Day 2 in Stockholm
Today, you’ll visit the island Djurgården, or more officially Kungliga Djurgården (the Royal Game Park. The island is a part of the Royal National City Park. Both Stockholmers and tourists go here when they’ve free time and want to experience something out of the ordinary.
The major attractions on the Island are the open-air museum Skansen, the Vasa Museum as well as the amusement park Gröna Lund. If you’re an ABBA-fan, you know where to go. The Island’s extensive stretches of forest and meadows are beautiful to visit. And there are many art and culinary highlights.
The background to the Island's name is the animal farm with different wild species that Johan III (Gustav Vasa's son) established on its northwestern tip in 1579. In Gustav III's time, the Island changed more into a popular park for pleasure and some foreign diplomats were allowed to build exclusive villas here, such as Liston Hill and Lower Manila. In the 1820s, the island experienced a royal era, when Karl XIV Johan built the pleasure palace Rosendal (you wont have time to visit it this day).
Boat Commuting in the City and Day-planning
If you take the boat into Stockholm, it's very easy to go to the island Djurgården to visit the main attractions. Chose jetty "Fredriksberg" or "Vaxholm" as a start and the jetty "Allmänna gränd" as the destination, get the instruction for your timetable here. On the boats, you can bring a bike, but it always depends on whether there is space for it.
When you plan your day, start with the Vasa Museum. It's generous opening hours in the morning at the high season so you can bee an early bird and get more out of the day. The Museum is only closed between 24–25 December. Set aside half a day for the visit. By boat from the Old Town to the island, go off at the stop "Allmänna gränd" and walk 650 meters, choose the walkway along the water to the Museum.
If you are an ABBA-fan, the Museum is 110 meters from the boat stop "Allmänna gränd". It also has generious opening hours, expecially during the evenings (only slightly shorter times at low seasons). Buy the ticket online for a better price. hough, you've no time for the Stockholm's City Hall this day. You can visit the glass studio below (after Vasa and lunch) and before the visit to the ABBA-museum. You only have to walk 150 meters between the two sights.
The Royal Ship Vasa – be amazed
The Royal Ship Vasa is one of Sweden's most popular attractions. Rightly so, because she is unique! There is no wreck in the world that is as well-preserved as Vasa, and she is the only 17th-century ship that has been salvaged in almost complete condition. Why? She sank and the shipworm doesn't live (yet) in the brackish water of the Baltic Sea.
Vasa was a warship commissioned by King Gustav II Adolf (1594– 1632) and built as a symbol of Sweden's military and political power. A lot of money was spent on equipping her. She was one of the world's most heavily armed warships at the time. No expense was spared on the décor with hundreds of sculptures in bright colours.
On Vasa's first maiden voyage, on 10 August 1628, when four out of ten sails were hauled she capsized 120 meters from land. The cause was that she was too heavy at the top and too light at the bottom. About 30 people died.
People almost knew Vasa's position into the mid-1800s. The exakt point was determined in 1956 by the Swedish amateur researcher and engineer Anders Franzén and the diver Edving Fälting. On April 24, 1961, she broke the water surface. A huge preservation work started (still ongoing), and a permanent museum could be opened in 1990.
Get Energy at the Inn Ulla Winbladh
Close the Vasa Museum is the inn Ulla Winbladh. The house was originally built for the Stockholm Art and Industry Exhibition in 1897 by architect Gustav Wickman. From the beginning, the facilities housed an ultra-modern steam bakery (Reinholds Ångbageri). Later, it became a patisserie. In the mid-50s, the house became the present Inn.
In the 1700s, it was common to go out and have fun on Djurgården – as today. The name of the Inn comes from one of the central figures in the Swedish songwriter Carl Michael Bellman's (1740–1795) songs. Ulla was both a fictional famous mistress and muse, loosly based on the real Maria Kristina Källström (1744–1798). Bellman is important in the Swedish ballad tradition. His flat, where he lived for four years, can still be seen at the island Södermalm.
The Inn's ambition is to nurture the atmosphere from 1897 and the Swedish taste traditions. If you haven't tried the fried herring at Vaxholms hotel, this is also a good place to try the traditional dish. Do book a table in advance.
Three other remains from Exhibition in 1897 are the main bridge to the island Djurgårdsbron, the Skånska gruvan (mine), and Jägarhyddan (the Hunter's lodge).
ABBA The Museum – walk in and dance out
ABBA is the biggest export music group from Sweden. The name is an acronyme of the band members' first names. The group became very popular after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. More recently, it has returned in popularity thanks to the Mama Mia movies and musicals.
In the ABBA The Museum, you’ll find all ABBA memorabilia, from gold disks to stage outfits. The museum is very interactive; you’re an important part of the experience. You can dance to ABBA music, sing or even try their outfits (virtually, of course). You can also record your “performance” and download it from the museum’s homepage. Sing along and dance to your favourite songs. Take your time here.
The concept behind ABBA The Museum was developed by the Swedish Ewa Wigenheim and Ulf Westman, then married, over three years. They had been inspired by the Beatles Museum in Liverpool, England. However, they sold the concept to a company that toured in Europe and Australia with the “Abbaworld” exhibition from 2010.
In 2013, the exhibition became permanent in its current premises. Then, the former bandmember Björn Ulvaeus took over. All four group members contributed objects to the exhibition, which shows several reconstructed environments linked to the group.
The Magic Glass Studio
Sweden has a long tradition of making glassworks. If you go by car up through Sweden to Stockholm, you can pass the Småland's Kingdom of Glass. It has created unique art glass since 1742 that is famous worldwide and can be found in many Swedish homes.
In Stockholm, there is a glass studio – Stockholm glasbruk – which was built in 1936. Visitors can watch the skilled glassblower with traditional tools give life, form, light and colour to the glowing glass mass – a sight that has attracted people for generations. It’s magic! In the adjoining shop you can buy products made here. You can also try glassblowing by choosing between different objects to make. The booking minimum is two persons for 30 min per person, but the actual time depends on what item you chose.
You've to buy a ticket to the open-air museum Skansen to get to the glass studio. If you "only" have two days to visit the city, you won't have time to look at anything else in the museum. If you like glass, it may still be worth buying a Skansen ticket.
Old Oaks for the Shipmaking
The island of Djurgården is often associated with its many oaks, originally intended for the shipbuilding. A royal right to all the country's oaks was introduced in 1558 by Gustav Vasa (1496–1560) since oak wood resisted ship rot and was stable enough for ships with heavy artillery.
However, the best oak required good cultivation soil, which competed with the farmers' choice of crop. Therefore, the royal right was introduced so farmers were not allowed to cut oaks down. The punishment for felling an oak tree during the Swedish great power era could be the death, later a fine or even imprisonment. The royal right was ceased in 1830.
Today, the island has Northern Europe's largest stand of old oaks. In the 1920s, the Swedish botanist Rutger Sernander made a list of the oak trees with a circumference of at least five metres and estimated to be around 400 years. At that time, there were 83 oaks that met the conditions, in the 1970s there were about 70 left. One of these giant oaks is in the park Prince Eugen's Waldemarsudde. It the largest living oak on the island – and in the Stockholm City.
Still, if you want to fell a tree that is 300 years old, you must first make a notification to the County Administrative Board. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, some trees are classified as particularly worthy of protection.
The Stockholm City Hall
The Stockholm City Hall with the golden Tre Kronor of the spire is one of Stockholm's most famous silhouettes. It is an incomparable house for joy, sorrow, celebration, and seriousness.
The Swedish architect Ragnar Östberg's (1866–1945) lavish masterpiece was built at a time when modern Swedish democracy was born. He created his very own National Romantic style of Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, Nordic Gothic, Islamic art, and the history of Stockholm. After 15 years, it was inaugurated on Midsummer's Eve June 23, 1923. The date was set as a commemoration of King Gustav Vasa's entry into Stockholm on the same day in 1523.
Behind the grand façade are magnificent halls, workplaces for the government of Stockholm municipality and unique Swedish art. The City Hall is also the venue for the big Nobel banquet in the airy Blue Hall and astonishing Golden Hall with its 18 million gold mosaic pieces.
Do go on a guided tour! Buy tickets online and separately for the tower with a magnificent view of the city (open during spring to autumn).