Greetings from Stockholm, the capital of Scandinavia! We have been enjoying ourselves in this absolutely beautiful city for the past week or so. I have so much to tell you in the next few posts, but for now, this lovely postcard from Stockholm will have to do :-). We left Seville about 10 days ago. Our first stop was to Madrid, one of our favorite cities ever. Our visit was only for one day, but we managed to cram lots of sightseeing into that day.
I for one had no idea what to expect of Stockholm. It has totally blown me away. I expected it to be like Copenhagen, but nope..a whole different enchilada. Fourteen different islands make up this immense city, and while there are similarities, the Baltic sea makes this city humongous compared to Copenhagen, at least to me. We have had a chance to enjoy some of the local food such as Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce (delicious!) and a variety of fish. I was also delighted to see that this city is chock full of sushi joints. We have been gorging ourselves on sushi, so much so..l think l could live here (another place!).
In the next few posts, l will share:
- How to spend a day in Madrid
- A lovely stay at the Djuronaset Hotel in the Stockholm archipelago. You can search hotel information here.
- My ride in a tiny Submarine (a working 4 person max vessel)
- Our first ever stay in a hostel and of course my thoughts on that
- Our visit to the amazing Stockholm City Hall. This is where they hold the Nobel Prize dinner yearly by the way. The space is stunning to put it mildly.
- The food of course. I definitely can’t forget that :-). I know there are a ton of foodies out there. We are hoping to do a food tour and if it happens, l will feature it.
We will be in Stockholm for a few more days, then it’s on to Rome to visit Federico’s family. Lots of good food and drink for sure. Federico has not stopped planning his menu for the days there.. Every day, l have to listen to talk of pizza, cornetti, Buffalo mozzarella and gnocchi. To make matters worse, or better depending on what side you’re on, we will also visit Bologna, a city famous for its cuisine. It will be a first for me in Bologna and l am definitely looking forward to the food, especially spaghetti bolognese. We’ll see if it matches the Ragu in the jar 🙂 :-).
Related Reading: What to see and do in Stockholm
One fun fact about the city hall tower. Thanks to the rivalry with Copenhagen whose city hall tower stands at 105 meters, the architect built Stockholm’s tower to be 106 meters! I find that funny :-). Childish, but funny!!! I know this has turned out to be “postcards” instead of postcard from Stockholm, but l could not resist adding a couple more images to the post. This city is just so photogenic. I can definitely understand the affinity that people have for it. I feel the love myself.
How has your summer been so far? Is there lots of food involved with the holidays? Are you a big fan of Italian food? If yes, what food would you like me to eat on your behalf in Rome or Bologna? (If you prefer, l can make it Swedish food). I will do and report back, as long as it’s not gnocchi. I hate that with a passion! and you couldn’t pay me to eat it! 🙂
I have always wanted to go to Sweden. It looks like a great place to visit. The Swedish meatballs sound so good. I love Italian food, so eat some ravioli, lasagna, sphaghetti and garlic bread for me:-)
You got it! All that food l can, and will eat on your behalf :-). It really is beautiful around here..costly, but beautiful :-). For sure you would like it.
Kemkem… Are you at TBEX? It’s in Stockholm. We signed up but decided not to fly over from Ireland. Dang! (The Nobel Prize hall was one of the pre-trip options we had signed up for. Need to get there!)
Yes, we were! We really enjoyed the sessions we attended. The speakers were more transparent if that makes sense. I learned a whole lot. It would have been awesome to meet you, guess l’ll have to keep stalking you till we meet :-). I so enjoyed the visit to the city hall, lovely in there and l pictured myself receiving my peace prize too ;-).
Hey, if guys are competitive about the size of their junk any wonder that cities competitive about the size of their towers?
Nice to hear you’re enjoying Stockholm. I guess you’re there for the TBEX? Hope you get gossip for when we meet you in person 🙂
I enjoyed Bologna, I think you’ll like. Dare you to go up that tower Kemkem….
Frank (bbqboy)
Yes, it was TBEX. You guys and your peccadilloes ..haha! Not surprised at all, even though l would have built it like 10 meters higher or something..just in case the other side got a pointy hat or something to put on top of theirs ;-). We are the ultimate boring people as we skipped parties and especially after parties.. I have to search for some gossip for you then.. ;-). For sure not climbing the tower. No, thank you! it’s all about the food 🙂 :-).
One day I’ll take blogging more seriously and will go to a TBEX. Would be interesting meeting some of the bloggers we’ve also seen/read in blogs.
Yeah..that’s the best part. The day after the conference, we went out and ended up meeting one of the guys who had given a breakout session and his flight back home to Istanbul had been canceled. We had such a wonderful evening with him, the nicest guy ever. It was also fun meeting other bloggers. That’s what it’s all about too..meeting good people 🙂
Man oh man! Jave and I have had our eye on Stockholm for upcoming travels later this year because the fares are so great. I’d love to see how different it is from Copenhagen. Looking forward to your upcoming posts. Glad that Federico will soon get to soothe his homesickness through his belly. Can’t wait to see what you guys eat! 🙂
Yeah, it will be nice to have his homesickness soothed for sure. If l hear about the giant pizza one more time, l am going to scream :-). Stockholm is so, so pretty, probably one of the most picturesque places l have ever been. Boy, l thought Copenhagen was pricey, but here is insanely so! Maybe the fare price might offset the costs..maybe.
You have a packed schedule and I hope that you will have a great time from now on too. Can’t wait for the new articles, I have to prepare myself well for the food articles 🙂 And since I have never stayed in a hostel either, I am really curious about how that turned out! Have fun!
Haha! Yes, prepare yourself for the food :-)! It’s going to be crazy for the next few weeks but l am looking forward to it, especially hanging out with my MIL who is such a wonderful woman. He intends to eat till he explodes he says while l will watch and laugh and eat. Thanks for the cheers..
Having just returned home from a trip to Copenhagen (loved, loved. loved) I am itching to visit its big sister, Stockholm, soon. We’ll have to start saving if it’s MORE expensive than Copenhagen! OMG the pastries! And your talk of all the other deliciousness, past and future has me drooling big time. (I may never have the motivation to count calories again in Europe and it sounds like traveling with Federico would throw that idea out the window anyway! 😀 ) We’ll have to trade letters or Skype one of these days about your TBEX experience. We have yet to attend but it sounds like it might be worth the time and effort. Continue on your merry way and keep sending postcards!
Skype?? what are you talking about? We plan on imposing on you pretty soon..very soon in fact! :-). Aren’t you sorry you brought it up? Haha!!! Really, counting calories with Federico is completely useless, and his mom is worse :-). I’m so glad you loved Copenhagen! You would love it here too, but yeah..you have to start saving now. It is much more expensive!!! It is also impossible not to fall in love with this place..impossible. It is so pretty! Big and pretty! Can’t wait to read about your visit 🙂
Summer? What summer? I love that we mostly have lovely weather during the year but the past 2 months in Nairobi have been really cold (by my standards, anything below 20 degrees is cold) and according to the met department we will have the same weather until August *sigh*. I haven’t had the chance to travel much so I will be living vicariously through you.
If it makes you feel better, Stockholm has not been super warm either..well our final 4 days have been perfect, absolutely gorgeous. Sorry about the cold weather there.. As of tomorrow, we will be in the sweltering heat of Rome, l’m not looking forward to that part. Feel free to live vicariously through us, we love that :-). Nice to hear from you, l’ve missed your “voice”! 😉
Sounds like a great vacation! Great pics! Must add this to my travel list.
You should do! A great place :-). Thanks.
Traveling abroad seems like such fun. This summer I have been making it a point to enjoy time with my daughters.
Being with family is definitely more important in my own opinion. so you are doing the right thing as long as you’re enjoying yourself :-).
Will you please take me to Rome with you? Pretty please! Seems like you have an awesome summer lined up. I only have smaller road trips planned for the rest of the summer – unless of course I find an awesome flight deal.
You should fit quite nicely in our luggage, so come on! I can’t guarantee you would fit on the way back though after eating so much food :-). Hope you find a great deal, those are always very nice :-).
I always love your pictures. Your meal totally reminds me of the food at Ikea. lol
My summer as been rather uneventful as far as travel goes.
Thanks Mimi. It’s true about the Swedish meatballs :-). Sometimes there is nothing wrong with having uneventful summers. Gives you time to recharge :-).
the sites are beautiful. Your trip looks fun. I would love to travel really soon.
It is one heck of a beautiful place for sure. We’ve been having fun and l hope you get to travel soon too. 🙂
I’ve never thought about visiting Sweden, but it looks beautiful and I wouldn’t mind visiting.
After visiting Copenhagen, l wanted to visit Stockholm because l figured l would like it a lot too, and l do. It is worthy of a visit :-).
Glad you’re enjoying it. I hope to do more international travel soon.
Thanks! It’s fun so far and we have been lucky all have been smooth rides! Hope you get to travel soon 🙂
I love living vicariously through your travels. I have lots of great things about Stokholm and cannot wait to see these beautiful views myself.
Totally sure you would love it. It is breathtaking! Really it is. Completely unlike what l pictured. Glad you’re enjoying the travels :-).
I would love to visit. I will get there sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.
I’m sure you would enjoy a visit, and l hope sooner than later too 🙂
Great shirt! Sweden has never been on my go to list, in fact there isn’t any ‘cold ‘ country I’m longing to visit. Give me sunshine & beaches any day 🙂
However your pictures are lovely as ever and are tempting me to maybe think about it- only during summer of course!
But I must say I love Swedish meatballs & consider the Ikea ones to be awesome, definitely worth the drive to the nearest branch. Summer is good so far, some sunshine finally & an excuse for endless ice- cream.
My favourite Italian would be seafood risotto, the creamier the better. Washed down with s glass of wine.
Can’t wait to hear about Bologna. I’m learning something everyday- I didn’t know the bolognese sauce originated there.
Thank you! Ahem..you might have noticed it for sale in the “shop” :-). Shameless plug over :-). If you visit Sweden, you definitely want to do it in the summer indeed. It is insanely beautiful but l understand what you mean about wanting better weather. I haven’t had IKEA meatballs for years..like 8! they were all so far away from me. We had amazing ones in Stockholm Can you believe l did not take pictures? Fede had a mountain of them with gravy, while l had some with the lingonberries ;-). That was served the second day of our conference. It was amazing! I will definitely have the risotto, l love it so very much. Fede makes a truly delicious one too. I am drooling in anticipation of Bologna..glad you are picking up tidbits ;-).
I’m really looking forward to your posts on Sweden as I bypassed it this year to go to TBEX in the Philippines instead! The logic is a little warped, but it makes sense. I had a window come up in October, so I grabbed it lol! Are you going to TBEX Asia too?
I like the picture of you and the statue man with the same type of pose. It looks as if it was as sunny in Stockholm as it was in Copenhagen recently!
‘Summer is looking great. I’m doing a European Challenge of one different European country every weekend, throughout the school holidays, and since I’m travelling with “The Tall Young Gentleman”, lots of food is definitely involved! Gulp!
I’m a huge fan of Italy and Italian food, and since we came back from visiting you guys in Seville, Frank hasn’t stopped making something Italian inspired lol!
I’ve been to Rome but I haven’t yet been to Bologna so I can’t wait to read something on the boot-shaped island, having said that, I’d love you to do Swedish food instead, as it’s the lesser well-known of the two!
I don’t blame you for taking advantage of the window and choosing the Philippines instead. I’m sure it will be loads of fun. I will not be going to that one. I think once a year is fine with me. It was sunny in Stockholm for quite a few of our 10 days which was nice. The first few were rainy,then sunny then windy…but from the 4th day..it was sunny skies. I look forward to your challenge..oh yeah..for sure food has to be involved with the tall young gentleman… 😉 . I keep worrying now that l didn’t take enough food pictures in Stockholm, especially the swedish meatballs with lingonberries which l loved. Will have to look hard.. :-).
My summer has been really good so far. It’s my birthday season so I’ve been living it up. Not Stockholm style but New York style!
Good for you!!!! New York style is pretty good too!!! So.. I am guessing you are a Leo like yours truly??? Have loads of fun 🙂 !