 |
| Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
BEING THAT this was not one of our long-planned (nor was it one of our best planned 😶) cruises, we didn't have a good plan for Stockholm. When we first finally booked this one, I did a fair amount of research on St. Petersburg, and bought Rick Steves' book on St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn. My research for Stockholm (and later Copenhagen) was mostly done on internet sites. And, frankly, other than Gamla Stan being another "Medieval" city, and the Riddarholmen Church looking promising, I didn't see a lot to excite me in Stockholm. Probably not fair, but it was what I found (or didn't). I would much rather have done our overnight in Copenhagen, personally. But I don't set the itineraries. Which is probably in everyone's best interest. 😀
 |
| Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
I THINK partly because we came late to the game on this one (we often have cruises planned around a year in advance), we couldn't really find a tour that seemed to work for us. On the second day (which had us getting back to the ship in the early afternoon anyway), we planned to join our friends, Mike and Elaine, for the ABBA Museum.
 |
| Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
THERE WAS a shuttle from our cruise dock to the center of the city. Based on maps, we could see that it was a reasonably short walk to the bridge crossing into Gamla Stan, so we jumped on the shuttle, and headed in that direction. My first impression was that Stockholm was different than any of the other stops we had visited on this cruise. It was bigger feeling. More grandiose. The buildings were built to be impressive, and they seemed to be newer ("new" being a relative term), many of them built in the 18th and 19th centuries.
 |
| Church Steeple from side street in Gamla Stan Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
TO ME, Gamla Stan was the biggest disappointment of the cruise. Unlike Tallin and Visby, the "medieval village" here was a mixed bag. There were, indeed, some very old buildings, and narrow, old, cobblestone streets. They were universally lined with (primarily) tourist shops. Lots of trinkets, plastic swords and horned helmets, and various tchotchke one might expect to find in a major tourist site. And wall-to-wall people walking around. There were some very tall buildings which might have yielded some nice (albeit difficult to achieve) photographs. But so many people. Very "Disney." We wanted to get away ASAP! There are some great sites in Stockholm. But I wouldn't recommend Gamla Stan on a crowded day.
 |
| View of the Riddarholmen Cathedral from Gamla Stan Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
INTERESTINGLY, IT was primarily the main streets that were mobbed. We did get a little better feel for the "old city" when we got off on some side streets. I was able to get a nice photo of the old church steeple from down one of those side streets.
 |
| The view back toward Gamla Stan from Riddarholmen Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
WE FARED better after we crossed over the canal again on the west, to Riddarholmen. We got a nice view of the Cathedral from Gamla Stan, as we approached it. And after crossing the bridge, the view back toward Gamla Stan, and the old Church, was actually quite photogenic.
 |
| Riddarholmen Cathedral from across the canal Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
RIDDARHOLMEN CATHEDRAL, and the island where it stands, was 180 degrees opposite. There was almost nobody there. Which was great from a photography - and observation standpoint. The approach across the bridge over the canal between Gamla Stan and Riddarholmen may have yielded the best view of the impressive structure and surrounds.
 |
| Riddarholmen Cathedral Stockholm, Sweden Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
THE CATHEDRAL stands in the middle of a broad, expansive plaza, which makes getting images of the full building possible. I liked the relative seclusion of the Riddarholmen Island. The image below gives a bit of the feel for such solitude in the middle of a very large, and very busy city. We found a few more interesting places, but I am sure a tour would have been more enlightening. If and when we return to Stockholm, we will surely try to find a tour - and to visit the ABBA museum. 😊After getting in our fill of walking, we returned to the shuttle, and ultimately the ship to rest up for the next day.
 |
| Stockholm as seen from Riddarholmen Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
BUT MOTHER nature threw a curveball at us. As we sat on the back of the ship with our cocktail, the captain interrupted our reverie over a cocktail with an important announcement. There had been high winds predicted for mid-day the following day. It would have been dangerous - if not impossible - to navigate the ship back up the narrow, winding Stockholm passage in high winds. Our options were to either leave early or be stuck in Stockholm for yet an additional day. The latter would mean missing Copenhagen. I doubt that had even really been considered. The captain announced that he had decided we would leave very early the next morning. So, we missed our second (albeit short) day in Stockholm, and - the Abba Museum. 😞 But of course: safety first!
It never even occurred to us to inform the ship of our plan and make arrangements to communicate in case of an emergency . . . We will now always notify the ship of our plans, including the hotel, applicable phone numbers and any other emergency contact information
YOU KNOW that drumbeat I keep making about learning something on every cruise? Here is one that, even after multiple cruises over multiple years, had never really occurred to me. In all of our cruises, we only actually stayed off the ship one time for an overnight. We were docked in LeHavre, some 2 1/2 hours from Paris, and we had an extra-long, overnight port stay. To make the most of our time, we booked a hotel in Paris and did not return to the port until time to board the second day. I expect there were quite a few of us in that "boat." It never even occurred to us to inform the ship of our plan and make arrangements to communicate in case of an emergency. But as we sat on the Apex this afternoon, contemplating the very early departure (something like 6:00 a.m., if memory serves me correctly), it occurred to me. What about those people who had booked an overnight stay in Stockholm! They obviously weren't on board to hear the announcement. What if? To the best of my knowledge, we did have all aboard when we departed Stockholm the next morning. But we will likely have additional off-ship overnight opportunities in the years to come. We will now always notify the ship of our plans, including the hotel, applicable phone numbers and any other emergency contact information that is pertinent. Something to think about!
 |
| Across the Passage from Stockholm from our Cruise Ship Berth Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
No comments:
Post a Comment