Day 14: A Return to Biking & Fika
Mastering the art of fika
June 29, 2022
With an early bike tour of Stockholm scheduled for 9 am that day, we all had an early breakfast, arriving around 7 am. Switching it up a bit, I opted for Swedish pancakes topped with cinnamon, a little maple syrup, a berry compote, and whipped heavy cream, in addition to some croissants and a cup of coffee. Since I was also the first person from the group to be down at breakfast, I decided to switch up the table we normally sat at (typically we sat next to a window that offered a view of the highway, but surely we wanted to see something else than rush-hour?), opting instead for sitting by a different window that overlooked a green park with little cottages spotted throughout (which I learned more about later).
It was the first overcast day in Stockholm since we had been there with the forecast calling for rain throughout the day. While it wasn’t the most ideal weather for biking, it certainly was a welcome change from the heat and humidity we had been facing the past few days, with my newly bought baseball cap and raincoat in hand, I was ready for the partially “inclement” weather.
A Return to Biking
To get to the bike rental shop, Stockholm Adventures, where we were supposed to meet our tour guides for the day, we took the metro, passing once again through Gamla Stan on our way to Norrmalm/T-Centralen. Exiting the metro, we headed through Norrmalm to Kungsholmen, one of the largest islands and where City Hall is located. Picking up our rental bikes (with some of us getting regular bikes and others getting e-bikes), it felt familiar since we had bikes the whole week we were in Copenhagen, and soon after around 9:30 am, met our tour guides, Henrik and Theo. Both of our guides worked for the City of Stockholm’s transportation department and were going to teach us about the practices and measures in place to promote walkability.
One of our first stops was the Vasagatan bridge near T-Centralen, where we saw how the city was limiting private car congestion and promoting different modes of transport. Previously, the street had been highly car-centric, like many typical roads in the U.S., however over time, car lanes were replaced with public transportation lanes, tram lines, and walkways, all without slowing traffic too much or increasing congestion. We also learned about how the city uses district heating underneath bike lanes and sidewalks in order to melt snow and keep them clear during the winter (how cool is that??).
Moving on, we stopped briefly at Gustav Adolfs Torg, a public square with an equestrian sculpture of King Gustav II Adolf, which is also surrounded by the Royal Opera, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Our guides briefly spoke about how the area used to be more car-friendly, however, in recent years the addition of temporary art installations and barriers has made it more pedestrian-friendly. Biking along on our way to our next stop, it became clear to me why so many people had e-bikes or e-scooters in Stockholm as we had to climb a few hills, while also observing the red-painted bike lanes that were all across the city (different than the blue bikes lanes found in Copenhagen, but still very helpful for navigating where you should be biking).
Our next, longer stop was Swedenborgsgatan, a pedestrian street (at least for the summer) that was lined with flower planters and lion statues along with outdoor seating for restaurants. Seeing the temporary measures put in place to make the street car-free for a set period of time was inspiring to our group since, in planning, it can be hard to sometimes make permanent changes. By adding temporary planters or sculptures to block traffic, it’s much easier to implement car-free zones seasonally since it’s not seen as “permanent”.
Taking us up bet another hill, our guides showed us a small park on Södermalm (Skinnarviksparken), that provided a scenic spot, overlooking Kungsholmen before we biked back. Since it was lunchtime when we were done, around 12 pm, our tour guides suggested we stop for lunch at one of the most unlikely of places, City Hall! Offering a daily buffet-style lunch, we had a wide variety of foods to pick from including fish, seafood, salads, and vegetables for relatively cheap compared to other meals we had gotten in Stockholm (apparently every day there are different options).
After sitting and eating for a bit, our guides had to go, and we soon after left to explore the grounds of City Hall a bit more, from the courtyard to the waterfront park area. Learning more about the Art Nouveau building, we found out that there were several notable halls, such as the Blue Hall, which holds the largest organ in Scandinavia, and the Golden Hall has large mosaics with elements of Swedish history, in addition to the fact that every year the Nobel Prize is awarded there.
Getting together to discuss what to do with the rest of our day, some of us decided to continue biking since we had the rentals for a few more hours. Since not everyone was going, there were a few bike swaps, with myself receiving an e-bike for the remainder of the day. I won’t lie, at first I was a little skeptical since I had never used one before and didn’t necessarily bike much before the trip, however by the end of the day I was sold! Since we would be able to cover more ground, we agreed to head north towards Norra Djurgården since we had heard there was a large national park there that used to be the king’s royal hunting grounds (Kungliga nationalstadsparken).
Exploring the North
Riding until we reached Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History, about 30 minutes from City Hall. The ride back took us through Stora Skuggan, an ecological forested park dotted with fields and lakes as well as some livestock before we reached Kungliga nationalstadsparken (the Royal National City Park), even passing by the Lollapalooza stage that was being set up for the upcoming music festival.
We continued on along the coastline until we saw a small cafe and thought it was a good time to stop for a fika break since it was around 3 pm. Stopping at Café Blockhusporten, I ended up getting a latte and dammsugare (vacuum cleaner cakes), a popular pastry covered in
marzipan and dipped in chocolate. Sitting by the waterfront, we were amazed by how many seagulls there were (the tide must have been coming in and bringing herring or other fish with it) but peacefully enjoyed the afternoon.
With our bikes being due back around 4:30 - 5 pm, we decided to head back along the coastline since we knew we had a decent ride ahead of us. We passed by a few unused windmills, sculptures, and houses (I’m sure that cost a pretty penny) before making our way back to Stockholm Adventures.
With our bikes being returned by 4:30 pm, we were free for the rest of the evening/night a few other classmates and I took a few different metro lines to admire some of the public art there (more on that in 2 days!). Then branching off, one of my peers and I returned to Gamla Stan (again) since it was the first overcast day. We walked around a bit, seeing all the sights we had pretty much covered already such as Riddarholmen and Stortorget before taking the ferry over to Kastellholmen and Skeppsholmen. Wandering around a bit, we found a lookout point with a decorative anchor that overlooked Gamla Stan before descending the hill to Skeppsholmenbron, a bridge connecting Skeppsholmen and Norrmalm which was noted as having two gold crowns in the middle of it.
We then went on to pass by the National Museum, which had an interesting art installation in front of it as well as the Parliament of Sweden (Riksdag) building that was located on its own islet, Helgeandsholmen, near the Royal Palace. Finding ourselves back on Drottninggatan, we did some windowshopping seeing souvenirs we liked but probably wouldn’t end up buying before returning to Sergels Torg, which had been decorated since the last time we were there, before catching the metro and returning to the hotel.
Comments