From plans dusted off from 2020 we finally got to visit Stockholm and the islands of the Archipelago.

The Stockholm Archipelago comprises some 30,000 islands along a 120 km north / south axis and extends approximately 80 km eastwards into the Baltic Sea.

Those familiar with crime fiction and the genre of Nordic Noir film and TV series will, no doubt, expect Scandinavia to be little more than a hotbed of grisly murders and gloomy light. Well, all I can say is that during our visit we did not encounter a single murder and the sun shone from a cloudless blue sky for approximately 18 hours a day.

Our original plan had involved staying a couple of days in Stockholm and to spend the rest of the time island hopping. It became apparent that this was going to be quite difficult logistically and so we revised our thinking and began looking for a base out of the city centre (handily central but also quite noisy with nightlife and traffic).

We opted for an hotel on one of the islands on the Stockholm Inlet, a short ferry ride to the Stockholm waterfront, a choice that suited us perfectly. It was idyllic to sit out on a warm summers evening watching the boats and the setting sun paint the sky all colours from palest apricot to fiery red.

The ferry boats around the inner Archipelago operate like buses, hop on hop off, very frequent and relatively inexpensive. Buses are also available but who wouldn’t prefer to take a boat and so following a short walk to the ferry stop at Nacka Strand we were soon on our way into the city.

We had planned an initial itinerary but our first priority was to book tickets for the “must do” activities, for us this involved getting to explore the islands of the Inner and Outer Archipelago. Tickets secured we set off to explore the centre on foot.

After a stop for Fika (coffee and a cinnamon bun (Kanelbullen)), overlooking the City Hall, we crossed to Riddarholmen and the old city of Gamla Stan. The iconic images of Stockholm always feature the ancient coloured buildings around Stortorget. As expected, the square was very busy, not a place to linger, so on to find an opportunity to rest weary paws. Lunch was taken on Skeppsbron, looking out on a particularly lovely stretch of the Stockholm waterfront, blue sky, sunshine, sparkling water and tall ships.

Looking across the inlet is the island of Djurgården, the green heart of Stockholm. Accessed at its western end by a bridge from Strandvägen, it is very much part of the city, home to the Nordic museum, the Vasa museum, the huge open air museum of Swedish life, Skansen, the ABBA museum and a theme park, Gröna Lund.

Eastwards the island becomes much greener and more residential (at a price!). Later we will walk the length of Djurgården, from the city to the ferry stop opposite our hotel.

Today we take the ferry for that single stop to Blockhusudden on Djurgården. Our destination is to see an unusual piece of public art called Gravitational Ripples, inspired by a cosmic phenomenon known as gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein as early as in 1916, but first measured by scientists in 2016. Gravitational waves arise when two celestial bodies orbit each other, spinning closer and closer together, unleashing energy so powerful that it creates ripples in spacetime itself. The memorial conveys this, pulsating movement of the universe, realised in a series of concentric grass covered mounds. The approaching celestial bodies are represented by 2 bronze memorials to commemorate the tsunami which hit Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004. As a result a quarter of a million people lost their lives, of which 543 were Swedish citizens. In connection with the 10 year anniversary of the tsunami, the relatives of many of those Swedish citizens have now consented to the engraving of the victim’s names on these bronze structures. It is a very moving memorial.

An early start today with a ferry ride into Stockholm to connect with the boat which will be taking us into the Archipelago. We will travel to the furthest reaches of the Outer Archipelago to the small island of Sandhamn.

We are fans of the Swedish author, Viveca Sten, who has written a series of novels billed as “The Sandhamn Murders”. She paints a very different picture of Stockholm and the Archipelago, to that portrayed by Steig Larsson in the “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” series, for example. That said we are hugely looking forward to today’s adventure.

We set out on the 3 hour journey to Sandhamn under a cloudless blue sky and after leaving the Stockholm inlet we weave a scenically winding route through the many islands, passing under bridges, through canals and across vast tracts of open water.

We had originally tried to make this trip all about island hopping, but we soon realised that this wasn’t a thing. It came as some surprise to find that many of the islands are actually connected by a winding road network from Stockholm. Whilst some of the smaller islands have summer cottages, their owners typically have their own boats and they tend not to be on the ferry routes..

As we journey further from Stockholm so the nature of the islands began to change, perhaps not surprisingly the closer more accessible islands were more populous. The accessibility even making permanent living in the Inner Archipelago a realistic possibility with sizable communities, apartment blocks, and access to all of the amenities and utilities. Further out and we begin to enter “Summer Cottage” territory, although there is little “cottagey” about some of the mansions! During the brief warm summer period these islands are lush and verdant, happy families embrace outdoor living, children are boating, swimming and enjoying life but the presence of hydraulic boat lifts on their private jetties tells a story that during the long winter months the water freezes solid and these Summer residences are closed up and shuttered against the brutal sub Arctic weather, so difficult to imagine today.

We eventually pass through the Stromma Canal. This short canal runs parallel to the Svanvägen Road and forms a narrow and shallow connection across Värmdö Island, joining two fjards together, thereby allowing a short cut and safer route from Stockholm to the outer Archipelago, Sandhamn and Runmarö. A lifting canal road overbridge allows for the passage of larger powered boats and yachts across the Stavnäsvägen Road.

The canal gives way to a broader channel but we are still passing through the island of Värmdö, to the South is the port of Stavsnäs, the year round ferry terminal servicing the outer islands whilst to the North is the huge Bullandö Marina (1400 moorings).

Leaving Värmdö behind we enter The Outer Archipelago, very different to what we have left behind, generally Summer residences are fewer, the islands are less populous, rockier and less verdant. We enter a large expanse of open water, sheltered in the Summer months and ideal for leisure boating and yacht racing, but very exposed during the Winter. We pass Runmarö to the South and soon enter the Sandhamn channel and dock in the delightful harbour of Sandhamn.

Our time on the island was limited but it was fascinating to see the locations described so vividly in the Sandhamn novels. After a picnic lunch on the rocks at Dansberget looking out to the island of Korso (formerly a training base for the Swedish special forces) we found the beach at Skärkarlshamn for a photo op and a chance to cool off in the Baltic (brackish and weedy), then back to the harbour for the return boat to Stockholm.

Visitors to Stockholm cannot fail to notice the hype surrounding The Vasa, a 64 gun warship, commissioned by King Gustavus Adolphus in 1625. At Gustav’s insistence an extra gun deck was added, making the ship dangerously unstable. The ship was launched in 1628 and a gust of wind during the ceremony, caused the ship to capsize and sink, into deep water, close to the city, just off the island of Djurgården.

The hulk was discovered in the 1960s and raised from the seabed. The combination of burial in anaerobic mud and brackish water meant that the ships timbers did not succumb to shipworm or biological decay and a virtually intact ship was raised from the seabed.

A decades long process of preservation ensued and a dedicated museum was opened in the 1990s. Central to the museum is the actual ship itself, analysis of the timbers reveals traces of gold leaf and paint pigments hinting at the decoration she carried when built. A model has been built and painted, using these materials to show what she might have looked like when launched. The whole museum is quite simply stunning! It is genuinely the most impressive and interesting museum of its sort that I have ever seen.

Another day in the Archipelago, today we venture to Vaxholm a large island North of our route to Sandhamn so we do get to see a different part of the Inner Archipelago. Close to Stockholm and accessible by road, Vaxholm is very much an island of year round residents and commuters.

Point of interest for the scientists out there…Vaxholm is close to the island of Resarö and the town of Ytterby. A part time chemist by the name of Carl Axel Arrenhius was investigating the black mineral called Gadolinite (also called Ytterbite) being mined there and discovered 4 new Elements, classified as Rare Earth elements they are all named after this place and are Yttrium (Y), Terbium (Tb), Erbium (Er) and Ytterbium (Yb). Remarkably three other Lanthanide elements Holmium (Ho), Thulium (Tm) and Gadolinium (Gd) can also trace their discovery to the same mine.

Our final day, a last ferry ride to Djurgården and a visit to Skansen, an open air museum, on a 75 acre site, of Swedish folk culture, opened in 1891. It was always intended to show the way of life in different parts of pre-industrial Sweden from the Skogaholm Manor house built in 1680, a traditional Lutheran Church and a collection of 16th century Älvros Farmhouses. The Bredablick Tower is a 30 metre high tower, built of brick in 1874-76, on the present site, as part of a spa complex for King Oscar II.

Leaving the Skansen site at the Western end of Djurgården, rather than take the ferry back immediately we wanted to take a closer look at the houses and green spaces on the island so decided to walk back Eastwards to Blockhusudden and catch the ferry for the one stop to cross the inlet back to Nacka Strand, for a closer look at the Riesensteinköpfe heads…a public Art installation, modelled on the Moai statues on Easter Island.