Northern Europe: Sweden - Stockholm around Christmas period
By Cubie - August 22, 2023
We arrived in Stockholm at noon on Christmas Day. There are plenty of options to get to the city center, from bus to trains. After weighing the cost, time of travel and convenience, we opted to take a taxi (SEK 695). I don't know how things pan out that we ended up walking everywhere once we get to the Gamla Stan area from the airport. We have 2 full days in Stockholm, a half on the day we landed and another half before we departed.
As we landed on Christmas Day itself, we have missed the Stockholm Christmas Market. Here are the things we did, saw or ate when we were there.
Gamla Stan
Gamla Stan, or the Old Town is Stockhom's original city centre. The buildings are from 1600s and 1700s. There were closed stalls for the Christmas Market for a few days, and were only removed a day before we left Stockholm. The removal process took pretty much the whole day. Most of the shops here are cafes, restaurants, tourist shops, studios and galleries.
Järnpojke
Järnpojke or Iron Boy is the smallest public monument in Stockholm at 15 cm by Liss Eriksson. It is within the Gamla Stan, at the backyard of the Finnish Church.
The Royal Palace
Sweden's Royal Palace is one of the Europe's largest palace and the official residence of The King's residence. There is changing of the Royal Guards ceremony at the palace in the palace outer courtyard, lasting for about 40 minutes. We didn't enter for visit.
Riksdagshuset (Parliament House)
The Parliament House is open to public who are interested to attend a debate, visit or public hearing. The building is huge and you won't miss it. You might not realised it but won't miss it.
We stood in front of a closed door of a building to re-wrap our scarves so we are not out in the wind. A guard walked over from another building to ask us not to stand in front of the door. At that time, we didn't realise the door we were at is part of the parliament building. So yep - one might not realise, but won't miss it.
World's oldest open-air museum showcasing Sweden's houses and farmsteads from every part of the country. This museum also houses Nordic wildlife and Baltic Sea Science Center. The staffs working in the museum old houses replies questions in role play mode when we asked questions. It is also open every day, all year round, albeit some difference in opening hours.
We spent Boxing Day at Skansen. There was Christmas related program during the holiday period, example exhibit of family Christmas dinner in the houses and farmsteads. Admission fees differs depending on time of visit. Admission was SEK 220 per person for us.
Hötorgshallen
The other market we have on our list to visit was Östermalms Saluhall but sis said that Hötorgshallen is more affordable and has a famous fish soup place. So we ended up in Hötorgshallen. There was no kitchen facilities in our accommodation in Stockholm so we didn't get any of the fresh food from the market. We, however, did make it to the fish soup place for lunch - Kajsas Fisk.
There is a directory of the shops in the market. We ordered Fisksoppa (fish soup with prawns mussels and aioli; stekt stromming (fried strömming with remoulade or mustard sauce & mashed potatoes), laxtoast (smoked salmon toast with mustard sauce and mixed salad. Bread and simple salad are free flow. All the dishes were very tasty. There was a picture of what's inside the soup, just not in my camera because I was the one in charged of scooping the soup.
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| Fisksoppa, SEK 130 |
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| Stekt stromming, SEK 115 |
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| Laxtoast, SEK 120 |
Swedish Christmas Plate
Sis and I were insistent that we have a Swedish Christms dinner and finally found out that was within budget and available on or after actual Christmas day. We wanted to go on Christmas Day itself but they were closing when we returned a short walk. It wasn't late, maybe around 6ish but it was a Christmas Day after all. We returned to the same shop on Boxing Day, and luckily they still serve the Christmas Plate.
Components in the Christmas Plate were 2 kinds of herring, cold smoked salmon, homemade meatballs, beetroot salad, Swedish "Skagenröra" (shrimp salad), cheese from northern Sweden, boiled potatoes, egg, hard bread, onion and sourcream, SEK 295.
We also ordered a pasta dish to share - fillet of pork with mushrooms in a creamy truffle sauce, SEK 185.
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| Christmas Plate, SEK 295; pasta SEK 185 |
Glögg
Glögg is Swedish's version of mulled wine, a popular drink during the Christmas season. Usually served with raisins and almonds. Very tasty, warm and cosy on a white Christmas. Needless to say we had more than once.
Kanelbulle
Kanelbulle (in plural - Kanelbullar) is Swedish cinnamon bun, probably the most famous one pastry in Sweden. They are mostly seen in a knot form than the usually rolled out cinnamon roll. I wonder why the ones found in Ikea are not knot form. I find them less sweet, possibly because they are not topped with sugar icing. There are also cardamon buns which are also very popular but we didn't try.
Saffransbulle
Saffransbulle (in plural - saffransbullar) are sweet yeast rolls usually served the Christmas season are flavoured with golden saffron and dark raisins. We got one with almond filling the first round, and subsequent time, we got the ones shapped into 'Lucia cat' (lussekatt).
Semla
You would probably realised by now that we take fika seriously. Haha. Even though during the time of our visit doesn't coincide with Lent or Shrove Tuesday, but nowadays semla (plural - semlor) can be found after Christmas, which is almost like when you would see hot cross buns showing up in Australia. Semla is a flavoured cardamon bun, filled with almond paste and whipped cream.
We got one from Bröd & Salt to try, along with a pistachio latte. The filling was added upon order but it was a small bakery with only 1 small bench outside which was occupied. We had to make our way back to the hostel to pick up our bags before going to the airport so we ate at the hostel.
Swedish meatballs
I don't know why I thought Ikea would be different in Sweden, they are not much of difference, except they do takeaway. We actually got the meatballs from Ikea. Ordering was done via kiosks, and we selected the takeaway option, collected our food.
Julmust
On our walk back after Ikea meatballs takeaway, we saw Julmust on sale which means we got one to try. Julmust is a non-alcoholic Christmas soda as jul is the Swedish word for Christmas. It tasted like cola-malt-rootbeer.
I thought it was interesting to be in Sweden during Christmas period and I enjoyed some traditional Swedish Christmas food.
Side note: Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine
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