marina full of silent white boats, rocking like mad animals caged and left alone, waiting for an owner to squeeze in time to enjoy them. These vessels are getting use day in, day out, they’re animated and a joy to watch.
Where next? Dunno. The general idea is to head south towards Malmö and over the magnificent Øresund bridge, but we’ve not yet sussed quite where we’ll go. After the intensity and drama of Norway, any country was going to feel tame. Our first few days in Sweden (before we got into Stockholm) confirmed we weren’t as excited as we should be in a country new to us, but time will tell whether we find inspiration in what southern Sweden has to offer.
The 2016 Nobel Prize for Physics was announced today. Three British-born physicists won it for discoveries about strange forms of matter
Cheers, I’ll leave you with a few more Stockholm piccies below, Jay
Hi , as you head on down to Malmo, you’ll find some lovely wild camping spots, by lakes, no neighbours, peace and quiet. enjoy yourselves.
Ray
The old town looks fab. We never made it to Stockholm but looks like a good option for us when we head back to Norway…one day!
It’s worth the ‘detour’ Joanne, a lovely city, felt very safe too. Cheers, Jay
Ju’s right about the Baltic freezing. I have been on Gamla Stan when all the water in Stockholm was frozen.
Gothenburg is lovely in the summer. It has a great outdoor cafe culture. Maybe too cold now.
The other place I will be looking out when we visit Sweden is Uppsala, just to the north of Stockholm. It’s Sweden’s big university city and Sarah (Mrs. Tim) tells me it’s very attractive.
Hi Tim – yep, Uppsala gets a good write up in the guide books, but we opted to skip it this time around simply as Adam’s write up on europebycamper.com didn’t make it sound worth going. Everyone’s experience will be different of course, and being honest the other places we’ve stayed so far in Sweden (outside Stockholm) haven’t been that exciting either! Plenty time yet to go discover southern Sweden though. Cheers, Jay
Hi,love the Blog where you are parked is it free to park overnight?
No. It was something like 20kr per hour in the day and 15kr per hour over night, or 60kr for 24 hours. The ticket checker was keen, saw him here several times day and night!
Hey guys, we are here in Stockholm enjoying a beautiful sunny day. But an update the car park you stayed in is having major work done at present so is
Closed. We are parking on the island but in a different area using the phone app to pay no machines. A greater cost than you were here.