This weekend we decided to head back to Stockholm. The kids and I had been there once before and Kris had been twice (once with her friend Sarah), but both were short trips and we felt there was more to see. We also wanted to check out the viking city Birka on the island Björkö in Lake Mälaren.
We took the snabbtåg (quick train) from Malmö to Stockholm and stayed in the company apartment in Jakobsburg (just outside of Stockholm). The train made good time, but there was a broken down train at Stockholm Central Station, where we needed to switch to the commuter train to Jakobsburg, which ended up delaying us for an hour. We ended up at the apartment at 10:30pm.
We had a few days free to travel due to a public holiday Tuesday and a squeeze day Monday, so we decided to spend our Saturday exploring Gamla Stan (Old Town), which dates back from the 13th century.
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| Gamla Stan Outer Gates (north) |
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| View of Riddarhuset and Riddarholmen Church from the end of Drottninggatan |
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| Riddarhuset and Rissarholmen Churc |
The view above was from the north side of the bridge heading into Gamla Stan - it shows the Riddarhuset (House of Knights/Nobility) and the Riddarholmen Church (Knight's Island Church) spire. The church was built in the 17th century and is the burial site of several Swedish monarchs. The Riddarhuset was planned in 1642 but plans were completed in 1660. It was used to house the Riksdag of the Estates (the Swedish equivalent of House of Lords).
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| Gamla Stan Gates |
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| Front facade of the Riksbank |
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| Facade of Riksbank |
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| Riksbank |
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| Gamla Stan Inner Gate (North) |
Our first stop was the Kingliga Slottet (The Royal Palace):
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| Plan of the castle |
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| Cannons at the front of the Palace |
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| Royal Guard |
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| Facade about the curved part of the Palace |
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| Statue of Kristina Gyllenstierna |
The above statue is Christina/Kristina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna and, despite it looking like they had to sneak an extra 'l' into the name plate, it depicts a Swedish noble who lived 1494-1559. She was married to the regent Sten Sture the Younger and led the resistance against Christian II of Denmark after her husband was killed in the battle of Bogesund against Denmark.
After Christian II of Denmark captured Stockholm in 1520 after a four month siege, he crowned himself Christian I of Sweden. Kristina had led the peasants in resistance against Denmark since her husband's death and was held captive by Christian in Stockholm.
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| Statues around the Palace outside the Treasury |
We took a tour of the treasury, however we were not allowed to take photos inside the actual exhibit (for security reasons). We did get a few photos of the non-restricted area as we headed in.
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| Heading inside |
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| Heraldry inside |
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| Ceiling |
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| Inside |
After viewing the treasury, we headed down to the armoury that was hosting a display of carriages:
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| The Burmannia - used in the coronation procession of Fredrik I (1720) |
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| The Queen Brussels Carriage - 1780 |
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| Crown Prince's Carriage - 1763 for Crown prince Gustav III |
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| The Coronation Coach - 1696 (for Karl XI) |
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| Armour |
When we finished up at the armoury, it was time for the changing of the guard outside the palace, so we headed over to watch it. Unfortunately we got stuck at the back of a crowd, but we did get to see the horses coming in.
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| The horses approaching |
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| Column of horses |
(sorry for the bad video quality - it was filmed at full arms stretch to try to get a shot over the crowd and around all the other phones and iPads that were filming.)
Next we walked back through Gamla Stan to find somewhere to eat and check out a few more of the sights:
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| King Gustaf III |
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| Building facade of Rosenbad (The Federal Government Office) |
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That night, Alana woke up and threw up. She then was sick all night. The next day she still couldn't keep anything down
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| Sick Alana |
This day was the day we had booked to head out to Birka - the viking island. Kristine decided to stay home with Alana, while I took the boys. They were pretty excited to take the train back into Stockholm:
Birka is a former viking settlement on the island of Björkö. Birka was built in the mid-700s and is generally believed to be Sweden's first town. The town was situated to control trade to northern Scandinavia, and is situated only a few kilometers from the King's Palace at Hovgården.
The city flourished for around 200 years, facilitating trade from all around the world - Arabic silver, foreign horns and furs and beads from around Europe were found on the site.
After the 900s the citizens began to leave the island, the exact reason for this is unknown, but it is believed it was a mix of political reasons and also rising of the land making it less useful for trade.
To get to Birka, we needed to catch a ferry from Stockholm Town Hall for the two hour trip down the Lake Mälaren.
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| Ferries |
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| Town Hall |
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| Town Hall |
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| Cruising down Lake Mälaren |
We passed Kungshatt (King's Hat) a rocky island that is famous for a tale about King Erik Väderhatt (Weather Hat), who had a hat that allowed him to control the winds by turning the brim. After being chased by his enemies, he leapt from a cliff into the water on his horse. He survived, but the hat was lost. The story is memorialized by an iron hat mounted on a pole on the island:
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| Kungshatt |
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| Väderhatt |
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| Lake Mälaren |
We arrived at Birka around midday and had half an hour to burn before the tour started, so we took a look around.
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| Tomas was fascinated by the 'hollow cow' |
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| Welcome to Birka |
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| Birka |
The markers on the map above are:
1 - Birka Museum and reconstructed houses,
2 - Borg with the Cross of Ansgar
3 - Black Soil - Site of Birka Viking Town
4 - Viking Era Harbour
5 - Burial Site
6 - Ansgar's Chapel
7 - Björkö Village.
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| Birka/Black Soil Map |
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| Details about Birka |
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| Our boat |
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| Figurehead in the kid's area |
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| Museum |
While we waited for the tour, we explored the shop and museum.
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| Model of how the longhouse would have looked |
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| Example of how the ramparts of the fort would have worked |
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| Model of the harbour |
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| 1:15 Model of how the village may have looked |
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| Why is there this horse poo stuff on the ice? |
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| Model of how they split the logs for planks |
We didn't get the whole way through the museum before it was time for our tour. The tour took an hour and took us to three places - one of the burial grounds, outside the walls and inside the original fort.
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| Our tour guide in front of the burial mounds |
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| Burial mounds |
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| Walking up over the mounds |
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| More burial mounds |
While the island is no longer inhabited by vikings, there are still some small farms that operate on the island, run by local families who have lived there for many generations.
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| Farms and the church |
Our next stop was the side of the fort looking down over Black Soil - the location of the original village. Few obvious remains still exist, but you can clearly see the mounding of earth that formed the fortification breastwork, and a distant ridge behind the village, which may have been a small separating wall.
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| Earth mound that formed the fortification |
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| Looking over Black Soil to the dividing mounds |
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| Heading through the 'gate' a gap in the fortification |
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| Centre of the fortification |
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| View of the harbour from the fort |
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| Cam enjoying the view |
Birka was the first know Christian congregation in Sweden in 831. Saint Ansgar (801-865) traveled from Hamburg.Bremen to bring Christianity to the north. There was a Cross - St Ansgars Cross installed on the Island in 1834, 1000 years after Ansgar's arrival in Birka.
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| Ansgar's Cross |
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| The boys at Ansgar's Cross |
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| Ansgar's Cross |
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| Boys looking over the harbour |
We then headed back down through the "Royal Gate" to where the guard house used to be. The house was burnt down in the 900s.
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| Looking down on Royal Gate |
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| The boys in Royal Gate |
The tour ended there, so we walked back to the museum and had lunch - a picnic of ham and cheese sandwiches and an ice-cream. Then we went to check out the reconstructed houses:
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| Close up of the wall - showing the stick and mud construction |
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| Reconstructed house ( Gelbgjutarens 2008) |
After the houses we headed back to see the last parts of the museum:
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| Details of what was found when excavating the Black Soil |
We had about 20 minutes until the boat was schedule to leave, so the boys took turns skimming stones at the habour:
Despite us being almost first to the harbour we ended up not getting a seat inside the boat - why? Because the boys rushed to the back of the ferry, which was reserved for the dining families. By the time they got back to the front all the seats and tables were taken. We ended up having to sit up top outside. Fortunately the rain stopped, but it was still cold, so we ended up back inside standing around in the front of the boat.
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| Väderhatt on Kungshatt |
The following day was our last full day in Stockholm. We had a slow start, but Alana was feeling better so we headed back into town.
On the Tuesday we tidied up and then caught the fast train back to Malmö.
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