Stockholm, the city on islands! The grand capital city of Sweden has a really grand and unique location - on the archipelago of small islands leading from the inland lake Malaren out to the Baltic sea. Thus Stockholm is an island city in a country that otherwise has few islands. The city is absolutely full of ferries and bridges, and gaining a few metres anywhere seems to offer a view down to the water.
Stockholm is the biggest of the Scandinavian capitals, and the only major city in Scandinavia and in fact in all Europe, which was completely untouched by the second world war. It hence has an absolutely untouched city centre, unlike other major capitals where large portions have been rebuilt. The Gamla Stan or old town occupies a whole island of its own, full of cobblestone streets flying the Swedish blue-and-yellow flag. This area has what is apparently the narrowest lane in Europe!
A clear Midsummer day offers splendid vistas of Stockholm for many long hours, with the twilight stretching nearly to midnight, when the moon seems to hang brightly in a surprisingly pale sky, a delight offered only by northern latitudes.
Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, and hence comes with the full complement of the palace in the capital city and the ceremonial change of guard outside it.
A further must is the massive royal estate in the outskirts, which for Stockholm is the Drottningholm palace. The palace felt to me in principle similar in concept to other such estates like Versailles near Paris, Schönbrunn near Vienna, Windsor near London etc. The uniqueness of Drottningholm lies in that it lies on the shores of the convoluted lake Malaren, and can be approached from Stockholn centre directly by boat.
Stockholm is the heart and soul of Sweden, and like the whole country, it is large, open and friendly - a fabulous jewel of northern Europe.
