Kardemummabullar

Yesterday we arrived in Stockholm, Sweden! So far, I’m loving the beautiful city and its incredible proximity to nature. 

Last night we took a walk to see a lake around which Alfred Nobel tested dynamite and built a dynamite factory. 

Bunkers where Nobel tested dynamite

Old dynamite production factory

The lake views at sunset were gorgeous and there were plenty of people out running and swimming. 

Lovely lake views

This morning, we spent a full day exploring Stockholm’s old town and city centre. The morning started in my favourite way - with a coffee and a pastry. We got a kardemummabuller, or a traditional Swedish sweet bun with cardamom, a spice that is very popular here. 

The perfect morning combo - a cortado and a cardamom bun

It was scrumptious! I really enjoyed it and hopefully we’ll get another one tomorrow :)

Unlike Oslo, Stockholm has a very nice pedestrian old town full of cobblestone and tiny streets. I loved the warm colours on the buildings and all the small local shops selling cute hand-made souvenirs. 

Lovely Stockholm street in the old town

Narrowest street in Stockholm

Beautifully coloured houses

In the old town, there is also the Nobel Prize Museum. Each year, committees of Swedish scientific institutes (and one Norwegian one) gather to award the Nobel Prizes. We got to learn about the life of Alfred Nobel and how he got rich after his invention of dynamite. Wanting to do something good with his fortune, he established the Nobel Prizes, which were first awarded in 1901. 

Facade of the Nobel Prize Museum

Image of Alfred Nobel’s laboratory and models of his first dynamite sticks

The museum is quite small, but for science enthusiasts like us, it was perfect. The audioguide was especially good and we ended up spending about 2 hours in the museum. There were tons of artifacts and interesting facts and stories to learn about.

Photo 51 taken by Rosalind Franklin which led to the discovery of DNA Structure by Watson and Wilkins (who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962)

Workbench from the former Lenin Shipyard in Gdańk where Lech Wałęsa worked. Wałęsa was one of the leaders of Poland’s Solidarity movement and was elected president in 1990 (awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1983)

Recreation of a scene from the novel “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro (who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017)

Glasses from Nobel Laureates, including Gabriel García Márquez

After the unexpectedly long time at the museum, we were starving! Unfortunately, we had a very bad, mayonnaise filled wrap from the grocery store that we couldn’t even finish… so we had to find someplace for a redemption lunch. 

We walked by the waster, past the Swedish Royal Palace, over a bridge and to the main city centre. 

Swedish Royal Palace

Cool overlapping streets in the city centre

Beautiful waterfront views

We found a nice healthy lunch place called Kale & Crave where we both got huge, filling bowls. Mine had kale, quinoa, walnuts, tempeh, yams, carrots, and some seeds… this kept me going for the rest of the day.

Nutritious and filling bowls

After lunch we walked more through the main city until we reached the Skeppsholmsbrun. This is a bridge connecting Skeppsholmen island to the city. A fun fact about Stockholm is that it’s made of many little islands which are all connected together by bridges! So, for example, the old town is on its own isolated island… making it feel a tiny bit like Venice. 

One of the bridges connecting the Stockholm city centre to the old town

Fun crown on the bridge

Perfect views of the old town

This bridge offers amazing views of the old town. And if you cross the bridge fully, it connects to another island on which there is the Kastellet, a protective fortress. 

Enjoying the pretty fortress!

We enjoyed more fun views from these islands, and then slowly made our way back home.

Observing the crazy people enjoying the insane rides at the Gröna Lund amusement park