A couple of days in Nynashamn saw us catching up on laundry, borrowing W&K’s bikes so we could explore a little of the coast near the town, and then taking the commuter train to Stockholm and back.

There is so much to see in Stockholm but we knew the Vasa museum was a must see so that was where we headed first.

The Vasa Museum

The Vasa was a war ship commissioned by King Gustaf Adolf in 1625; work began on it in the Spring of 1626 and she was launched on August 10, 1628, complete with incredibly ornate carvings all over her.  Unfortunately the ship had insufficient ballast and was too narrow so, after a gust of wind, the ship heeled and, 20 minutes after launching, she took on water through her gun ports and sank in 30m of water.  In some ways, we should be thankful that the waterways in Stockholm have very low salinity and, in those days, were somewhat polluted because the mud into which the Vasa sank was not hospitable to ship worms and the wood was preserved.  It was not until 1957 that work began to raise her and in 1961, 333 years after the ship sank, that the Vasa again surfaced and a 17-year long restoration process began.  Incredibly, about 97% of her timbers today are original.

The Vasa looking towards the bow.
Detailed carvings on the transom
A model of the Vasa showing colors that were likely used to enhance the carvings

Stockholm is a spectacular city, classic architecture, superb public transport, and an incredible number of ferries, bridges and boats. Nowadays, the waterways around Stockholm are clean, suitable even for swimming (though we didn’t try it) and the prosperous city, that is spread across 14 islands between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic, has impressive, well-kept buildings, as well as open parkland areas …. all very impressive.

Hope in front of a statue of St George and the Dragon

We spent our last night in Stockholm before heading back to Sicily.  You might think we would jump at the opportunity to stay on dry land for a change, but no, we booked into the Mälardrottingen Hotel, a luxury yacht built in 1928 for a New York millionaire, Mr. Billings and later owned by the Hutton family of Woolworth fame.  She has been permanently moored in her current location in the heart of the city, since 1982, only moving every 3 years for maintenance.

One interesting fact about Sweden is that it is credit/debit card oriented society, with almost no cash (Swedish kronor) being used. Even buying an ice-cream, yes we did indulge as it was 28-30C, necessitated the use of plastic. Euros were not accepted in most places.

Now we are back in Sicily, and are about to depart for Crete tomorrow.  We took a couple of days to fill up with fuel, re-provision and prepare for Steve’s arrival yesterday.  Today we headed along the coast to Porto Palo where we are now anchored.  We plan to have a swim with a few scrubbies, so we can clean off the slime from the bottom and also check the anodes, before we depart.  However, the wind piped up from almost nothing to about 25 knots on arrival so the swim has been delayed, maybe until the morning, though the wind is diminishing as I write.