Category: Sweden

But first a nice evening last night.

Evening flight so needed a nice castle to spend the day. Luckily …

With a lovely terrace for lunch

Then all the travel stress but everything worked fine. Stockholm airport was similar or even worse than the UK, with it being so busy on Saturday that they even closed the roads to stop more people arriving. So we left oodles of time to return the car (very quick, some tolls but no fines), bus back to airport (it was waiting as we dropped the car off) and long walk across the airport which was fine. Which all meant we were early and had to wait an hour to check in!

Flight on time, taxi waiting at Heathrow – and Eileen tests positive for COVID the next day!

Driving – sooo many speed cameras, in the middle of nowhere. And the default speed on a main road is only about 45mph. And the roads are very quiet – maybe not typical because it’s school holidays, but makes driving safe and dull!

Anyway, Uppsala is close, and is Sweden’s 4th largest city, so worth a look.

Apparently a big university and no students so quiet (again)!

Then had a look at Roserberg – one of many royal palaces/castles in the area.

Nice view for afternoon tea, although they seemed very reluctant to serve us. It’s also a hotel and staff seemed busy on other stuff.

Nice evening.

Had been given info on lots of places to go on the archipelago but really why bother? That’s what we thought, anyway. So more of the same stunningness on Sunday.

Monday on the move.

Stopped off at Sigtuna (Sweden’s oldest capital apparently) which was a decent diversion.

Smallest town hall in Sweden – who knew there was even a category!

And the final little house.

Beautifully renovated in the style of the owner’s grandfather. That’s her on the roof of the barn!

No, not that!

But where we’re staying is one of the most stunning ever.

And this is what you get when you venture out of the house.

So why bother venturing out? Good question. Liked it when the satnav said “get on a ferry in 500 metres” – spot on!

To a rather nice nature reserve.

And there’s hardly anyone around. It is mainly Swedish holiday homes around here, but it is a weekend. Perhaps July and August will be crazy.

Oh, and nearly forgot a small detour to Vira Bruk – historic village which was ok.

A great sculpture and photography museum on the other side of Stockholm and on our way to the islands. Got a bit carried away with the camera but fun.

By the way, coffee in Sweden is of an extremely high standard. And lunches out seem to follow a theme – some sort of main course – chicken, meatballs etc. – accompanied by bread, salad coffee etc (and free water – take that Denmark!).

And then a little bit further for the weekend – more exploring to come.

I’m warming to it; Eileen isn’t.

The one thing we do agree upon is the centre around the station is brutal. You arrive in the middle of this lot and walking means surrounded by flyovers, trains and noise. So top tip would be not to alight in the centre but take one or two stops out in the way your going.

Starting with County Hall. If you’ve collected your Nobel Prize, this is where you have your celebratory dinner – just so you know!

Lovely building – only 99 years old.

and rather a nice terrace

Up the tower (365 steps, thanks for asking) – Eileen decided to give it a miss.

Getting better at using the travel app – but fundamentally Stockholm is complicated to get around. Coming home was impressive – metro, commuter train and bus, and arrived bang on schedule. Perhaps that’s one area where Eileen and I differ – she sees it all as a bit of a pain, whereas I feel some sense of achievement at mastering the transport.

Anyway, off to the islands tomorrow.

But firstly where are we:

About 7 miles south west of Stockholm, and about 45 minutes from the centre.

That’s our house and here’s the view from the balcony

Anyway, Wednesday’s outing is Drottning (Queen) Slott (Castle or Palace). Not sure about holms but I think it’s clear. Coped with the Stockholm equivalent of the M25 and hope we didn’t get caught driving in a bus lane (it really wasn’t clear so 🤞🤞🤞).

And had a lovely day.

(It’s a proper brick building)

We managed to get some of our bearings last night, and so set off for the centre with a plan. Main station is near the top, Gamla Stan is the touristy bit with the palace and the cathedral, Skepps-holmen has the art museum and then over to the right are the funfairs. So working out a route including metro, walking and ferries is a bit of a challenge, but we managed.

When you win the Nobel prize (for anything) this is where you collect it if you’re interested.

Touristy bit

Sometimes it’s hard to find a cathedral when it’s all wrapped up

(St George slaying the dragon).

Ferry and funfair

Lovely lunch in the gallery

Palace in the rain

And that’s one pretty tiring day.

It’s a lot bigger than we thought, and is more challenging to get around than other places. Also, the travel tickets last 75 minutes which is fine until we missed the bus on the way home and nearly had to buy another one because it was running out. But we managed. Lighter duties tomorrow.

I’ve got a bit behind as we’ve been 3 days without WiFi, which on the whole is a good thing! Anyway today we’re heading off to Stockholm – looking forward to that but a bit worried about Eileen’s foot – but in the end it’s healing very quickly which is a huge relief.

Its Sweden’s national holiday today which might explain the preponderance of flags and lack of traffic – although the camp site is just about empty which is weird, especially with the glorious weather. Although the restaurant and bar don’t open until next week. The Swedes seem to have a very short summer season, and so when it comes they really go for it.

Mariefred

A lovely stop on the way including Gripsholm Castle – one of Sweden’s most impressive.

And a brilliant car rally

Then to Stockholm – in the outskirts on a lake.

Began the huge challenge of finding our way around including travel and parking apps, getting our bearings, finding somewhere to eat when we haven’t a clue and all the associated fun of arriving somewhere new. Bit underwhelmed to be honest, although restaurant was surprisingly good ( high-class meatballs!).

Eileen is coming up with a plan for tomorrow.

The small town of Arboga was about 20 minutes away and was delightful. We did wonder how many people have had Arboga as their first ever experience of a Swedish town – suspect not many!

Unfortunately Eileen twisted her ankle slightly at the wedding – I’m assured it was the uneven footpath rather than the champagne that was the main cause! The consolation was that we couldn’t go anywhere on Sunday – but why would you?

Bit of a shame about the mozzies ……