Our Northern Europe cruise in the summer 2022 was to include 2 nights in St Petersburg, Russia a huge bucket list city for us but obviously had to be cancelled. Carnival instead changed it to include Stockholm and Amsterdam to our itinerary which was pretty exciting, I had always wanted to visit Sweden and to be able to see two totally different cities in this Country was a nice bonus.
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden encompasses 14 islands and more than 50 bridges on an extensive Baltic Sea archipelago. Stockholm is known for its iconic city hall, the world’s first open-air museum and the fabulous Abba museum which we did not have time for this visit.
The cobblestone streets and ochre-colored buildings of Gamla Stan the old town are home to the 13th-century Storkyrkan Cathedral, the Kungliga Slottet Royal Palace and the Nobel Museum. The Royal Palace of Stockholm stands proudly on Slottsbacken in the Swedish capital’s charming Old Town. Designed by master architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, this enormous regal building was inaugurated in 1754, providing a home for King Adolf Fredrik and Queen Louisa Ulrika. Stockholm Palace is said to be one of the oldest castles still serving as an official royal residence. With over 600 rooms spread across eleven floors, it provides plenty of space today for King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. The King and Queen also use the palace as a workplace and a highly impressive venue for receptions, such as state visits. It was quite the sight.
Changing of the guard takes place daily outside the Royal Palace and in the summer months, you listen to a military band and see the horse parade. You can also celebrate King Carl Gustaf XVI birthday on 30 April here. Some 3,000 people live in the Old Town and it is packed with cafés, restaurants, tourist shops, galleries as well as museums, it is so pretty here but quite busy with locals and tourists alike.
After exploring all of the city on a nice warm summer day, the tour included a stop at the Vasa Museum. Researching Stockholm this was the attraction everyone said was a “must see” and included in most all of the tours. We were a little puzzled how a museum about one ship that sank on its very first outing could garner so much attention and be so popular that it is the number one attraction of Stockholm.
It’s about a warship that sank after sailing roughly 1,300 yards into her maiden voyage on August 10,1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannon were salvaged in the 17th century, until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping area in Stockholm harbor. The Museum collections include the more than 40 000 objects that were found in and around the ship. The objects and ship give a unique picture of everyday life at sea and on land, and of shipbuilding techniques and nautical warfare in the early 1600s. The ship was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961.
We were surprised how much we enjoyed this museum, we found it really fascinating to see this huge ship and learn the history of the event and were then sorry we weren’t given enough time here to really explore further. There was a film that was going to start right when we were needing to get back to our bus to get back to the port. They had 3 floors, and you would need a few additional hours to see all of the exhibits. So yes, this is a must see when visiting this Stockholm, we would highly recommend it.
We spoke to quite a few people who had done the Abba Museum and it sounds like it would be fun for all the Abba lovers out there. The Avicii Experience is a tribute museum dedicated to one of the true icons of modern popular culture. See into the world of music through Tim ‘Avicii’ Bergling and the musicians, producers and songwriters he worked with. Here you can listen to unpublished music and never-before-told stories. An interactive experience for the whole family. Walk in the footsteps of ABBA together with educated guides. Here you can get close to ABBA by experiencing what it’s like to be the fifth member of ABBA on stage together with the other members! See what you look like in ABBA’s legendary costumes and try your dance moves in one of their world famous music videos. It is a fun interactive experience that invites you to sing, dance, mix music and try out virtual stage outfits. We will save that for next visit.
On the way back to the ship we passed some huge Ikea stores and they are quite popular here as in the USA. We had a long bus ride back to the port where our ship was docked and saw some additional areas of this pretty city. We had another great day.
