Saturday spent strolling Stockholm islands and visiting dead Swedish royalty

May 14, 2022

Saturday spent strolling Stockholm islands and visiting dead Swedish royalty

14 May 2022.

Today we were determined to explore beyond the old town but staying within greater Stockholm. We left the hotel after breakfast and made our way across a footbridge we can see from our hotel rooms but which goes onto Gamla Stan at as slightly different angle from our regular walking route from Slussen.

We had barely crossed onto Gamla Stan than we were across onto Riddarholmen, "Knight's Isle." There was a permanently moored dining and hotel boat here as well as a number of governmental agency buildings. The big draw was the church, the burial place of Swedish nobility next to the statue of Birger Jarls, the alleged founder of Stockholm. Both occupy a lovely small and very peaceful square on the island.

The church began its spiritual career as the core of a Franciscan monastery in the 13th century. With the reformation, however, the Franciscans were deposed and much of the monastery torn down but the church remained and eventually became the burial place for Swedish kings and nobility.

the Torstensson crypt

tomb of Kristiern Nilsson (Vasa) and his wife Margareta Krummedike

As in Roskilde Cathedral (Denmark) the floor here is largely ledger stones some of which are quite remarkable.

Closest to the high altar are the sarcophagi of two medieval kings, Karl Knutson Bonde and Magnus Birgerrson. It was Birgersson who declared in 1285 that he wished to be buried in the church. It was at the initiative of Gustave II Adolf in 1629 that the church would be the royal burial site.

Bonde foreground, Birgersson behind him

From the church we made our way off the island and commenced our strolling with little purpose in mind other than seeing a part of Stockholm hitherto unrevealed to us.

two other travelers trying to find their way, I suppose

Eventually we stumbled upon a pedestrianized shopping area that seemed to go on forever, which eventually led us to the large tram hub and shopping space known as Gallerian, which in turn led us down to the lovely and very busy park Kungstradgarden.

It was here just on the fringe of the park that we settled in at one of the cafes for fika, a coffee and pastry break.

From the cafe we walked across onto the plaza and came across a small but unique collection of vendors touting wares and products from Gotland, Sweden: sheep wool, coffee, ice cream and chips (crisps).

Strolling down the edge of the park heading for the water (because water is seemingly everywhere here) we passed a Falun Gong drumming demonstration surrounded by canvassers explaining to anyone who would listen the bedrock of their philosophy.

But we moved on in search of yet another island to cross by foot. Passing the National Museum (key WC stop) we continued our walk across the bridge to Skeppsholmen. . .

A former naval base, Skeppsholmen now houses the museum of Modern Art as well as a permanently moored floating hostel in an old three-masted sailing ship (on the right in the photo below).

a view back to our hotel, roughly between those two cranes

From Skeppsholmen we crossed another bridge (of sorts) onto Kastelholmen, the "Citadel Island", where we were treated to some rather lovely views of the city. We were joined by several military vehicles with armed soldiers. (Probably part of the changing of the palace guard ceremony which had just happened.)

view over to Djurgården

With no more islands to conquer we made our way down to the ferry landing on Skeppsholmen back to Slussen and eventually our hotel.

Later that afternoon the four of us met up and walked down to the Slussen ferry a little after 5:00 pm (1700). We switched ferries at Djurgården and after a short wait eventually boarded the no. 80 for Nybroplan. We had dinner reservations at Riche in a neighborhood that seemed a bit riche indeed.

Anyway we strolled a bit before finding a place to have an aperitif. Directly behind the Royal Dramatic Theater was Frippe, a place that seemed to cater to the before-theater crowd but kindly seated us anyway.

statue of actress Margaretha Krook at one corner of the Royal Dramatic Theater

Riche restaurant

The restaurant was large, packed and extremely noisy but the food was delicious. For starters three of us had cold peel-n-eat shrimp (heads and all) while Richard opted for the duck paté. All four of us had the Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries and cucumbers on the side. For dessert Susie had sorbet, Richard had a parfait, Pauline had a poached rhubarb thing and I had a glass of port.