Good Old Times in Sweden

 

The King's Hunting Grounds from the water

 

We were late. Why? I had decided to go running in the Djurgården park (actually an entire island) near my friend’s house in Stockholm. It used to cater to King Karl XI’s hunting raids. Now it catered to my pathetic attempt at some exercise. As me and my friend manoeuvred around the grounds that now include a theme park, an open air museum, and art museums that some five million other people visit each year I was wondering the lunacy that encouraged me to go running as we had to speed up. We were late for our boat trip.

What am I doing? Besides trying to run in Stockholm? Right now I am on a mission. A mission to accomplish ten trips from London that cost under $100 for my column, Rock Fever in The Royal Gazette. And check out this link for more photos from Sweden.

Last week I had found a flight to Stockholm for $47 on Ryanair. Just my luck I also had a friend who could put me up in Sweden’s capital. So I decided to stay a while and find a second trip. It had to be visiting Stockholm’s Archipelago, which cost less than $100 – actually it cost $30 to be exact.

It was an adventurous outing for both of us (my Swedish friend had never visited the archipelago). I thought I had sussed out our plan of attack the day before, but jet lag and not knowing the city very well meant I got the wrong inlet (there are lots of them in Stockholm) filled with boats. After running like the wind, we missed the boat.

We had an hour to kill over a coffee next to the beautiful Royal Swedish Opera house. The sun went away and the wind picked up. I wasn’t sure I had dressed properly. Too bad, we had the boat tickets.

Side note for planning your own trip: By September many of the boats visiting Stockholm’s archipelago and beyond have stopped running. It’s too cold. That’s because the archipelago extends from Stockholm 60 km to the east. It is also made up of 24,000 islands and islets. Some of the larger towns, besides Stockholm of course, are Gustavsberg and Vaxholm – which you can visit if you book before September. There is also a trip through the archipelago and to Sweden’s oldest town – Sigtuna – but again we missed the boat by a month this time. Which is maybe better. During the summer months the islands out here which host 50,000 holiday homes become swamped. Which is a fairly new phenom. Until the 1950s these islands used to be mainly inhabited by farmers and fishermen.

 

Islands in the Stockholm Archipelago!

 

More than just difficult to keep your farm going, what with ice that isolates you from the mainland, these farmers also had to row their cows. Row their cows, Robyn? Yes. As we watched the craggy islands covered in green and sprouting colourful homes we were told that seven of these islands were named for Monday to Sunday. Trying to maintain the grass on these islands cows would be moved to the respective island by their respective farmer. A hell of job when only one cow fits in a boat.

I’ll take the blanket provided by our cow-free motorboat any day! Oh and some of the vodka! Yep we passed the island were the first Absolut vodka was served. I’m sure it was an Absolut pain to serve in the winter. Ha ha…ok not funny. Too bad we didn’t have any to warm our frozen hands.

Archipelago visited it was time to meet her boyfriend for a concert. We also had to eat. So we made our way to Stockholm’s answer to New York’s Village – Sofo. No not really New York’s Soho. The Village. Small restaurants flank bars, which open to Swedes not dressed quite so conservatively as their Gamla Stan compatriots. Relief! Not everything Swedish is in its perfect place!

I was hoping for some Swedish food. A typical dish? Potatoes, lots of meat and gravy. But my friend swore up and down that they rarely eat this food. Luckily in Stockholm there were plenty of other options. We chose a Mexican restaurant/bar. That finished it was time to head for another port. It was random music time provided by the band Ara in the Munchenbryggeriet club called Dislocated hidden under the stone hills of Sofo. Interesting.

We chose to spend the last day I had in Sweden visiting its oldest town – Sigtuna – not feeling old. So after our random concert we went to bed.

Good thing we did. An hour from Stockholm and $40 roundtrip (which fits my $100 budget perfectly) Sigtuna should have been easy to reach. It wasn’t. Good luck trying to find the right train in Stockholm’s main station. “Go up. No down. Round. Go up”. We spent half an hour scaling the same stairs repeatedly. Our elusive train eventually dumped us at its last station to find a bus. An hour and a half later we were walking along the oldest street in the oldest town of Sweden.

I was shocked by Sigtuna. I walked into the tourist centre with its pinned map and there was Bermuda pinned. Someone had been here before. And not a surprise. With quaint, coloured houses I could almost be in Bermuda. Then the wind swept off of Lake Malaren and I remembered I wasn’t. And I needed food.

The oldest street is luckily peppered with plenty of restaurants, bars and pubs to choose from. There is even a

 

Oldest Street in the Oldest Town of Sweden: Sigtuna

 

grocery store if you wanted a picnic. I didn’t want a picnic. It was too cold.

We chose a cafe with $10 salads and jacket potatoes (I’m still under my budget). Tummies full we decided to hunt down the runic stones we had targetted on our map. Built more than a 1,000 years ago, it was the royal and commercial centre for some 250 years. Sweden’s first coins were even minted here! Unfortunately it was ransacked in the 1100s and never gained back it population or importance. Well until an airport was built nearby – Arlanda. Now there are about 7,204 Sigtunians. Also important are the former Sigtunians –- the Vikings which left the runic stones. We hunted these down. The stones of course.

Besides a basic museum about the towns history, Sigtuna offers a beautiful backdrop for photo enthusiasts with the lake and colourful wooden houses and green outstretched arms of the apple trees. It was lovely escaping from the city confines of Stockholm.

We had to leave, unfortunately and another bus-train combo landed us in Stockholm and back in my friend’s apartment. She had an exam to finish so I made a very Swedish risotto and I waited for my early alarm.

Remember to check back here for all of your Bermuda-based travel tips all week and next week for all you need to know about planning a ski vacation!