Stockholm: True Experience

I have thought long and hard about what I’m going to say about this trip, this city, and even the country as a whole. I tried to make a structure: start with flights, then hotel, then entertainment, and then talk about food and prices, like all usual blog posts are supposed to be, but then I thought that for this one it’s not going to be as honest and heartfelt if I try to follow a structure. So this post might be a mess, but I have no other way to express what I feel about Stockholm.

I’ve been to Stockholm before, so I had a rough idea of what I was dealing with when I booked a last-minute short trip. Even if my previous visit was brief, only for half a day while waiting for my next flight, it was still a city that has left a mark on me.

Scandinavia is not necessarily known for good weather and sunny days, but both times it seems that I’ve got lucky with the weather, considering that out of the 4 days I’ve been there this time, it has rained only once. It was fairly warm too, so much that we enjoyed walking around with our jackets off.

One of the highlights was sitting by the boat docks after visiting the National Museum, enjoying a coffee and soaking in the sun with the view of the boats coming in and out of the port, while the water shimmered in the light.

Beginning with day one, as we left the plane, we ended up right at the airport 7-Eleven. It doesn’t take much for me to be excited, even if it’s just a wider variety of RedBull flavours. Honestly, if I could, I’d probably have a 7-Eleven hotdog for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s that good. Quite inexpensive too, which is quite important for a country like Sweden because, believe me, everything’s expensive.

When choosing transportation from and to the Arlanda Airport, you are mostly presented with the happy trinity: Vy bus, Arlanda Express and FlixBus. And you know, something doesn’t let me pay almost 30 euros for the Arlanda Express train when a FlixBus is 7 euros. Yes, 30 euros for a one-way trip, and if you are not planning on moving your entire life there, you’ll need a ticket back - 60 euros total. To me, personally, that’s insanity. I know of all the perks, it’s a train, it takes only 18 minutes, and it’s comfortable and really nice, but a nice FlixBus leaves more money in your pocket that you can spend in the city, not on getting to it.

After arriving in the city and leaving our bags in storage, we wandered off on a walk around the city. It was raining, but that didn’t really stop us. We visited a couple of shops, one of my favourites - Normal, which is always a pleasure to walk through and see all the little things they sell. Even a couple of Latvian things were spotted!

Stockholm is quite a busy city, with plenty of tourists and lively streets. Yet, it is one of those places that makes you feel more at peace. I have absolutely no idea how to explain that phenomenon, but at this point I’ve felt that only in Scandinavian countries and Finland. Something about their rhythm there is totally different to the rest of the world. They aren’t particularly slow or lazy or anything else that might give off such an impression; people still hurry, they race their bikes through the streets, and there are plenty of sounds coming from all around, but even then.

Even then, the city has something that will help you step away from the stress of daily life and make you breathe in and out, as your nervous system comes close to regulating. Speaking from personal experience, don’t know how to explain that, but I wish that everyone could find a place that does that for them one day.

After a walk through the city, we visited a fall market with over 70 different artists presenting their art. It had everything, starting from crocheted flowers to plastic lamps and handmade earrings. Pretty much all handmade you can think of was present. It was a nice dive into the culture and a way to find out what the locals like and enjoy, as we watched people leave with full paper bags of stuff they’ve bought.

Next up was finding our hotel and having another cultural experience of inspecting the local supermarkets. Lidl, Coop, and ICA were all visited on our way back. One thing I have noticed is how much Swedes love cheese. Maybe it’s used for something else, but each supermarket had CHEESE. Not in a way we all know it, but massive bundles of 3 and more kgs of cheese. Normal sizes in our stores are around 0.3 - 0.5 kg per block, not in Sweden, apparently. To top it all off, the price was only about 6 euros for a massive 2kg solid block of cheese. Don’t know how and why, but I’m here for it.

That concluded our day 1 as we retreated back to our hotel room for some much-needed rest after an early morning flight.

The next day started off slow, with a breakfast in MAX, the local fast food chain that rivals McDonald's. Another fascinating thing I have noticed about fast food in general in Stockholm is that a lot of the customers are older people, middle-aged and up. Here, it’s not a common sight to see a big percentage of customers in a higher age group, while in MAX, half the people around us waiting for their orders were middle-aged and up. Maybe that speaks about quality or people having a simpler attitude towards life and what they eat, but it was something that attracted my attention. For one, in a fast food restaurant I was not surrounded by yelling pre-teens and loud teenagers. Fascinating stuff.

After that, we used the metro to get ourselves to Gamla Stan or Old Town in English, as we embarked on a 2-hour archipelago cruise on a lovely two-deck boat, with a guide who told us stories and historical facts about the places we saw. The cruise was accompanied by Swedish fika, which is what they call a coffee/tea with a pastry. It was a nice touch that made the journey even better.

If you are ever in Stockholm and want to see more of it, then I think a boat ride is the best thing for you. It shows you parts of Stockholm you’d never see if it wasn’t for it; the guide tells you some quite fascinating facts about history and how some very popular things we all know came to be.

One of the stories was the creation of a strong spirit in times when alcohol wasn’t something spoken out loud about. It then went on to create a little something-something called “Absolut”, getting warmer, aren’t we? But we will get there a little bit later.

After the cruise, we stopped for food and then went back into the city and walked and walked and walked. I don’t know how many thousands of steps I have from that day, but it must be quite a lot. We went around several small islands, enjoyed the view of Stockholm during golden hour and then, to my pleasure, enjoyed quiet Stockholm.

After the sun had set, the city quickly lit up with various banners, streetlights and plenty more around. Most of the stores were already closed, since closing time is indeed quite early. That did not affect the experience at all; we had a great time, and when the sun sets, the city clears out a little, leaving most of the streets for tourists like us and delivery drivers. If you want to see Stockholm from a new perspective, pencil in a walk after sunset. I did not regret it.

The next day, after a good breakfast at Max, yes, again, we went over to the Spritmuseum, where the topic of Absolut comes in handy. The permanent exhibition of the museum was a lot of fun. I have added the “Taste the exhibition” package, the mystery game, an Absolut cocktail and a vodka tasting to the tickets for a full experience. Safe to say it was a blast.

First, we walked around learning the history of alcohol in Sweden, learning ways in which the spirits are made and what they do to the human body; I didn’t look over there; I prefer not knowing. Then we tasted the spirits that were shown in the exhibition, and let me say that their dessert wine was such a treat, while on the other hand I have cemented my opinion on whiskey and the rest of the wines - not for me. Fortunately, the temporary exhibition in the museum is about Absolut vodka, what a treat!

Before we got to it, we entered the True Crime exhibition where we spent an hour, if not more, playing the detective game, which was quite a challenge, I must say. When you think you have the answer - nope, sorry, you don’t. It was what made it interesting, alongside learning the mind-blowing stories of people during the Prohibition era. How creative they got just to have a drink, wow. In the end, we did win, with one of the best results, too!

After that came the Absolut exhibition, with many of the various bottles, stories and interesting facts, but it all couldn’t compare to the star of the show - the robot that makes cocktails. It wasn’t an extraordinary cocktail by any means; you could taste the vodka quite well, but it was an experience which I don’t know where else I could have. After all, we were in Absolut’s birthplace, weren’t we? So after tasting the Green Apple Martini made with, you guessed it, Absolut vodka, it was time for what? For more vodka!

You can see why I chose this for my birthday, don’t you?

After successfully getting the maximum out of the exhibition, we moved to the bar area where I was presented with 4 Absolut vodka variants - standard, vanilla, citron and passionfruit. Let’s just say Passionfruit was the best, alongside the standard one, of course.

It was a nice taste journey, and I would recommend visiting the place if you are into history and would like to know more about alcohol, or even taste some. The place also has a bar and a restaurant where you can have a nice dinner or a drink (that is not necessarily tied to the exhibitions).

After that, we took a ride on the ferryboat that is part of their public transit system, which was a little bizarre but a great experience. It allowed us to discover another part of Stockholm we would never have gone to if not for randomly choosing a boat simply to try it out. Okay, not randomly; I planned the route, but you get it.

Then, we finished the day at Hard Rock Cafe, which is slowly becoming a tradition, without me even realising it. In both cities in Sweden I have visited, I have had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, and whatever people might say about it, it is a place I do enjoy.

The next day, and our last one of this trip, we checked out of the lovely hotel we stayed at and went back for a more standard tourist experience - visiting the Nationalmuseum, which is another one of the places that are always on my itineraries during trips. Various museums around the world hold various artworks and pieces of art, and you can never know what you will find. You can look it up and visit places on purpose, but I prefer to not only see the popular pieces by the most popular painters, but also indulge in the local history and pieces that stayed local.

I really enjoyed my visit to the Nationalmuseum; it had a lot of pieces you want to keep coming back to, alongside the stunning architecture and interior design inside of it. It is totally optional; I would understand that people not quite interested in art wouldn’t put it on their plan for the trip, but I believe it is a must-see.

The weather was extremely nice, so after getting a coffee with a pastry or, as the Swedes would call it, fika, and a hot dog from 7-Eleven, we enjoyed our time at the pier under the sunlight and with a view of the city.

Last time, when we were in Stockholm, we watched the change of guard and explored the Royal Palace, which we obviously have not gone back to again this time. For someone who is coming to Stockholm for the first time, the Royal Palace is an absolute must; it has so much history, art and breathtaking beauty that it would be a crime not to visit it when you are in the city.

We also tried almost all the types of public transportation in the city: the tram, the buses, the ferry and especially the metro. If you want a cheaper hotel to stay in, look a little further away from the centre and preferably check if the hotel has a metro stop somewhere nearby. It was so easy to use, and it got us to the city centre in 15 minutes; I couldn’t recommend it enough.

The single ticket is quite pricey; it’s around 3.85 euros for a time-limited ticket, so we opted for the several-day one, and it paid off. So, do not waste more money than you have to; buy a several-day pass and enjoy basically flawless public transportation all over the city.

Would I recommend coming to Stockholm? Yes, yes and again yes! Not many people have it, or Sweden in general, on their travel bucket lists, and that is such a shame. It is a city that takes your breath away in a good way; it’s beautiful, colourful and full of life. One may say that it is expensive; it is on the more expensive side if we compare it to European cities, but there are so many opportunities for inexpensive meals, transport and experiences that it is no longer an excuse.

If you have ever thought of visiting, please do; I would love to share the love for that city and country with others.

And that concludes this Stockholm adventure. If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please do let me know; I will happily answer and take your feedback to improve this further!

Until next time :)

Stockholm

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