Swedish sojourn
They came, they saw, they conquered – now we should return the favour
SCANDINAVIAN Airlines used to have a very nifty slogan: ‘SAS,’ it proclaimed grandly. ‘Navigators to the world since it was flat.’
Just over 1,000 years ago the population of this neck of the woods ran amok and terrorised Europe. However, although they weren’t the most subtle of colonisers, these axe-wielding Norsemen laid down the first part of the Swedish empire, which at one time stretched all the way to Saint Barts in the Caribbean.
But the path of world domination never did run smoothly, and today in Stockholm a truly wonderful example of this can be witnessed at the Vasa Museum.
The museum is named after the almost perfectly preserved warship on show inside. In 1628, the top-heavy ship sank in the harbour on its maiden voyage. I can’t explain why this happened, as I’m not an expert in marine engineering — but then, it seems, neither were the people who built the Vasa.
Gazing at the boat on a beautiful autumn afternoon I felt a strong bond between myself and the unknown Swedish boat designer.
As a young lad had I not sent countless numbers of my own designed sailing boats to their doom? Consigned thousands of toy sailors to an early, watery grave due to my inability to grasp the basic principles of marine science.
I felt strangely uplifted by the Vasa and its failure to get beyond the harbour wall.
I had one last admiring glance at this most beautiful failure, and with spirits greatly buoyed up (if that’s not an unfortunate metaphor) headed for my next port of call (ditto), the Nordic Museum.
Here you’ll find more evidence of the Vikings’ attempts at world domination, plus a whole floor dedicated to the Sami, the indigenous people of Lapland, and of course a wing concerned with the work of August Strindberg.
Playwright, novelist and father of modern drama, Strindberg painted such a gloomy a picture of the human condition that he makes Beckett look like a stand-up comedian.
But listen. You don’t have to spend all your time indoors, ruminating on the extraordinary behaviour of the Vikings or the deeper side of the Swedish soul.
Stockholm is without doubt one of the most beautiful cities in the world — a third of the metropolis is woodland, a third water and a third a mass of handsome buildings.
The archipelago of Stockholm is made up of 24,000 islands as Sweden crumbles into the Baltic, and the islands begin in the centre of Stockholm.
A boat trip would seem an essential part of any visit, and a wide variety beckons. You can take a trip through Lake Mälaren to Sweden’s oldest town, Birka, and expose
yourself to some more Viking history. Or perhaps enjoy a trip downstream to
Drottningholm, the 17th century royal residence on the lakeside.
I instead opted for a onehour Royal Canal tour. And before you break into the Brendan Behan songs, this canal bears not even a passing resemblance to Dublin’s channel. Stockholm’s watery thoroughfare begins along the beautiful canal of Djugarden before passing under some 15 bridges. As the canal opened out to sea and past the Vasa museum I fervently hoped that the gentleman who had designed the Vikings’ answer to the Titanic had nothing to do with the design of our boat. But, of course, no need to worry.
Back on dry land, a preprandial stroll was just the thing. Nowhere better than the Gamla Stan, the city’s mediaeval heart. (‘Gamla Stan’ is Swedish for ‘old town’, and I expect ‘Stan’ is the old bit, but not sure.) Sadly, I missed the department store where Greta Garbo once sold hats.
Gamla Stan was the site of the original settlement of Stockholm, around 1250.
Today the centre of Stockholm is a mass of handsome buildings: palaces, churches, mansions and houses crammed tightly on to the island. It’s not all cobbled alleyways and halftimbered houses and pubs. Sandwiched in between all the designer shops (think Paris or Milan) is the Nobel Museum, where you can learn all about local boy Alfred Nobel’s achievements, and also the ground-breaking ideas and discoveries of the other Nobel laureates.
If you’re looking for a classy destination which doesn’t cost the earth, and where the locals are friendly and sophisticated, head north.
The Swedes should award themselves the Nobel Prize for Weekend Breaks.