Gamla Stan is the oldest part of Stockholm. We set off after breakfast and caught the metro ( or Tunnelbana as it’s called here) down to the Gamla Stan stop. We reached the metro entrance for T-Centralen by walking quite a distance underground , basically as far as we’d walked yesterday to the tram stop!
Gamla Stan is cross crossed by narrow cobbled lanes on one side and on the other has the grand entrances to the Royal Palace and the Cathedral.
Our first stop was the Storkyrkan, the city’s main cathedral. It’s not huge as cathedrals go but has a massive ebony and silver altar, a fabulous organ and some wonderful decoration. There is a huge wooden carved statue of St George killing the dragon, which some believe symbolises the Swedes defending themselves from the Danes.
From the cathedral we walked around to take a look at the semi circular parade ground in front of the palace. We came back here later to watch the changing of the guard.
After walking around the back of the cathedral, we entered the palace by a side entrance to take a look inside at the Royal Treasury. The Swedish royal family have respectable selection of ancient crowns and jewelry and ceremonial robes. It’s I testing that they no longer have a big coronation and the King never actually wears the crown any more, although it is displayed at formal events.
Then we walked back up to the main entrance to see the Royal Apartments. These are several Italian Baroque-style rooms designed by architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. They are used by the King and Queen for official receptions, state visits, and formal ceremonies.
Finally we saw the Three Crowns museum which is down in the bowels of the palace. It’s displays are all about the original castle that stood here until it was destroyed by fire in the late 1600s. The current palace was built over its foundation.
When we came out the exit we found ourselves on the other side of the palace facing back to the city across the water.
By now it was getting close to 12 noon so we walked back up to the parade ground and joined the expanding crowd of people waiting to see the changing of the guard. We waited while young soldiers moved us back and set up chain barriers around the parade area. A small squad of smartly dressed soldiers marched out and stood to attention and we all waited….
Eventually we heard the sound of a band approaching who had come from goodness knows where near the waterfront! They marched into the parade ground and the formal ceremony began. The soldiers marched around led by flag bearers and the band played on…and on….and on…
The music was excellent but Neil’s knees were really starting to suffer with standing still for so long so we made our exit along the back of the crowd to find somewhere for us to sit for a while. I had planned for us to visit the Royal Armoury which Simon had said was very good but by this stage we were ready to call it quits on palace museums.
So we walked down to Stortoget, the main square.
Colourful old buildings topped with gables line the square, Stockholm’s oldest. In 1400, this was the heart of medieval Stockholm.
There is a grand building to the right of the gabkes that is the old stock exchange, now home to the Nobel Prize Museum.
The town well is a popular meeting point, and the square held the town’s pillory. It is the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520. During a Danish power grab, many of Stockholm’s Swedish aristocracy, leading merchants and priests, who had challenged Danish rule, were rounded up, brought here and beheaded. Rivers of blood were have said to flow through the streets. Legend says that the 80 or so grey stones in the fine red façade of one of the buildings symbolize the victims.
One victim’s son, who escaped, went into hiding and resurfaced to lead a Swedish revolt against the Danes. Three years later the Swedes elected that rebel Gustav Vasa, as their first king.
We wanted to sit for a while and it was lunch time. One of the restaurants on the square claimed to have the best meatballs in the old town so we thought we’d give them a go. I felt I couldn’t leave Sweden without having some Swedish meatballs. They were excellent!
We wandered back towards the metro along the narrow lanes and I found a Swedish Christmas decoration in one of the little shops.
We spent the afternoon resting and doing the repack before our long flying day tomorrow. We decided to eat in the hotel again tonight and we’re lucky to get a table, they were busy! We both had the Spice crusted sea bass. I couldn’t finish mine, still full of meatballs!
