Sweeping Past Swedish Islands & Into Stockholm's Old Town

 

Sunrise over the islands leading into Stockholm

Hello again, Blogonauts!

(Just a reminder: To see any of these photos in more detail, simply click [or tap] on it.) 

After a restful night at sea, I emerged onto the ship's deck to catch the sunrise. And to my surprise, even though 3 hours remained before our journey's end, we were already sailing through a narrow passage, spotted with hundreds of islands. (Sweden, with more than 260,000, has the most islands of any country in the world.)

The shorelines were golden in the sunrise.

The seemingly countless islands, each looking like a nature preserve

We kept gaining on this Viking Cruises vessel that was trying to outrun us.

Ultimately, the ship's crew fulfilled their promise to get me (plus a few hundred other travelers) to Sweden by 10 AM. It's always a little nerve-racking to arrive in a new city, particularly while towing a suitcase. But luckily, navigating my way through the Stockholm subway system was a charm. And even though I showed up early, the hotel had my room ready and waiting.

So! Stow the luggage and head off to explore Stockholm! My target for this first day was Gamla Stan, which is Swedish for "Old Town".

Stockholm is really made up of 14 islands connected by bridges & ferries. To speak of the mainland here is to miss the soul of the city.

Gamla Stan completely fills its relatively small island, but access is easy via bridges to nearby islands. Still, this is the original Stockholm, Sweden's capital since the 13th century, and its architecture and narrow streets conjure up a bit of Stockholm's life as a medieval trading port.

The early market square in Gamla Stan, where the old well still stands.

The old stock exchange has found new life as the Nobel Prize Museum

One of the narrow streets common in Gamla Stan.

Walking around the Old Town was like turning over stones to see what treasure may be hidden underneath. Sure... there is one street that seems devoted to the souvenirs and viking restaurants. But the rest of the area sparkled with occasional surprises.

An old telephone booth now holds an emergency defibrillator 

This tiny statue (those are real coins) sits in the church yard of the Finnish church

 

An ancient Norse runestone, with the writing highlighted with modern color.

Naturally, the Royal Palace has a prominent place in Gamla Stan. One royal residence or another has stood on this spot since the 1200s. From here, Sweden expanded and ruled its empire. While Christian powers in southern Europe engaged in bloody Crusades to convert Muslims to Christianity, Swedes carried out similar forced conversions of the pagans of Finland.

Unfortunately the palace is undergoing a 22-year-long facelift. But the second photo gives a hint at what a behemoth this palace is.

The Royal Palace main entrance, although the building is undergoing some hefty renovation.

A different view of the Royal Palace, which contains more than 1,400 rooms.

Another fun religion fact: Sweden readily embraced the Reformation. "De-papalization" was popular, but church reform meant that the worship services were no longer in Latin.

But Stockholm was (and is) a multi-language city. The various language groups (primarily Swedes, Germans, & Finns) each then needed their own churches so their congregants could understand what was going on. Nowadays, Sweden no longer has a state religion, but the language-centered Lutheran churches still conduct services in the languages dating from their founding in the 16th & 17th centuries.

Statue of Olaus Petri, chief reformer of the Swedish church

The reason for mentioning this now is that near to the Palace stands the Stockholm Cathedral (the Swedish church), which got its own gussying up in the Baroque era. And those Baroque decorators knew no bounds when it came to gussying.

The pipe organ, pulpit, and Royal Pew topper.

The Royal Pews. (The topper is ornately carved wood, dating from 1684.)

An ornate wooden statue of St. George slaying the truly horrible, disgusting, very bad dragon.

To bring this initial wander in the Old Town to a close, I crossed one of the bridges to a nearby island. Looking back you can see the spire of the German church towering over its neighborhood.
 

The view back to Gamla Stan.

That's more than plenty for today. Stockholm has loads of history, but it's mixed with modern big-city life. Stay tuned! There are more adventures ahead!

OH!!! But one final Finnish food photo! Yesterday's lunch in Helsinki, before boarding the Baltic boat:

Mozzarella-Pesto Ball Salad 😋 

Again, if you decide to leave a comment on the blog, please give a hint so I can puzzle out who's kind enough to add their own wisdom. Thanks!

Blog to you later!
Larry