Here we are at the end
of the week, and as usual, here I come to
tell another lovely destination on the Baltic Sea. I am talking about Sweden,
and particularly about its capital, Stockholm.
In many countries, it
happens that the capital city is the main political and economic hub of the country, and other big cities might represent
the fashion or the cultural hub. Take for
example Germany who has the main political capital in Berlin, but the economic
hub is in Frankfurt.
In Sweden, things go a bit
differently. Being the most populated city in all the Nordic countries, with its
2,3 million inhabitants in the whole metropolitan area, it represents the
center of it all, cultural, political and economic life.
This, however, doesn’t mean that the other cities are less important and
not worth mentioning. On the contrary, Sweden is rich in very beautiful cities
which can make you fall in love at first sight.
The first human settlement dated
back to the stone age in 6000 BC and was founded as a city in 1252 by the Swedish
statesman Birger Jarl.
Stockholm can be reached easily by plane, or boat and since
I live in Finland, my trip started at the Helsinki
harbor in a lovely afternoon and reached Stockholm on a cloudy morning. I guess you cannot have it all in life.
Already from there, you can have a foretaste of the beauties
waiting for you in the city, but don’t get
fooled, what you see is only a small percentage, as Stockholm is a very rich
city, and if you want really to get it all, take your time and reserve a few
days; you will need them.
Moving through the city is easy both by foot or by public transportation so you won’t need to rent a car. What you will need is perhaps a camera, because
you want to bring back some memories of that city.
The best part is definitely
the Gamla Stan, or the Old Town previously known as Staden mellan broarna (The Town between the Bridges).
Be warned, being a very
touristic attraction, also the prices in those cozy cafeterias or restaurant
might be a little inflated then respect other parts of the city. Nevertheless,
sometimes even an inflated price is well worth the experience.
The city is undoubtedly full
of museums and places to be visited and seen, besides the gorgeous architecture,
the beautiful sceneries on the sea or in the old town. What I personally
consider not to be missed is the Vasa Museum.
That is the maritime museum
and is located on the island of Djurgården. The main attraction is the
64-gun warship, Vasa. The 17th-century warship is the only almost fully intact ship
that has ever been salvaged after it sank on her maiden voyage in 1628.
That is the maritime museum
and is located on the island of Djurgården. The main attraction is the
64-gun warship, Vasa. The 17th-century warship is the only almost fully intact ship
that has ever been salvaged after it sank on her maiden voyage in 1628.
Saying that is well preserved
is not enough. The ship is in amazing shape, and it is a real beauty that will
leave you open-mouthed.
One thing I have to warn you,
trust, but never trust taxi drivers. We had a couple of bad experiences, and
one of them was just on our coming back from the Vasa Museum. When you start
your journey, keep your eyes on the taximeter, because in our case it started
to run like crazy, and we asked to stop immediately and preferred to walk under
the rain rather than being robbed by a taxi driver. Hadn’t we kept an eye on the taximeter, we would have paid a
small fortune for a ten minutes ride. Of course, those are exceptions, but prudence
is never enough when you travel.
With this, I greet you hoping you enjoyed this trip to Sweden.
Have a great weekend!
Love this one! I would love to get there myself. I especially like the red church-looking building image – it’s a striking image.
ReplyDeleteHi Denise, Thank you for stopping by. I am sorry if my reply came a bit late; life is not always at our side. I am really glad you enjoyed my tour to Sweden. The idea of this blog is also to bring people a little bit of world directly in their houses.
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