Scandinavia had been in our radar for a long time and the thought of exploring the land of Vikings was always an exciting proposition. Although not the best time to visit Scandinavia (mid-September), Anoop, Shubhada and me embarked on a one week tour to know more about the beautiful cities of Stockholm, Oslo and Bergen.
The geographical location of Gotenberg makes it an ideal base for taking trains to Stockholm and Oslo. These cities are almost equidistant from Gotenberg. We took a morning train from Gotenberg to
Stockholm. After a scenic five hour train journey, we reached Stockholm central station. Anoop, having been to Stockholm before, took the onus of becoming our unofficial guide. First stop was the City Hall. Stockholm City Hall is the building for municipal council of the city of Stockholm. It is made of red bricks and makes for a beautiful sight. It is also used as the banquet hall, which is held after the Nobel Prize award ceremony. After taking some pictures on the steps leading to the hall and at the beautiful courtyard following the hall, overseeing the sea, we moved to our next attraction, the Royal Palace. The Royal palace is the official residence of the Royal family of Sweden. It is one of the largest palaces in the world and consists of four main rows: western, southern, eastern and northern. The president of Brazil was visiting and we were able to catch a glimpse of his convoy. After making a couple of souvenir purchases from the Royal museum, we moved on to a restaurant for some lunch. On the way we spotted the Nobel Museum, a small building with nothing spectacular from the outside. As we had only a day for Stockholm, we skipped visiting the museum.
The geographical location of Gotenberg makes it an ideal base for taking trains to Stockholm and Oslo. These cities are almost equidistant from Gotenberg. We took a morning train from Gotenberg to
Stockholm. After a scenic five hour train journey, we reached Stockholm central station. Anoop, having been to Stockholm before, took the onus of becoming our unofficial guide. First stop was the City Hall. Stockholm City Hall is the building for municipal council of the city of Stockholm. It is made of red bricks and makes for a beautiful sight. It is also used as the banquet hall, which is held after the Nobel Prize award ceremony. After taking some pictures on the steps leading to the hall and at the beautiful courtyard following the hall, overseeing the sea, we moved to our next attraction, the Royal Palace. The Royal palace is the official residence of the Royal family of Sweden. It is one of the largest palaces in the world and consists of four main rows: western, southern, eastern and northern. The president of Brazil was visiting and we were able to catch a glimpse of his convoy. After making a couple of souvenir purchases from the Royal museum, we moved on to a restaurant for some lunch. On the way we spotted the Nobel Museum, a small building with nothing spectacular from the outside. As we had only a day for Stockholm, we skipped visiting the museum. The Royal palace and the Nobel Prize museum are situated in the old town of Stockholm , which is
also famously known as Gamla Stan (the Old city). This town dates back to 13th century and consists of beautiful medieval architecture, cobbled streets and large alleys. It also houses the Stockholm Stock exchange building and is surrounded by old merchant’s houses. Little souvenir shops eloquently hosting Viking artefacts, chocolate shops, poster outlets and restaurants, gives a nice cosy feel to Gamla Stan and makes for a pleasurable walk in a medieval setting. By the time we finished walking along the streets of Gamla Stan, it was evening and time for us to take our train back to Gotenberg. Pausing at the National Museum, which is the national gallery of Sweden, for a brief moment, we made our way to the Central station.
On our way back, we talked of the famous Vasa museum we missed seeing and the more famous Stockholm archipelago, which consists of 24,000 islands. 10 hours is no justice to beautiful Stockholm, but we made the best of what Stockholm city had to offer.
1 comment:
You have really taken stock of Stockholm. Keep the energy going.
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