Discovering Stockholm: Gamla Stan

Matt and I walked to Gamla Stan, Old Town, three times during our stay in Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla Stan is Stockholm’s original city center. It’s located on Stadsholmen Island. Most of the buildings are from the 1600s and 1700s.

The first time we visited, I wasn’t sure we were in the right spot. Things didn’t appear how I imagined after reading Rick Steve’s Snapshot Stockholm guide. After visiting the second time, we knew we were where we wanted to be. By the third time, I was brave enough to snap some pictures. The cold and damp made me hesitant to take my warm gloves off. Each day we were greeted with temperatures hovering around 30°F. Oh, and the wind! Some days it was quite sharp, but this day it was calm.

Statue of Charles XIV Johan in the Square in front of the Royal Palace.

View from the Square.

The front of the Royal Palace is being renovated and is covered in plastic. We peeked inside and were welcomed by this stunning entryway.

The back of the palace.

We visited an antique store and purchased souvenirs from a few of the other shops. I wished I would have bought one of these Pippi Longstocking dolls for myself. Granddaughter has the doll now and seems to like her too! I hope she guards it well! 😉

It was fun to walk about the well-cared for cobblestone streets and see the beautiful buildings.

On our way back to the hotel, we ran into Nordy, the Minnesota Wild Hockey Team’s mascot.

What a great photo op! Then, we had to get going, because the game was about to start.

Our walk back took us closer to this bay in the Baltic Sea.

Next stop: Two museums and a park.

Everything great that ever happened in this world
happened first in somebody’s imagination.” ~Astrid Lindgren,
Author of Pippi Longstocking