Scandinavia – God dag Stockholm!
It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another blog post. As you might have noticed, I’ve been quite on the run the last few weeks, and I’ve visited some very cool places. This week I want to start telling you all about my short but fun trip to the Swedish capital Stockholm. It was my first time in Scandinavia, but I already know it won’t be my last time!
Riddarhuset
If you follow me on Instagram, you knew the journey to Sweden was a bit stressful. I came back from Cyprus on Thursday night, due to flight delays way later than estimated, and then had to travel back to Innsbruck from Munich. The next day I was back on my way to Munich with my sister and some friends for the Bon Jovi Concert, which was great fun by the way, and from the concert, we went straight to the airport in Memmingen. As we didn’t have enough time to sleep at a hotel, we slept in the car at the parking lot for about two and a half hours before catching a VERY EARLY flight to Stockholm. I might have to add that this was my first ever carry-on-only travel, and I really enjoyed it, and I have been a fan of travelling as light as possible already beforehand.
After leaving our small luggage at the hotel at around 10 AM, we still had all the rest of the day before us, so we went straight to the city centre. On the way to Gamla Stan, the old town, we made a stop at Riddarhuset, which loosely translated means House of the Knights. From there we made our way across bridges and through narrow alleys to Gamla Stan, the historic old town. I’m pretty sure you have seen pictures of these colourful houses before, but I was quite disappointed to notice that there are actually just the three buildings you see on photos, the rest of the buildings surrounding Stortorget square are not that impressive.
There is also a Nobel Prize Museum and, of course, lots of cafés, so we decided to take a short break. After a brief discussion,, we decided to head for lunch nearby and found a little Italian/Swedish restaurant. This was where I – for the first time ever! – tried classic Swedish Köttbullar, and I became a big fan immediately! I have eaten those daily for the rest of the trip, even at the airport while waiting for our flight back home. One thing to keep in mind is that Sweden, or Scandinavia in general, is quite expensive. Meals cost around 180 Kronor (around 18€), drinks, if non-alcoholic are only slightly more expensive than in central Europe, while alcoholic beverages are ridiculously expensive (an Aperol Spritz might cost you up to 15-18€!). But that’s something that Scandinavia is famous for, and we did not expect it to be a cheap trip. For the food, I might have to add that it was utterly delicious, and while the prices are high, the quality is as well, and I guess that’s the most important thing.
Afterwards, we decided to stroll a bit around Gamla Stan and later on also through Drottinggatan, a shopping street that is a mixture of both modern and a bit more Swedish shops. We even found a vinyl shop where we might have bought some vinyl discs! As we did not get a lot of sleep the night before, this day ended pretty early, and after a cheap little dinner and some planning for the next days, we went to bed early.
Our next day started at the Kungliga slotted, the Royal Palace of Stockholm. We bought a ticket for the palace, which actually grants you access to 4 different parts: the Treasury, the Royal Appartments, the Kronor Museum and an Antiquities museum. The original castle burned down in 1697 and a new one was built afterwards. We spent around 3 hours in the palace and used some of the audio guides. The most impressive part were surely the Royal Appartments, and the audio guide was beneficial and explained a lot about the history of the palace, as well as the Royal family.
We did not visit all 4 parts that were included but left out the Antiquities museum. Also, you might want to know that you can take a look at the crown jewels at the treasury, but the current ones are not on display there. Also, we were quite amazed that nowhere we had to undergo a security control, not even when visiting the treasury. The Swedish truly trust people, and it seems to pay off!
I hope you liked this little introduction on Stockholm, and I can’t wait to tell you more about this city in the next part, where I’ll go into a lot more detail on the history of everything I got to see.
