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Showing posts with label Baltic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baltic. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Country Guide: Sweden

Name: Sweden (in Swedish: Sverige)

Continent: Europe

Capital (and Largest) City: Stockholm

Language: Swedish

Currency: Swedish Krona

Drives on the: Right

Time Zone: Central European Time

Adaptor Types: Type C and Type F

Description: Sweden is the largest country in the Scandinavia region, bordering Norway and Finland. It is famous for its cold, snowy weather, and for its success in the areas of interior design, crime fiction, and music, having produced several Eurovision winners, including ABBA. It is also known for its high standard of living.

Why You Should Visit: In 2020, my boyfriend Claudio and I spontaneously visited Stockholm and had an amazing time. The city is beautiful, especially the historic centre (Gamla stan), and it has plenty of interesting museums to check out, such as Skansen open-air museum, and the Viking Museum. If I go back to Sweden, I would like to see more of the country's natural landscapes, including the glaciers and fjords that Scandinavia is famous for.

Fun Fact: Sweden has more islands than any other country in the world!


My Blogposts About Sweden

Charlotte's Travel Adventures

- London: Day Four + Arriving in Sweden (Stockholm)

- Stockholm: Day One

- Stockholm: Day Two

- Stockholm: Day Three

- Travel Tips: My Top Ten Fairytale Destinations (Stockholm)

Charlotte's Travel Adventures is 5 Years Old! (Stockholm)





















Clockwise starting from top left: a traditional house at Skansen open-air museum, House of Nobility, Stortorget, traditional log cabins at Skansen, Gamla stan (all located in Stockholm)

Check out the rest of my Country Guides here!

Monday, 30 November 2020

Stockholm: Day Three

The third day Claudio and I spent in Stockholm was also our last day there, so we needed to make it count! But because we had already ticked off all the places we'd most wanted to see during our first two days, and another place we were interested in was closed, we were able to relax and go with the flow a bit more.

First of all, we decided to go back to Djurgården island (where we'd gone on our second day) and visit another museum there: Nordiska Museet (the Nordic Museum).

We'd seen the building the previous day and had been very impressed by it, as it's like a fairytale castle.






The interior is also very elaborate and has a huge statue of the former king, Gustav Vasa, who looks quite a lot like Henry the Eighth!

During our tour of the museum, we found out that the building was built specifically to be a museum, and that its style comes from Dutch-influenced Danish Renaissance architecture.

The exhibits were also very interesting and taught us a lot about the history and culture of the Nordic countries, with a focus on Sweden. The parts I found most memorable included a recreation of a 1940s Stockholm apartment, an exhibit about the Sámi people, and an exhibit about how Britain influenced Nordic fashion in the 1960s!

Maybe it wasn't quite as exciting and immersive as Skansen, but I'd still consider it to be one of the city's must-visit attractions.

Next we went off in the direction of another museum we wanted to visit. On the way, we saw this fairytale-esque building that I felt compelled to take a photo of. I wasn't sure whether it was a church, a house, or a small castle but I liked it a lot! (I eventually managed to find out later that it was a villa called Jägarhyddan.)




The next museum we'd planned to visit was the ABBA museum, but when we got there, we discovered it would cost the equivalent of about £50 for the two of us to visit! We're not big enough fans of ABBA to be willing to pay that much, so we just looked around the shop and then left. (One of the disadvantages of Scandinavia is that it's certainly an expensive place to spend time in!)

Afterwards we were wondering around, trying to figure out what to do next, when we suddenly came across a ferry terminal. The next boat was leaving in a few minutes time, so we got on board!

The ferries in Stockholm are part of the system of public transport, but we'd heard that they were also a great way of seeing the city. And that definitely turned out to be true! The boat trip was really fun, and it was especially great to see Kastellholmen, a little island with a red castle.











The ferry didn't take us where we'd expected to go; we'd thought it was going to a place called Slussen, but it actually took us to Gamla stan, where we'd been on our first day. That didn't matter though, because we didn't have any particular destination in mind.

After we'd figured out where we were, we decided to walk over to the island of Skeppsholmen to take a closer look at some interesting buildings we'd seen from afar.

The island was quite an unusual place, as it was almost deserted compared to the rest of the city. But it was a very scenic place, and I especially liked the pink building that looked like a castle (Admiralty House). We also had great views across to Gamla stan from there.









After exploring Skeppsholmen, we took the ferry back over to Gamla stan and spent a really nice couple of hours enjoying the sights there for a second time.

Then we made our way back to the central station, passing through one of the main squares of the city, Sergels torg. We'd been past it on the tram in the morning and I'd thought it was quite unattractive, but by night it was all lit up and was really something else.




Part of the square is sunken, and as we walked towards it, something caught our eye; there were hundreds of people there waving Chilean and Mapuche flags!

The day before, the plebiscite for a new constitution had been held in Chile, and the approve vote had won by a landslide. This was why all the Chileans in Stockholm were out celebrating in Sergels torg. 

We joined in the celebration for a little while, and it felt like a very historic occasion. I will definitely remember it for a long time.






It was the perfect end to an amazing few days in Sweden.

The next morning, we had to get up at 3am to go and catch our flight. But thankfully everything went much smoother than it had done on the way there! We were able to take the pendeltåg (commuter train) all the way from the hotel to the airport, which worked out much more convenient and cheaper than taking the Arlanda Express, even though we had to pay a special fee to enter the airport. And we also got through security with no problems!

All in all, we really enjoyed Stockholm, and I'm glad that Claudio had the chance to experience a country other than England during his first trip to Europe. It's a shame we couldn't go to France or Italy, but hopefully we'll have other opportunities in the future. Besides, it was great for both of us to discover Scandinavia, a very interesting part of the world which I hadn't visited before. In the future I'd definitely go back to Sweden again, as well as to other Nordic countries.

In a way, it was strange being in Sweden, as it was like Covid didn't exist there. Life was just going on as normal, and most people weren't wearing masks (we were). I kind of got used to having a bit of normality again, so it was a shock when a new national lockdown in England was announced a few days after we got back.

Luckily we were able to fit in one of our most important trips before the new restrictions came into place...

Read about Stockholm: Day One here and Stockholm: Day Two here!

Thursday, 19 November 2020

Stockholm: Day One

The previous day had been pretty stressful and exhausting, so we had a bit of a lie-in on our first morning in Sweden before going to the local train station and getting ourselves some 72-hour travel cards. Then we travelled to the central station, a huge place which is basically like a shopping mall.

Claudio wanted to buy an international phone chip from a shop there, but unfortunately for some reason none of the chips would work on his phone, so we ended up having to give up and ask for our money back. It felt like a bit of a disappointing start to the trip, but we cheered up once we'd had some delicious coffee and cakes at the Espresso House café (they do the best vegan brownies), where we were entertained by a chihuahua in a handbag at the next table!

Then it was time for us to finally see some of Stockholm!

The city is made up of various islands on the Baltic Sea and is connected by many different bridges. For this reason, it's sometimes described as "the Venice of the north". 

The most famous part of the city is Gamla stan, the historic centre, which is mostly located on the island of Stadsholmen.

As we walked away from the central station, Gamla stan suddenly came into view on the other side of the water. It was amazing to see!












On our side of the water, we found Stockholm City Hall, a very impressive building with a beautiful courtyard. There was actually a wedding taking place while we were there. It's definitely a photogenic place to get married!








Then we crossed over the bridge in order to explore Gamla stan. The first place we saw there was Riddarhuset, or House of Nobility, a grand house from the 17th century. It's a very beautiful and elaborate building.






On the Riddarholmen island, we saw the Riddarholmen church, which is one of the most famous churches in the city, as it is where the monarchs are buried.




The area surrounding the church was very attractive, with lots of very typically European-looking buildings.






The next famous landmark we saw was the Royal Palace, but to be honest, we weren't that impressed by it! There were many other places around the city that were a lot more eye-catching.







Located near the palace is Stockholm Cathedral. It's not a huge building but it's pretty to look at.





Shortly afterwards we ended up accidentally leaving Gamla stan! But it didn't matter, because there were plenty of other great attractions to see in the nearby area, such as Saint James's Church. I really liked how brightly coloured it was.





We also passed through a nice little park, Kungsträdgården (King's Garden). 




A short while later we found ourselves in front of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, a very beautiful and ornate building. The surrounding area was also very scenic.





Sometime around this point, we entered a shopping centre in order to find a bathroom, and it turned out to be some kind of infinite labyrinth that we felt like we were going round forever! But eventually we found both a bathroom and then a nice sushi place to have something to eat, and afterwards we made our way back to Gamla stan.

By this time, it was already getting dark, even though it wasn't that late. But if anything, it was actually even nicer to explore the Medieval cobbled streets at dusk.









Neither of us had working GPS, but we managed to find our way through the narrow maze of streets to see a couple of the city's most famous squares. First of all we visited Kornhamnstorg (Grain Harbour Square). Although it was smaller than I expected, the buildings were very nice.




And then we visited the oldest square, and perhaps the most iconic place in the whole of Stockholm, Stortorget (the Grand Square). Here you can find the Nobel Museum, as well as the colourful row of buildings that are seen on most postcards from the city. It was a really beautiful place to see, with a very European, fairytale-esque vibe, which made me feel Christmassy, even though it was October!







Eventually it got too dark to carry on sightseeing, so we headed back to the central station. But on our way, we passed this little island with a grand building on it, and I just had to take a picture! An internet search tells me that  it's the headquarters of an organisation called International IDEA. Interesting!




In summary, our first day exploring Stockholm was brilliant, and we both loved Gamla stan. The evening before, I think we'd both felt like travelling to Sweden hadn't been the best idea, but after our first full day there, we felt like the previous day's stresses had all been worth it now that we were able to experience such a beautiful city.

The following day was also very memorable, as we got to discover more of Sweden's nature, culture and history, when we visited Skansen open air museum and the Viking museum! It was a pretty exciting day and I can't wait to write about it!

Read about Stockholm: Day Two here and Stockholm: Day Three here!