Stockholm (Norway & Sweden 2015, Part V)

Hey everyone! Rita & André here. Last, but not least, here is the final post of our trip to Norway & Sweden in the summer of 2015. We flew in from Oslo late in the afternoon and arrived at the airport in Stockholm at about 8pm. We had booked an apartment for 4 nights at Airbnb and that was where we were first headed, so we could drop our lugagge and head back out for a quick dinner. Our apartment was right in the center of Södermalm, an island in central Stockholm that is most commonly described as the trendy, relaxed and creative district. We definitely got that feeling as soon as we emerged from the subway in Södermalm. Our apartment was in the 14th floor and it had an amazing view of the city.

It was 22pm by then and we were starving hungry so we grabbed the first vegetarian meal we could find, which was a falafel pita in a tiny döner-kebab restaurant. We strolled around for a while, explored the streets immediately close to our apartment and bought a few supplies for breakfast at a nearby 7-eleven. We went to bed rather early that night (and every other night, for that matter) and made sure we got a good night's sleep. We planned our itinerary tucked in bed and made a list of all the places we wanted to visit (mostly cafés and restaurants, all suggested by Green Kitchen Stories' Stockholm guide).

We woke up the next morning, fixed ourselves a quick breakfast in our apartment and headed outside. It was a hot, sunny day in Stockholm and we started the day by walking up the main street, Götgatan. Immediately we fell in love with all the hip design stores, trendy cafés and funky little shops. We went straight towards Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm, which is located in another island. We roamed through the old streets, which somewhat resembled spanish quarters with all its yellows, oranges and terracottas. We had the chance of witnessing the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace, which was way more entertaining that it should have been (we couldn't help but think of the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show!).

Our tummies started growling so it was time for the first stop in our Green Kitchen Stories' suggested food itinerary. We headed straight back to Götgatan and into the bakery Fabrique. We had a hard time trying to refrain from buying ALL the bread and ALL the sweet rolls, so we stuck with the basics and bought a sourdough baguette, a green olive sourdough loaf and a couple of swedish cardamom rolls (and yes, we ate it all in a matter of a few hours). 

We left the bakery with a bag full of bread and found our way to the famous Fotografiska, the museum for contemporary photography. We must have spent like 3 hours in there, and 2 hours alone just absorbing every single photograph and video from Inez & Vinoodh's exhibit.

After we left the museum, we went to Akki Sushi and had the veggie menu (aka the best vegan sushi we've ever had in our lives!) for late lunch. We spent the whole afternoon exploring SoFo's shop and cafés. SoFo is the hip and trendy district in Stockholm, and it's basically where every single cool thing in the world lives. We stopped by Matapoteket and stuffed whatever space we had left in our tummies with cold-pressed organic juices and raw energy balls. We were so happy to be eating great vegan food we felt like crying tears of joy. You would think we'd had enough food by then, but our food itinerary was only getting started. We went to the indian restaurant Shanti for dinner that night and ate so many great vegan indian food, we ended up rolling out of the restaurant with big smiles stamped on our faces.

On the next day we had planned to visit the Hornstulls Marknad, which a hip flea market that takes place every sunday on the western bank of Södermalm. We left our apartment and headed to the market, on foot. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and once we did, we sat by the beach, took a breather and shared an açaí bowl from Tanto Juice Bar.

It is amazing how swedish people truly make the most of their cities' green spaces and tiny beaches during the summer. There were hundreds of people in their bathing suits, sunbathing and diving in the ocean by the docks. We wandered around and explored everys single one of the stalls and corners of the market. There was a wide variety of food trucks present, so we shared and Indian veggie wrap from these guys and a spicy veggie and rice platter (from a food truck whose name we cannot recall).

We were secretly wishing we would just stay at the beach and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. But we still had so many things to explore that we decided to get up and start walking back to the center of Södermalm. We headed to the docks in Slussen and jump on the ferry to Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm where many museums, galleries, historical buildings and monuments can be found. It is also the home to the Gröna Lund amusement park.

We roamed around the island and headed to the Vasa Museum, where the almost fully intact 17th century warship Vasa is displayed. We were told to visit this museum by Henrique, a fellow traveler from Brazil who we'd met during our stay in Odda. What's most impressive about this ship, even more so than it's state of preservation, is the fact that it actually sunk a few minutes after the departing on its maiden voyage, in 1628. It was salvaged in 1961 and is now one of Stockholm's main tourist attractions.

After spending a few hours exploring every nook and corner of the museum, we headed back to Södermalm and had dinner at the lovely bistro Bananas. We treated ourselves to a bottle of wine and sat in the restaurant just enjoying the good vibes. We call it a day and went back to our apartment.

The next morning we woke up to a rainy, gloomy Stockholm. It was our last full day before coming home to Portugal and we were sort of disappointed with the fact that it was raining, but we were not about to waste a full day. We had breakfast at the most awesome café we've ever been to, Pom & Flora. We spent all morning shopping for souvenirs for our loved ones and afterwards we headed north to Östermalm. We hadn't explored this part of the city yet. It is one of the wealthiest and most populated districts in Stockholm and it's got a personality of its own. We had lunch at Blueberry Lifestyle and wandered through the streets but the rain was so intense decided it was time to head back to our apartment. On our way back we noticed all the sightseeing tour boats at the docks and thought, what the hell, let's go for it. It was super expensive, but at least we were sheltered from the rain and got to know a bit more of the city. It was our last day, after all.

For dinner that night, we opted for another restaurant from our list, the lovely Chutney.

On the morning of our departure we left the apartment and had breakfast at Espressino before we took one final long look at the views of the city. We said our goodbyes and headed to the station where we boarded the train to the airport.

We hope you've enjoyed reading our adventures as much as we enjoyed living them. Here is the video André edited for the whole trip.