A Postcard From Stockholm
By Heidi Roberts
A Postcard From Stockholm
by Heidi Roberts
The chilly temperature wasn’t enough to put me off on my first visit to the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. Set across a series of 14 islands,
Gamla Stan (gamla means old; stan town) is the tiny island in the middle of it all and has one of Europe’s best-preserved Medieval centres. Beyond the city is the Stockholm archipelago, with over 30,000 islands.
I walked down its narrow streets lined with tiny shops and stylish bistros, admiring the muted orange, red and yellow-painted buildings, feeling like I had stepped back in time.
My friend and I got a table at Cafe Schweizer, where we warmed up with bowls of typical Swedish fish soup and homemade bread. Here, we learnt about the Swedish tradition of fika, meaning to sit down with family and friends and enjoy a coffee or tea with a piece of cake and take a well deserved break (even office workers follow this tradition daily).
fish is important to the diet here, and you'll find it fresh, smoked, salted, dried, and even fermented.
Semlor buns were in season (previously only made on Shrove Tuesday, they’re now usually available throughout Lent), so we tucked into a couple of delicious, creamy buns stuffed with marzipan and whipped cream and flavoured with cardamom.
A couple of minutes walk away was the Nobel Prize museum, housed in the ornate former Stock Exchange Building on Stortorget Square. Small but packed with interesting exhibits, it covers the past one hundred years-plus of the Nobel Prize and looks at how the work and ideas of the winners and laureates have had an impact on science, culture and history.
public transport is good from the airport to the city centre - use the ul app for easy tickets
We rounded off our weekend with a trip out to Gamla Uppsala, a village about 45 minutes from central Stockholm on the train. Here, we immersed ourselves in Viking history, walking around ancient burial mounds and visiting a museum dedicated to life in Viking times. A replica of a Viking ship made me glad that I didn’t have to use that mode of transport to get home! As we travelled back to the city, the red houses and barns and huge open fields passing outside the window of the train reminded me of New England, where I grew up. The landscape made me feel at home, and made me even more determined to return. For more of Heidi’s travels, visit her blog: kitchentalkandtravels.com
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This is a feature from Issue 16 of Charitable Traveller.
by net effect