Stockholm, again 💙💛

My last visit to Stockholm was in 2019. It was so good to be back this past May! Generally, Stockholm is our jumping off point for a European adventure…because Ronald has some sort of work engagement there. Things got changed up on us (Ronald’s work engagement was canceled), but we decided to keep our itineraries the same and start in Stockholm.

We arrived about 13:00, and made our way to the commuter rail (Pendeltåg) area. As it was not rush hour – we were able to take a commuter train directly from Arlanda airport to Stockholms södra station and walk about 15 min directly to our hotel on Södermalm. Usually, we take the Arlanda Express – which is very direct and fast (also more expensive) to Stockholm Central Station (which is normally the area we stay in but the Taylor Swift Eras Tour that coincided with our visit made that complicated this trip 😂).

After getting checked in and settled, we made our way out again. Generally, we just needed to accomplish food, SIM card, and topping up our travelcards (we went with the 72 hour option that allowed us to do whatever during those 72 hours). As we were not too far, and their hours cooperated with our “we’ve traveled many time zones” early dinner hunger – we stopped in Blå Dorren. This is a a somewhat historic and traditional beer and dining hall in Södermalm near Slussen station and Katarinahissen. I had the traditional meatballs and Ronald had fried herring. I also had a shot of snaps – it was some of their house made/infused akvavit (lemon, orange, caraway and ginger).

We made a quick errand to System Bologet, Sweden’s government run chain store that sells all alcohol above 3.5% ABV. I snagged a bottle of Kavalan Vinho Barrique Cask Strength – a single cask selected for Sweden. Then we ducked into a Telenor store and purchased a prepaid SIM card for my phone. As we were beginning to drag a bit, we stopped in at one of my favorite places in the city – Vete-Katten off of Kungsgatan. This is one of Sweden’s largest and oldest patisseries – founded by Ester Nordhammar in 1928. This is a great spot for classic Swedish pastries and coffee and the atmosphere is old world charming but also elegant. Musts for me here – traditional Swedish kardemummabulle (cardamom bun) and Prinsesstårta (a traditional layer cake consisting of sponge, raspberry jam, pastry cream and covered in marzipan)…alongside a plain brewed coffee or cappuccino. Later in our trip – we made our way to a newer location (they seem to have expanded quite a bit since my original discovery) on Södermalm at Götgatan. It’s a lovely location with an almost Parisian outdoor café charm.

We made our way back to our hotel to generally clean up and drop off our purchases. While we were actually quite tired and ready to turn in, we decided around 7:15p that it was too early to go to bed. We walked around the corner from our hotel to Mikkeller Södermalm and enjoyed a few beers.

Pretty much every day we started with breakfast downstairs in our hotel – as it was quite good and included. We were in Stockholm Wednesday – Saturday morning. These were the general highlights:

I finally got to re-visit Östermalm’s Market Hall – post an extensive renovation completed in 2020. It first opened in 1888 and has been an institution and premier food destination – known for high quality produce, meats, seafood, gourmet foods and some restaurants. The renovation has left the food hall modernized but it is not lacking it’s original charm.

We did some walking and headed toward Djurgården – one of my favorite spots since my original 2011 visit to Stockholm. In the 1500s, it served at as King Eric XIV’s private recreation and hunting grounds. Today, it has many notable and popular attractions – Nordiska Museet (The Nordic Museum), The Vasa Museum (a museum featuring the best preserved 17th century ship), The ABBA Museum , Gröna Lund (an amusement park), Skansen (the oldest open air museum in the world and a popular traditional spot to visit during the Midsummer holiday), and many more such worthy attractions. Personally, I love to see Blå Porten (literally translates as the blue gate) which is a beautiful cast iron gate – the only preserved gate that once served as an entrance to Royal Djurgården. Designed by architect Johan Adolf Hawerman, it was erected in 1848 and moved and restored a few times through history…eventually it landed at its current location between 1967-1968. Another spot I love on Djurgården is Flikorna Helin. I have actually been there on every trip to Stockholm – except this one. It’s a precious little café in a castle like building just off the pedestrian path (not too far from (Blå Porten). I have been in summer and spring…and it’s so cozy either way. Why did I not make my way over on this trip? Lol, one can only eat so many pastries in a day… Ronald had discovered a new spot and he believed I would enjoy it. He was SO RIGHT!

We made our way to Komet, and oh my! They may have the best pastries I can call to mind. It was DIVINE! Ronald had coffee and I had a cappuccino. We shared a kardemummabulle and pistachio roll. That pistachio roll made with croissant style pastry…it’s just the stuff of dreams! I don’t know whether to be grateful for my waistline that there’s nothing like this here…or immensely sad.

I will make a separate post on our visit to Stockholms Bränneri / Brännerian – as it will make this tooooo long to add here. We had a delightful visit at the bar, and the bar manager showed us some of the distilling facilities and the bar lab. Also, he was so kind to give me some recommendations for additional places with high level cocktail programs. (You can find the post dedicated to this here.)

No Stockholm trip is complete without a trip or two to MAX – Sweden’s favorite hamburger chain. They are fun for a quick familiar fast food bite and people watching. It seems to be popular after some drinks. The one near our hotel in Södermalm seemed to be very busy at all hours. We also enjoy that they have easy to use kiosks where you can flip the language to English, order and pay. Then you just wait for your number to appear and grab your food.

Gosh, I really thought I had enough adventuring to last me…but writing this has me already wanting to return.

One other final note – We also made a special trip to Tantolunden near the Årstaviken bay. It’s quite a large park and a popular meeting spot for people of all ages to do some picnicking and swimming. I first discovered it completely by accident walking off some jet lag in the early EARLY morning hours. I was taken by the many allotment gardens and red garden sheds. I have also written a separate post about this visit as well.