We landed on Arlanda's Stockholm Airport an took the shuttle to the Central Station where we walked about 20 mins to our hostel Archipelago in Gamla Stan, the most old and touristic part of Stockholm.
After settling in we headed for lunch at Grillska Husset where we went crazy about the müsli and the variety of bread. Personally I couldn't stop staring at the ceiling.
And we went to explore the city. We where in mid-May and the weather was cold on the first day, but the next ones where all sunny ones!
When we found this beautiful tree and a Chinese girl asked us to take a picture of her, then she wanted to take a picture with me and in return she took a picture of us. She was quite a stylist by telling us how to pose and even to pull that tree branch closer to my face so we could have a picture "like inside the tree". We had so much fun in this situation and she was having a laugh too!
Walking on Biblioteksgatan street we entered the most amazing Urban Outfitters store I've ever seen. It was and old cinema converted into store on 2006. The chandelier was a spectacle by itself and the ceiling -again with the ceilings!- a true masterpiece.
One clever thing we did, was to rent city bikes for three days- you can rent them at every 7-Eleven or Pressbyrån.
Stockholm is a big city and if you have little time, lots to see and a budget to stick to -like we did- the city bikes are great to go around the city faster and maybe you get to tone your legs a little.
The city has great bike lanes and they are not as crowded as in Copenhagen or Amsterdam, so you'll do fine.
When I organized this trip, Scandinavia was the main part of it. I feel really attracted to the Scandinavian culture and the ships and expeditions they organized to get to know their territory or to fight for their lands, so we went to visit the Vasamuseet, located in the island of Djurgården. The museum displays the fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, this warship Vasa sank on her first trip in 1628 in the harbour and stayed there for centuries before it was lifted. The story is very well explained from that time to today and how they manage to preserve the boat intact.
Whenever I'm visiting a new city or country I love to go to the local market to find out more about the local cuisine. We went for lunch at the Östermalm Saluhall Market located in the Östermalmtorg (square). We found everything from vegetables and fruit, chocolates, meat, fish and shellfish to cheeses. Everything was elegantly displayed with no bad smell in the air, which I really appreciate when going to this places -for me: if it's smells, something's wrong-.
And we kept on exploring this amazing city.
I love flowers!!
My pretty sister, Florencia.
Till we got to this farm/greenhouse/organic market on the top of the hill on the island of Djurgården. This kind of places remind me when I lived in the south of Chile and my dad owned a greenhouse.
One day, we went for lunch to Vigårda. I can't recommend this place enough. I loved everything from the food and the ordering system to the decoration and the wide restroom. Located next to the Östermalmtorg metro station in Mäster Samuelgatan street, you can find delicious burgers made with high quality ingredients. And the neighborhood is full of stylish stores.
This city is one of my favorites and I hope this travel guide will help some of you!
XX,
Carolina.
