Northern Cities Voyage: Stockholm
In this final part of a multi-part series, Bethany explores Stockholm, Sweden on her own after her Northern Cities Voyage cruise on Azamara wraps up.
June 2022 was big for me…it was the month I turned the big 5-0! In order to celebrate properly, I booked myself on my first non-river cruise, the wonderful 10-night Northern Cities Voyage cruise on the Azamara Pursuit (what I lovingly refer to as my “Fabulous 50 Cruise”!). This cruise starts in Lisbon, Portugal and ends in Stockholm, Sweden. As with my other cruises, this one covers entirely too many wonderful stops along the way to fit into just one single post, so this series is broken up into several parts. This final post spotlights a couple of days in Stockholm, Sweden after the cruise completed.
Northern Cities Voyage Full Itinerary
Below is the full itinerary for the cruise. This post includes details about Day 11 and on.
- Day 1 – June 7: Lisbon, Portugal
- Day 2 – June 8: Porto, Portugal
- Day 3 – June 9: At Sea
- Day 4 – June 10: St. Peter Port, Guernsey
- Day 5 – June 11: Honfleur, France
- Day 6 – June 12: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Day 7 – June 13: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Day 8 – June 14: Kiel Canal, Germany
- Day 9 – June 15: Copenhagen, Denmark
- Day 10 – June 16: Visby, Sweden
- Day 11 – June 17: Stockholm, Sweden
Missed the earlier posts in this series? No problem! Just click the buttons below to catch up:
So Long Azamara Pursuit
Day 11 of my Northern Cities Voyage cruise was disembarkation day. It was time to say goodbye to the lovely Azamara Pursuit and her fantastic crew. I enjoyed one last breakfast in Windows Café and relaxed in the lounge area for a bit while I waited for my driver to arrive. Once my driver met me at the dock he whisked me away into the heart of Gamla Stan (Old Town) Stockholm.
Hotel Reisen
My driver dropped me off at my new home-away-from-home for the next two nights, the gorgeous Hotel Reisen. This hotel is right on the waterfront in the Gamla Stan (Old Town) area of Stockholm. The building itself dates back to 1617. Through the years the building was everything from a semi-legal coffeehouse to a storehouse to a drinking den! Today it is a beautiful hotel in a picture-perfect location. I enjoyed a spacious ‘King Sea View’ room, which has a king bed, a small seating area, and a private bathroom with a walk-in shower.
Arguably the best amenity of this room is the view! I had a fantastic view, and it was lovely to sit in one of the chairs and stare out the window. The hotel also provides a small pair of binoculars to enhance the view even more!
Exploring the Area
Once I checked into the hotel and dropped my bags off, I set out for a day of exploring Stockholm. My plans for day one included two museums – the Vasa Museum and the ABBA Museum. The easiest way for me to navigate from my hotel to these museums was to use one of the ‘Hop On / Hop Off Boats’ that are ubiquitous here. There was a stop about a block from my hotel, so I walked over to that area to purchase my ticket. This short walk afforded me a quick glimpse into the beautiful area around the Hotel Reisen.
Hop On / Hop Off Boat
I purchased my ticket and hopped onto the next available ‘Hop On / Hop Off’ (HO/HO) Boat. Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and is actually a series of 14 islands, with more than 50 bridges on the extensive archipelago. So while the city is walkable, boat transportation is a quick and easy (and inexpensive!) way to navigate the city. The views from the boats are also lovely! One word of caution is that there are a few different HO/HO Boat operators but they all use the same piers and stops along the way, so it’s important to pay attention to which line you purchase your ticket for to ensure you are getting on the correct boat.
Vasa Museum
After a nice journey on the HO/HO boat, I got off at a stop very close to my first destination: the Vasa Museum. The beautiful but poorly designed warship Vasa sank shortly after she embarked on her maiden voyage in 1628. A group of people found, raised, and restored her in 1961. This museum spotlights the ship, which can be viewed by walking all around her and from different levels of the multi-story building. There is also a film shown at the museum that explains the history of the ship and the tremendous undertaking to raise and restore her.
I spent some time thoroughly exploring the Vasa and then stopped for a quick lunch right there in the museum’s cafeteria. Here I enjoyed a traditional Swedish lunch of meatballs in gravy, mashed potatoes, fresh pickled cucumbers, and lingonberry jam. It was a delicious break and fueled me up for the afternoon!
ABBA Museum
My next stop was the highlight of my trip…the ABBA Museum! A quick and pretty walk along the waterfront took me from the Vasa Museum to the ABBA Museum. This “Chiquitita” says “Mamma Mia” – “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” a ticket (just take my “Money, Money, Money” already). “I Have A Dream” that this “Dancing Queen” won’t have to call “S.O.S.” but instead said “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” want to go (and maybe even meet “Fernando” there)! I, indeed, walked in and danced out. This lifelong ABBA fan spent a lot of time exploring all of the nooks and crannies of this museum, which is packed full of wonderful artifacts, entertaining videos, fun photographs, and (of course!) lots and lots of music. This is a truly fun and joyous place to visit – highly recommended for all of my fellow ABBA fans out there!
Heading Back to the Hotel
Once this Dancing Queen had her fix at the ABBA Museum, I caught another HO/HO boat and made the return trip back to the hotel. There were more gorgeous sights to see along the way on this sunny afternoon. Oh, and fun fact…the HO/HO boats are all named after ABBA songs!
Royal Palace
My second day in Stockholm was cloudy and cool. I had a low-key day today, which started by walking a short distance from my hotel to the Royal Palace. A walk around the massive palace was a nice way to start off my morning.
Royal Guards Ceremony
The highlight of my visit to the Royal Palace was to see the very elaborate Royal Guards Ceremony. This daily ceremony lasts about 40 minutes. It is held in the Royal Palace outer courtyard and includes a military marching band and parade. The band plays rousing music while the new guard troop marches in and replaces the existing guard troop. In today’s ceremony, the troop in the bright blue uniforms was replacing the troop in the black uniforms. There is a very large crowd that gathers here for the ceremony, so plan ahead and arrive early to get the best viewing spot!
Gamla Stan
Once the Royal Guards Ceremony completed I stayed in the area and wandered around the Gamla Stan (Old Town) area. It is a gorgeous area full of narrow, winding cobblestone streets and colorful buildings. There are shops and restaurants everywhere, along with some tourist attractions like the Royal Palace and the Nobel Prize Museum. I enjoyed just meandering aimlessly around, exploring many of the nooks and crannies, and doing some shopping.
Lunch
For today’s lunch I headed to a small bakery across the street from my hotel. I was delighted to see Toast Skagen on the menu, which is the delicious shrimp sandwich I first tried onboard the Azamara Pursuit a few days prior. A nice, hot latte also hit the spot on this cool and dreary day.
A Long Journey Home
After an enjoyable two days in Stockholm, in addition to the ten-night cruise and the two days pre-cruise in Lisbon, I was finally ready to start the long journey back home and back to reality. The sun rises really, really early around here this time of the year, so when I awoke at 4:30 AM to catch my first flight out of Stockholm the sun had already been up for nearly an hour!
This was the summer of very busy airports with very long lines and many flight delays and cancellations, so it was a bit of a struggle getting through three airports (Stockholm, Paris, and Washington, DC) to finally make it back home to Tampa, Florida. After a few mad dashes through packed airports and a handful of delays (some longer than others, including a cancelled final leg from DC to Tampa that required me to stay in a hotel overnight), I finally touched down in Tampa about 36 hours after waking up in Stockholm to start the journey!
Conclusion
I thoroughly enjoyed my time exploring the eclectic city of Stockholm. With such a short visit I just scratched the surface on the many wonderful things to see, do, and eat here. The city is very easy to navigate, with many different transportation options available. There is a nice variety of things to do here, so there really is something for everyone.
Overall, my first “big girl cruise” (my first non-river cruise) was a success from start to finish! This was my first experience on a ship larger than the river cruise ships I have previously sailed on, which typically have a maximum passenger count of around 130 people. I was unsure what to expect on Azamara, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything went. It was nice to have some more onboard amenities, dining, and entertainment options than the smaller river cruises, but it was still a small-ship experience. The crew on Azamara Pursuit are amazing, the accommodations are comfortable, the food is delicious, and the excursions are interesting and fun.
I already have my next Azamara adventure booked and will be sailing in South America in February 2023, so be sure to look for upcoming posts on that experience in the spring of 2023!
Links
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Another great post! ❤️
Thanks so much for following along on my adventures!