Stockholm

Stockholm, Sweden

Quick facts:

Founded in 1252

Capital of Sweden

Region: located on Sweden's SE coast, stretching over 14 islands surrounded by the Baltic Sea.

Population: 871,952 (2011)

Language: Swedish and English

Currency: Krona (SEK)

Stockholm is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is often called the "Venice of the North".

Our day in Stockholm was short.... all on board by 1.30pm for a 2pm sailaway.

We were off the ship nice and early and thought the best way to maximise our time on land was to take the HOHO bus from just outside the ship.

We decided to do the circuit until the Vasa Museum then get off and checkout the museum. The museum was very interesting. We spent a good 60 to 90 minutes there which included watching an excellent documentary of how they retrieved the ship from the bottom of the ocean back in the 1960s (the ship had been lost underwater for over 300 years) and also a free guided tour in English.

The next plan was to pick up the HOHO bus and complete the circuit. The theory was good but the buses were few and far between! The buses were supposed to come every 10 to 15 minutes.... we waited for 45 minutes and none had come! About 6 buses of their competitors had though! As someone said we were sold the budget version!

By the time our bus cam time was of the essence so we decided to stay on the bus and get off back at the ship which effectively completed the full circuit. This proved to be quite stressful as the bus took a diversion to another port to where other cruise ships were which added extra time. We had 5 minutes before our curfew and we still had 2 bus stops to go!! There were other people from our ship on board too which made us feel a little bit better. We arrived at the port gates.... still a distance from the ship at 1.35pm!! Our stress levels were abated when we saw the massive line up of people waiting to get back on the ship. We even had time to look in the shop and use the free wifi in the terminal.

Obviously it was a late sailaway and the Captain now had to gun it to get back to Copenhagen in time for all the Americans flying home on a 9am flight. Not sure I agree that our day in Stockholm was made short so an amount of passengers can make their flight. Apparently it also has something to do with the long approach into Stockholm.... I think it takes about 3 hours or more and their was some concern about light. Not sure how that worked because it was still light at 10pm!

Thankfully a sea day tomorrow to pack up our things and think about our next adventure!

Stockholm in depth will have to wait to another visit....

The Vasa Museum - built to house the 226 foot long warship that sank on its maiden voyage in the middle of Stockholm in 1628 (rumoured to be because the hull should have been 1m wider!)

The back of the ship that was equivalent to 4 stories high

Replicas of how the figures at the back of the ship were originally painted

The dive chamber where divers stood to get the air caught in the top so that they could attach ropes to the canons while the ship was under water as the canons were worth more than the ship! Out of 69 canons 66 were retrieved this way and the other 3 were bought up with the ship.