Royal Palace & Old Town vibes

Stockholm, Sweden, is one of the world’s prettiest cities all year round.

This Nordic capital rests on 14 islands in the Baltic Sea on Sweden’s east coast.

Connected by tons of picturesque bridges, the city sprawls out from its historic center and boasts plenty of interesting attractions for visitors. Unfortunately, this beautiful spot is also one of Europe’s most expensive cities(so plan ahead)..

We always make sure we eat a hearty meal at our hotel before we venture out. And we also prefer to cook our dinners at our Hotel Apartment.

Today(Saturday 04.12.) we decided to explore Stockholm central, the Royal Palace and Old town. I suggest to best come here over 2 days as there is just so much to see.

The weather was pretty cold and if you decide to visit Sweden in December, make sure you are geared up for the weather which can hit minus degrees temperatures.

Since there is about only 6 hours or so of daylight in December, we left our Apartment hotel in the morning after breakfast. The City bus stops every 15 minutes nearby so we headed into Central Stockholm. Here we walked and explored our surroundings for most of the day.

Explore The Old Town Of Gamla Stan

Stockholm’s cobblestoned Old Town is known as Gamla Stan. Besides charming architecture, souvenir shops, and restaurants, the area is home to both the Royal Palace and the Stockholm cathedral.

Gamla Stan is where the city of Stockholm was founded in 1252, and it’s one of the largest and best preserved medieval city centres in Europe. We enjoyed a warm gluehwein here and just strolling(even though it was starting to get bitter cold).

Today, it’s a popular tourist stop.

Royal Palace

Welcome to one of the largest palaces in Europe!

The Royal Palace is the official residence of His Majesty the King of Sweden, with over 600 rooms.

The Palace is open to the public and offers no less than five museums.

The Palace was largely built during the eighteenth century in the Italian Baroque style, on the spot where the “Tre Kronor” castle burned down in 1697. Visit the reception rooms with splendid interiors from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Rikssalen (the Hall of State) with Queen Kristina’s silver throne, and Ordenssalarna (Halls of the Orders of Chivalry). You can also see Gustav III’s Museum of Antiquities, the Tre Kronor Museum, and the Treasury.

The Royal Palace also contains the Armory, with royal costumes and armor, as well as coronation carriages and magnificent coaches from the Royal Stable. Make sure not to miss

the parade of soldiers and the daily changing of the guard.

Around 15h30 it was almost dark so we headed back to our hotel accommodation where we prepared a delicious dinner of potatoes and mince with mushrooms, peppers and garlic sauce. Seeing how playful and laughingly my daughter was moving around the apartment while I finished writing this, I will say we all had a good day(counting out the Cold:))