Uppsala and Stockholm: Min Sverige

My crazy May started with Berlin and after a day in Italy it kept spending some days in a cold but beautiful Sweden. Thanks to a very cheap flight I had a chance with a friend to see again but with a cold but sunny weather Stockholm but we also had time to visit Uppsala, nice city nearby Stockholm. So let's start our trip

Thursday

We arrived very late on Wednesday so early morning after we met my kind hosting friends Gustav and Magnus, we went straight to Central Station to get our train to Uppsala. The journey was very short like 45 minutes and the railways station is well located, walking distance to the center. Uppsala is only 76 km north from Stockholm but it was originally located a few kilometres to the north, at a location now known as Gamla Uppsala.

From the station, we moved to the center and the Fyris river (Fyrisån) neatly divides the city into two different parts: west part is more historical  compared to east part where business or administrative activities are located. The center of Uppsala is not big so half day is enough to have a look and we spent first hours walking around and having a yummy breakfast in the cosy Cafe Linné Hörnan.

Fyris river

After this, we had a walk along the river before reaching The Linnaeus Garden that was the first botanical garden in Sweden. Uppsala is quite lively city as its university is the oldest one in Sweden so it's worth to have a look at it too. The main and interesting building is the Uppsala Cathedral, biggest one in Sweden and most visible everywhere in the city. In the same square you can visit the oldest main university building called  Gustavianum and another tiny church.

We spent lunch together a friend in this creperie to remind my Brittany time and food was ok and it ended up with a delicious lemon pie. We had a fast look at the  university library, the largest in Sweden and we visited just outside the Uppsala Castle on the way to the botanical garden where we relaxed a bit under the sun. No time to visit Gamla Uppsala, the first settlement in this area.

It was not so late when we came back Stockholm so we had time to have a nice walk in Gamla Stan, the old part of the city that includes  nearby island  of Riddarholmen. We started from this tiny island: there are many beautiful palaces and main attraction is Riddarholmen Church. A statue of Birger Jarl, traditionally known as the founder of Stockholm, is standing on a pillar in front of the Bonde Palace north of the church with an amazing view.

We kept visiting the old town with its nice and small streets and many Cafes where to relax. We had a look at the Royal Palace, the cathedral and so on, very touristic area but if you're here for the first time it is worth.

Best way to close the day was to cook italian food for our friends accompanied by a good spanish wine.

Friday

We decided to visit Drottningholm Palace, Unesco Heritage and private residence of swedish royal family.

It's very easy to get there by public transport: just reach Brommaplan by subway then many buses go to Drottingholm. Around the palace  you can visit beautiful gardens where you can walk and relax along small rivers too. You can also visit the palace, a small theater and a chinese pavilion.

Best part of the trip is when I can live the city with local people: so in the afternoon we had a chance to meet my swedish friend Jessica and her sweet baby Frank. She showed us the district of Södermalm, now famous as  Lisbeth Salander and other characters in the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson live and work there. We walked inside the district and she suggested great places where to spend our night out. It is a mix of cultures where you can find a yummy cheese bread from Turkey or a gelato from the first italian ice-cream shop. We visited the norwegian church with its famous read houses around before reaching Slussen.

From Slussen you can have a walk along Götgatan, the main road of this borough and you can see Skatteskrapan, previous office of Tax Board and now students apartments. From there we had a detour to visit Monteliusvägen where you have a great walk with beautiful view of the city. To reach this place you will pass through a very nice district, full of old houses, steep hills and cobble stoned streets.

Time to say bye to my friend, awesome tour of this area so we decided to spend the night here after some relax at home. We came back for dinner and you tasted typical swedish food with lots of local people at pelikan restaurant. We ate too much so we decided to walk back Monteliusvägen to take some night pics with this amazing view. We spent rest of the night dancing at kvarnen, multi-ethnic place but you can visit many other bars like sodrateatern or petsoundsbar. Time to go to bed not before meeting our hosting friends in the subway going back home at same time :))

Last Day

We didn't have so much time so we went back Slussen where you can eat a traditional swedish fast food: fried herring on crisp bread at Nystekt Strömming. The classic, and very Swedish, main attraction is the “knäckis”—fried herring with cucumber and red onions on hard bread, called “knäckebröd” in Swedish.

From Slussen we got a a ferry to a sharp visit to the island of  Djurgården, beautiful views on the way. In the island you have nice bars where to relax but you can also visit Vasa museum, a maritime museum displaying the only intact 17th century ship. There's an aquarium too and the amusement park of Gröna Lund. If you have time you can also visit the open air museum and zoo of Skansen or just relax walking in the park or in the old village of  Djurgården.

Time went by fast so we took back ferry to go to the Central Station to get our airport bus, just few minutes to eat some cinnamon pastries and say Vi ses snart Stockholm...