It may also be connected to an old Germanic word Stock meaning fortification.
@ a glance essentials:
Language:
Swedish
_
Swedish Krona
Water safety
Safe to Drink
Most Locals speak English, particularly the younger generation and in cities
Currency:
SEK
Local Transport
SL gets around city & surrounding islands. If you have a stroller you ride buses for free
.
Stockholm is the capitol of Sweden and its most populous city🔍 (as well as the largest urban center of the Nordic countries.) The archipelago🔍 is comprised of more than 24,000 islands, with aproximetly 14 making up the main city including: Gamla Stan, Södermalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen, and Hornstull...
First built around 1000 CE by Vikings, Stockholm's location appears in Norse sagas and the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm is from 1252, when it's Bergslagen iron mines made it an important trade city.
a bit of background...
CHECK OUT THE:
MY FAVORITE SPOTS TO...
...................Fika, the daily coffee break with pastry, (cinnamon or cardamon bun) is a Swedish tradition so strong it survived a prohibition. The name is a derivative of Kaffe (the word for coffee.) When coffee was banned the daily break was so ingrained it went underground and was referred to by a new code word, Fika, a sort of reversal of Kaffe.
FUN FACT:
Stockholm may be my favorite Scandinavian destination, I lived there longer than any other country in continental Europe because I enjoyed it so much. It's beautiful, clean, walkable and cozy despite being a major urban center. I could spend ages exploring the archipelago and all it's unique museums and the people are some of the friendliest I’ve met on my travels.
Sweden Both the people and environments are inviting and beautiful and I would gladly return anytime the opportunity arises.
Must Try Local Cuisine:
Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry Jam ∞ Pickled Herring ∞ Västerbottenpaj (Cheese Pie)
Rårakor - a Swedish hash-brown ∞ Pea Soup & Pancakes (a Thursday tradition in schools & the military)
Knäckebröd - (original Swedish crispbread) ∞ Lutfisk (gelatinous fish pickled in lye)
Glögg - mulled wine & spirits ∞ Sm örgåstårta - a salmon/ seafood sandwich the size of a cake
➿➰➿
SEE
DO TRY
&
VISIT
What to Where to Why . . .
Surprising Finds:
📍 The Lappis Scream - Lappis is student housing and if you're near by on a Tuesday you’ll hear a communal chorus
of screams at 10 p.m. It’s a weekly stress release tradition for students to let out the frustrations of college life
📍 Hotel at the corner of Norrmalmstorgsgatan & Hamngatan, once a Kreditbanken branch office, &
site of the 1973 robbery that spawned a psychological phenomenon Stockholm Syndrome† 📸
📍 Gamla Stan - one of the best preserved medieval city centers in the world with winding, cobblestone streets, hides
history like the Källargränd Urinoar 📸 - 130-year-old public urinal, oldest of Stockholm (perhaps all of Sweden,)
the Viking Uppland Runic Inscription 53 📸 & Mårten Trotzigs Gränd 📸 - an old alley barely over two feet wide
† The syndrome named for the incident, funnily enough was not actually a case of Stockholm's (which is a phenomenon, already identified, where
hostage(s) starts to empathize with and then defend/ support their captor), in the titular robbery the hostages expressed extreme frustration with the
police at what they believed was poor crisis management, more than any particular identification with the robbers, but it was the first time the public
was made aware of the phenomena & the name sounded catchy in the MMS coverage, so it stuck)
My Favorite Spots . . .
📍 Tunnelbana- Stockholms Subway 📸 - world’s longest art exhibition, 110 km with 150 artists installations,
sculptures, mosaics and paintings in over 90% of the city’s stations. Kungsträdgården is one of the most
famous with a colorful abstract garden - it’s also Stockholm's deepest station and it even
hosts its own unique self-sufficient ecosystem
📍 Monteliusvägen - Mile-long walking paths along the shore of Lake Mälaren, great sunset views
📍 Royal Djurgården & Rosendal Palace | Djurgården Island - world’s first national urban park
(c. 15c ) On the grounds are several museums like Nordiska Museet (Nordic Museum) 📸,
Rosendal Palace & Skansen 📸, worlds oldest living open-air museum/ zoo opened in 1891 with
historic buildings from all Sweden
📍 Snösätra - an abandoned industrial area that's become one of Europe's largest graffiti parks
... to Wander & Explore:
... to Visit:
📍 Historic Cathedrals🔍 like Storkyrkan 📸 & Riddarholmskyrkan (Riddarholmen Church) 📸
📍 Museums: There are so many it's difficult to pick the best but a few standouts are: Swedish History Msm,
Museum of Spirits 📸, Millesgården 📸 - sculpture garden & Toy Museum 📸, a rare collection, over 40,000
toys from the 17c to today, in an underground, former torpedo workshop .
📍 Drottningholm Island 📸 - Palace, Gardens, Chinese Pavilion & Court Theater 📸 - Private residence of the
royal family & 18c Art Noveau Royal Theater (Europe’s finest with original stage mechanisms for effects)
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... to Commune w/ Nature:
📍 Bergianska Trädgården (Bergius Botanic Garden) 📸 & Victoriahuset (Victoria House) - a
surviving Victorian greenhouse in an 18c garden designed to house giant water lilies 🪷
📍 Skogskyrkogarden 📸 - Historic woodland cemetery🔍 with Greta Garbo's grave
📍 Hagaparken 📸 - Haga Ocean Butterfly 🦋 House & Shark 🦈 Aquarium
📍 Giants’s Kettle / Jättegrytan i Skarpnäck - largest, best-preserved kettle in Sweden
(south🔍 of Stockholm in Skarpnäck Gårdsväg)
... when feeling Bookish:
📍 Stockholm Public Library (National Library of Sweden) with the Codex Gigas (The Devil's Bible) - an
illuminated manuscript inexplicably decorated with a portrait of Satan
📍 Söderbokhandeln Hansson & Bruce - one of Stockholm’s oldest bookstore with a cozy atmosphere.
It often hosts popular seminars & discussions with authors
📍 Rönnells Antikvariat - est. 1929, specializing in used books, art, oddities & out-of-print rare books. It also
occasionally auctions private collections of famous authors
📍 Papercut - collection of books, newspaper, magazines etc focused on art, design, and fashion
📍 Hedengrens† - may be the oldest independent bookstore in Stockholm, est. 1897, and it's still in the original
2 story location, with books in a ton of languages, a cool decagon display room & contemporary art gallery
📍 Bokslukaren - a children´s bookshop with mini-cakes, cookies & scones in a small café; sometimes hosts live music
† A rather expensive prices :(
... when feeling Adverturous:
📍 Royal Canal Tour or Boat Trip under Bridges 📸 - there are many canal tours showcasing different areas of the city.
📍 Go on a Solar Scavenger Hunt - world's largest scale model of the planetary system spread all over the area. The sun's
represented by the Globe Arena, the largest spherical building in Stockholm. The planets, appropriately scaled, are
in the suburbs. Jupiter is the Stockholm Airport, Saturn's in Uppsala, Pluto in Delsbo...
📍 Gröna Lund Amusement park 📸 colloquially Grönan, on the seaward side of Djurgården Island
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📍 Store Bageriet - coffee & bakery 📍 Caffellini
📍 Bar Afterglow - cocktails or Bar Kaja - beers & snacks 📍 D’Abramo, Taste Italy
📍 Gondolen or Bar Lilla Compagne - for roof top cocktails 📍 Stampen - live jazz bar
... to have a Cuppa or Nightcap:
... when I'm Peckish:
For Classic Swedish comfort food, called Husmanskost -
📍 Bakfickan 📍 Fika & Wine 📍 Kvarnen or Made In Sweden Bar & Kök
Or for something even more old school traditional -
📍 Aifur† - serving food tied to Viking history & legend in a subterranean restaurant
† Book in advance unless you are ok with their Bar Mead bar, (that's right, mead!)
📍 Lakritsroten - dedictaed to the Swedish obsession with licorice, (particularly Salmiak, a salty licorice!)
📍 Glasstrappsbaren - ice cream stand by the wharf 📍 Swaddled Gelateria - Gelato shop
📍 Ingrid - bakery known for vanilla buns 📍 Cafe Petissan - pastries & coffee
📍 Leonarddos Kafferosteri - pastries & baked goods 📍 Krümel - crunchy cookie shop
📍 Polkagriskokeri - named for traditional red & white polkagris (peppermint candy stick) invented
in Sweden in 1859. The charming shop sells handmade boiled sweets in an open candy kitchen
📍 Pärlans Konfektyr - a jazzy, 1930's retro sweet shop
... for something Sweet:
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Most Known For:
♦️ The Vasa 📸 - 1628 sunken war ship, world’s best preserved 17c ship
🔸 Royal Palace & Treasury (Kungliga Slotten) 📸 - 600-room Baroque residence (1697-1760)
♦️ Medieval Museum beneath the Royal Palace - excavated monuments & sections of city wall
allow you can see what the city was like 400 years ago w/ a medieval graveyard & a warship
🔸 Nobel Prize Museum & Bistro - serving legendary Nobel laureates dessert & signatures
of past prizewinners hidden under the chairs
♦️ Karlberg Castle & Pompes Grav (Swedish king's beloved dog's grave)
🔸 Skokloster Castle - Baroque castle, built 1654 - 1676, on a peninsula of Lake Mälaren
📽️ NOTABLE FILMS SHOT IN STOCKHOLM:
⭐ The Millennium Trilogy | (2009+)
§ The Girl. with the Dragon Tattoo § ...who Played with Fire § ...who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
🍿
........................ The Kymlingestenen/ Kymlinge Stone is a Bronze Age sacrificial stone c. 1700-500 BC, used to honor elves,
fairies & woodland spirits. The “elf mill” contains dozens of small hand ground pits, (meant to be miniature millstones for fairies,
elves etc.) which were greased w/ unsalted fat at sunrise or sunset & a sacrificial small stone, coins or rare metals left to bring
good luck. The stone now travels around the country for viewing.
🌀 Midsommar - 📸 the longest day of the year (Midsummer Eve is always a Friday between June 19th & 25th)
People often begin the day picking flowers to make wreaths for headpieces and the maypole.
Some popular places to celebrate in the city are...
Mosebacketerrassen - with a view out towards Djurgården and the entrance to Stockholm harbor.
Vinterviken, just outside the city centre or Hågelby Park.
🌀 Smaka På Stockholm (Taste of Stockholm), the country’s largest food festival.
🌀 Kulturfestival celebrating the performing arts; Music festivals like Summerburst &
Sonar music.
🌀 Nobel Prize Ceremony, award and dinner every December.
Close Enough to Visit:
🪧 Island of Vaxholm 📸 & Vaxholm Fortress, and near by Badholmen a small island of you can rent short term
🪧 Sigtuna, Sweden's one-time capital - preserved medieval buildings (dating to the 10c) on Sweden's oldest street &
Sigtuna Rådhus 📸 - a tiny town hall, possibly smallest in Europe, and a mini 'library' in an old phone booth.
🪧 Uppsala - quaint university town 📸 with the a multitude of historical sites like...
-Domkyrka, Uppsala Cathedral, 📸 from the 13c is the largest church in Scandinavia and surrounded by a collection of rune-stones or
-Site of the ancient “Thing” of all Swedes' Mound - The official meeting point for the governing assembly of ancient Sweden.
-Gustavianum Museum with the Anders Celsius's Thermometer- The first thermometer made with the almost-universal temperature scale is backwards
-The Church of Gamla - A small church with the grave of a renowned 18c astronomer - Anders Celsius
-Skepptuna Church - 12c with a medieval fresco and an intriguing Greek "runestone.”
🪧 Decorated Farm Houses of Hälsingland
🪧 Visby on the island of Gotland - full of Sweden’s Viking and medieval history.
Going to visit
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