We are at 59.33 degrees north latitude, so sunrise comes at 4:16am today. As lecturer Sherry Hutt suggested, we are up at 5am for the morning sail into Stockholm. We look out over our veranda and think we are in Casco Bay, Maine. I mean, it looks identical to what we see as we cruise Casco Bay on the boat to Cliff Island. Small islands all over the place. Dozens and dozens of summer houses. Sailboats and motorboats moored and docked. Hemlocks, pine trees and other conifers blanket every island except where rocky cliffs reflect the sun.
Shadow of the Nautica 
This is what we see for the next almost three hours. What a spectacular asset for Stockholm to have right at the entrance to their city, and it’s a wonderful beginning of this day. Our excursion, City Hall & Lake Maelaren, begins at 9:15am and will last three and a half hours. The weather is perfect, and the temperature is predicted to reach the mid 80s.
Upon arrival in Stockholm harbor, we dock at the island of Sodermalm, one of fourteen islands that make up this city connected by 52 bridges. Lake Maelaren and several canals and inlets are part of the center as well. It seems you are within a few hundred yards of water no matter where you are, which makes the one-hour boat tour with which we are going to begin our excursion quite appropriate. To meet the boat, we must take a bus to the island of Kungsholmen, or Kings Island, the second largest of Stockholm’s islands.
We meet our guide, a tiny little woman with a large personality named Helen. Our driver is Stefan (We always try to get the name of the driver and provide a tip at the end of the tour. These people work just as hard as the guides, and how they maneuver these huge tour buses through the narrow streets of European cities requires incredible skill … and patience). Helen begins with a few statistics: 1) Stockholm has a population of 1 million, which becomes 1.4 million if you include the suburbs. The entire nation of Sweden has only 10 million people, giving it a population density of 25 per square kilometer, very low by European standards. The city actually has two harbors, one on Lake Maelaren and the other connected to the Baltic Sea. The water in Lake Maelaren is so pure that it provides the city’s drinking water.
We board our boat right next to City Hall, which we will visit after the boat tour. We are pleased to hear that the captain of our boat is a lovely young woman named Molly.
Helen will continue to be our guide, and the notes I took about what she told us are rather random, so, by necessity, I divert to Random Fact Mode:
- We first are passing by Kings Island where we boarded. This was the center of manufacturing during the 19thand early 20thcentury. The factories are long gone, but there is still environmental cleanup going on is certain small spots. The island is important in Stockholm’s history.
- We pass by a unique part of Sweden’s history. As said above, King’s Island was the center of manufacturing, but it was difficult for working men (and, yes, it was only men) to find housing they could afford. Therefore, the government began a housing program whereby a man and his family could rent (or possibly buy) a small cabin called “allotments” on the island. There are hundreds of them still there and occupied. They appear to be in excellent condition, and probably command a very good price despite the small size, given their location.
- Also on Kings Island are many large apartment buildings which have become very upscale housing. The Swedish rock group called Abba (Steve is a huge Abba fan. Cathy not so much) has made a ton of money and used much of it wisely, investing in one or more of these buildings.
- There are small boats everywhere. Helen tells us that there are 1 million leisure boats in Sweden. Given what we see every minute we are in Stockholm, we believe it – and most of them are in Stockholm!
- We pass by a couple of beaches, and we are told that yes, there are beaches in the city – all of them very popular. That’s how clean the water is.
- There’s also a public camping ground right in the middle of the city. Obviously, it is packed with people, but they are indeed camping.
- I suspect you have to make reservations months and months in advance, and there are dozens of gorgeous old wooden runabouts dating back to the 50s and 60s. I take photos of as many of them as I can. (They are posted above) This is a floating museum.
- We pass by an island with an unusual history, and a guy named L. O. Smith was the one who is responsible for it. Apparently, it was an island where prohibition was the law. However, this guy Smith built a small distillery there to make vodka. He couldn’t sell it there, but he could make it. It was an enormous success, so much so that 1 million litres per year were produced on this ‘dry’ island. The brand was Absolut, and now commands a worldwide market.
- Stockholm is the home of many, many churches. When the Reformation took place (the date 1527 is referenced), most of the country became Lutheran. This was done by edict from the king at the time, one Gustav I, or King Vasa. More about him later in this post when we discuss the unusual Vasa Museum.
- The city is booming. We say that because of the huge number of buildings we see under renovation, the number of construction cranes we see, and the fact that Helen tells us that housing is expensive and hard to find. Most people that want to live in the city must own, and the average price is 700-800 Euros per square metre.
- People here say that “Life takes place outdoors” because of the long, cold winters. During the winter, the sun rises at 9am and sets at 3pm. During the summer the sun rises at 4am and sets at 10pm. It is absolutely no surprise that folks here take full advantage of summer, and they do. People are everywhere doing whatever they can to spend as many hours a day out of doors as possible.
The boat docks and we take a short walk to the entrance to City Hall. On our way, we see an unusual protest by five or six people. They are Chinese people protesting the “live organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners,” and the sign we see is directed to American citizens. We know that because it refers to House of Representatives Bill 243 concerning this issue. Obviously, these people have left China to make their protest. In their home country, who knows what would happen to them.
The Stockholm City Hall is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, and so it is the photo featured at the beginning of this post.. The City Council had voted to move ahead with a new city hall in 1907, and so held a competition to select an architect. The magnificent draft plan showing this huge building in the National Romanticism style by Ragnar Östbergwon, and in part was responsible for the municipal leaders changing their plans for the building’s usage. City departments would be housed elsewhere, and the primary use of the building would be to hold ceremonies and municipal events – that it would be for the people of the city to enjoy and not to house city employees. Construction commenced in 1911 and was not completed until 1923. Ostberg was constantly reworking his design, including adding the iconic tower.
The place is packed but we have reservations and we are led right in. We will see two primary halls: the Blue Hall and the Golden Hall. Here is Wikipedia’s description of both: “The Blue Hall, with its straight walls and arcades, incorporates elements of a representative courtyard. … It is known as the dining hall used for the banquet held after the annual Nobel Prize award ceremony. The organ in the Blue Hall is with its 10,270 pipes the largest in Scandinavia.” It is meant to convey the feel of an Italian piazza, but with a roof needed because of Swedish winters. This walls of this huge hall (it accommodates 1,300 guests at the Nobel Prize banquet) were to have been covered in blue plaster, hence the name Blue Hall, but the brick was so attractive that that idea was dropped. The name was not.
We all leave the Blue Hall and ascend the Elsa staircase, so named for the architect’s wife. In designing this staircase, he consulted her. She had many ideas, including the height and width of each stair, designed to make it for women in formal attire and high heels to comfortably navigate them.
Above the Blue Hall lies the Golden Hall (Gyllene Salen), named after the decorative mosaics made of more than 18 million tiles. The mosaics make use of motifs from Swedish history. We are told that this incredible hall was built in only ten months because the city fathers were starting to get edgy about the 12-year construction time. Tour guides and others like to point out mistakes that such a rushed job produced. They are minor but fun to locate, sort of like a tourist guide’s “Where’s Waldo?” game.
After the City Hall tour ends, we have the opportunity to … hit the souvenir shop in the building. We make a quick purchase and still have twenty minutes to spend relaxing before heading back to the bus. Steve wanders around looking for some way to photograph this huge building, or at least a part of it.
Cathy takes a sit and – surprise! – strikes up a conversation with a couple from New Zealand (she is so good at this). Their son lives here and they come annually to visit for a month. They fly through Singapore and then Moscow to get here – 24 hours of flying. We can’t imagine the agony that must be.
We hop on the bus and head for one more stop – a hill on the island of Sodermalm that will give us a good photo opportunity to take photos of the city. The spot is right above Stadsgardsleden (a main street through this section of town) and is precisely opposite where Nautica is docked. There are other opportunities to buy souvys from vendors there. Helen makes a couple of remarks:
- Don’t worry about having Swedish currency. She says: “Everybody pays for everything with credit cards now. Any amount – kids pay for ice cream cones with credit cards!”
- She also points out that we are right next to the Viking Lines terminal. This is a company that operates a fleet of enormous ferries that operate in the Baltic Sea. One of their primary routes is between Stockholm and Helsinki, Finland and between both of those cities to Tallinn, Estonia. One of the reasons – the primary reason – that these are such busy sea lanes is because of the extremely high price for alcoholic beverages in Sweden (due to taxes, of course). Viking Lines has multiple runs to Helsinki that are essentially party boats. People board in the late afternoon for a ten-hour trip to Helsinki. There are multiple bars on board, and you can even get a small cabin of you wish. The ship docks where you can spend the day in Helsinki and then head back on another 10-hour cruise to Stockholm. [We will have more to say about this in our post about Helsinki]
We snap some photos and view the beautiful harbor once more and are dropped off at our ship around 2pm. Waves Grill is still open, so we head up there for lunch. This is one of the first days that it has been warm enough to be comfortable eating there. The temperature is actually in the 80s with almost no wind, so it feels wonderful to be outside on Nautica. A quick lunch and we’re back in our stateroom. Nap time, because we want to be awake and on our balcony for Sail Away, which is at 5pm.
Around 4:30, Steve orders a bottle of chardonnay to enjoy on our balcony while we leave the harbor. The cruise ship Birkaturns around in the harbor as we leave, so we figure she will be on our stern for the trip out, but soon she has disappeared. There are several lanes that ships can use through this “Stockholm archipelago.”
We just begin our departure from Stockholm harbor when we see some very interesting sights. First of all, we are being accompanied out by a large and very animated flock of gulls. There must be forty of them following us out. Now sometimes they are attracted to cruise ships because, when the ships are maneuvering, the propellers stir up the water which forces fish to the surface that the gulls can snatch. Other times – and this is one of those times – the gulls just like to ride the wind currents created by the moving ship. These birds stay with us for about fifteen minutes and they have a ball. It is so fun to watch them.
We also see boats, boats, boats. Of course, we see many ferries this time of day. Some of them are vintage – at least fifty or sixty years old, but also many others. Sailboats and motor boats of all sizes. We are seeing for ourselves why our guide gave us the statistic that 1 million pleasure craft are in Sweden.
We also see a museum that we both wish we could have had time to see – the Vasa Museum. I defer to Wikipedia for the introduction: “The Vasa Museum (Swedish: Vasamuseet) maritime museumlocated in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the island of Djurgården, the museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The Vasa Museum opened in 1990 and, according to the official web site, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia.” The museum was actually built around the ship. Next year we must definitely go there.
Our curiosity about this vessel was raised by lecturer Sherry Hutt in her discussion of Stockholm. The Vasa was the dream of King Gustavus Adolphus and was to be his flagship in the war he initiated with Lithuania-Poland in 1621. This king is regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time, and during his reign, Sweden grew from a regional power in northern Europe to one of the preeminent of all of Europe.
However, he was not without his shortcomings. The Vasa was his dream, and he spent a fortune building it. Unfortunately, his force of personality was such that no one was willing to advise him concerning all the design suggestions he insisted be implemented. By the time the ship was completed – and the King pushed hard for its completion – there were serious design flaws.
The ship began its maiden voyage with great fanfare on August 1, 1628 after a two-year construction period. Wikipedia: “Richly decorated as a symbol of the king’s ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion it was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable and top-heavy with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability, it was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze.”
For whatever reasons, the location of this ship was lost in historical obscurity. It was located in the 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside Stockholm harbor and was raised – virtually intact – in 1961. Part of the great interest in the ship has to do with its name. The Vasawas named after King Gustav Vasa, considered the father of modern Sweden because he was able to liberate the country from Denmark and become king in 1523.
I write all about a museum we never visited because it is an interesting story about the best laid plans of monarchs, of the inability of people in the time of monarchies to address their rulers confidently. The result in this case was an unnecessary maritime disaster.
Well, the route we take out is very different that the one we took to enter Stockholm, but it too is filled with islands dotted with beautiful summer homes. This archipelago we pass through actually has 24,000 islands or islets and 50,000 summer homes. The islands must rise straight out of the water, because our ship comes very close to many of them that we pass. We even see a Viking Line ship coming back from Helsinki snaking its way between islands. It’s so big it looks out of place around these small islands – but then, so must Nautica.
I can’t for the life of me remember what we did about dinner. The time shown on the photos I have taken tells me we were on our balcony until at least 8:39pm, which is when we saw the pilot boat cruising toward the sun, which will set in another fifty minutes. What a beautiful evening cruise. Helsinki is 202 nautical miles away, almost directly opposite Stockholm. Another fascinating day in Scandinavia awaits us.
