Today we set out on a walk about on Sodermalm. The guide book took us up to the cliff top walk with a view across the Riddarfjarden to Kungsholmen, Riddarholmen and the City. It was still very snowy along the footpath, Monteliusvagen, but there was some grit down to reduce the slipperiness. We took many pics across the water, then turned inland again to walk down one very old cobbled street, Bastugatan. Above us we saw Mariaberget –with an impressive towered building, which can be seen from almost everywhere in Stockholm, apparently.
We found our way to a footbridge running parallel with the railway across the water, and soon found ourselves in Gamla Stan. We planned to watch the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace before visiting the Palace, itself. When we got up there we saw that people were already gathering behind the barriers. The soldiers on guard had wonderful white woolly hats on, which were definitely necessary as there was a chill wind blowing. I don’t know how long each stint outside on duty is, but we hoped not too long. The soldiers make frequent marches up and down to keep their feet from freezing. The new guard began gathering in the colonnade, and one officer came out and announced that the ceremony would take place at 12.15. In the meantime, he gave us a run down on the guards who guard the palaces and in particular who was on duty today – in Swedish and English. Then as the quarter hour struck, the soldiers began running out from the colonnade on orders from their captain. The Swedish flag was marched round to the front and a small changeover ceremony took place. All these soldiers had their helmets on – no woolly hats. We guessed they got those delivered to them after the ceremony. It was soon over, then everyone went to buy tickets to visit the palace, so we decided to get ourselves a cup of coffee and go in when it was a bit quieter.
Our coffee place was called Chokladkoppen and was at the bottom of one of two lovely tall almost Dutch-style buildings in Stortorget. We had delicious coffee and cake, and perused the art on the walls! We couldn’t linger as the Palace closes again at three, so we bought our tickets and entered. The first part was the State Apartments, then the Guest Apartments and eventually we found our way to the Tre Kronor Museum. This latter part is deep down in the foundation of the palace and is housed in the oldest part – some of the 12th century defensive wall and the 16th and 17th century brick vaults. The palace from that time suffered devastation when a fire burned most of it to the ground in 1697. The Tre Kronor Museum is devoted to the history of the palace and shows many artefacts that have been excavated from the palace foundations. We ran out of time before we got to the Treasury, but the very helpful people at the entrance pointed out that our tickets were valid for a month, so we could come back tomorrow. Good idea!
As the sun was still shining we now walked across to Riddarholmen to see Birger Jarl’s statue in his square. Here is the Riddarholmskyrkan with its cast iron filigree tower. Here all of Sweden’s rulers from the 17th century and onwards are buried in vaults. (Except Queen Kristina, 1689 buried in Rome and GustavVI Adolf, 1973, buried at Haga in the north of the city). Now we made our way to the Tbana station and got back to the hotel for a welcome sit down before dinner. The boys on reception said they would find us another good restaurant for dinner – not too far away.
Dinner is to be at Pontus by the Sea. Funnily enough, we almost saw it today on our walk. It is on the promenade of Gamla Stan facing towards Skeppsholmen. It is owned by one of Stockholm’s top chefs, Pontus Frithiof. He has his main restaurant ‘In the Greenhouse’ in the city somewhere.
We took the Tbana to Gamla Stan, then walked across the island to the restaurant. Then it began snowing! As we sat at our table, it really started to come down – we wondered about getting back again! Not many people in the restaurant tonight – so different from last night. The menu looks very good – the wine list is amazing with some wines costing around a thousand quid! We had:
Beef Carpaccio with cep cream, rocket and parmesan, and Jerusalem artichoke crème with seared duck liver and preserved apple; Swedish beef with tomatoes in a balsamic dressing, chips and sauce Béarnaise, and Steamed fillet of char with with tomato and lemon vinagrette, brandade and dried tomatoes. Alan found a Louis Jadot Bourgogne Pinot Noir to accompany the food. All very delicious and we soon forgot the swirling snow outside.
Pontus has a great website with a gallery of pictures taken when the restaurant is buzzing with summer visitors.
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