Stockholm

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12th July

Sweden

God Morgan from Stockholm





Cruising into Stockholm on a sunny morning is a delight.

It takes nearly 5 hours from when the pilot comes aboard to docking.

We approached the city through a string of 14 islands and inlets where the Baltic meets Lake Malaren.

At every inlet there are holiday chalets perched on the waters edge, some very basic and some more grand (if thats grammatically correct).





So if you cannot be bothered to get up to see the sights in the morning you can wait until sail away in the evening and do it the opposite way round.





The heart of the city is its medieval quarter the Gamla Stan and this is where we began our explorations.

We had a guide for the visit to the Royal Palace which is the principal building of Gamla Stan (Old Town).





The Palace has 608 rooms and as with all tourist cities you only catch a glimpse of the treasures that lie within.

We spent probably an hour or so being guided through the history of the Palace visiting a dozen or so rooms and passageways.

The Royal family still reside in the Palace.

We were then shown the main square within the Old Town, down to a street called Hell, apparently lots of murders and beheadings.





This is where we were left to explore the narrow old streets which is where you can get off the beaten track and get away from the crowds.

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