I am 100% Swedish on my dad's side and I've been to Sweden a couple times. On my most recent trip (Aug 2018), my dad and I hit some of the touristy spots in Stockholm. I hadn’t been there since I was a little kid, so I wanted to make my own (adult) memories, and he agreed. After Stockholm, we drove northeast to a small town called Mora. Lastly, we visited some family all the way on the west side of Sweden in Arjang.
The Arlanda Express provides a super quick ride from the airport to downtown Stockholm. We pre-purchased tickets online just for convenience purposes, but I believe you can buy in the station at the airport or perhaps on the train itself.
Saturday Aug 4: Stockholm
We dropped our bags and headed into Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town. Our first mission was food, as it was nearly noon and we hadn’t eaten since dinner on the plane the night before. We sat down at Gastabud, a small cafe. Dad got a herring sampler plate and the toast skagen and I got the meatballs, for obvious (and delicious) reasons. Toast skagen is a pretty standard Swedish dish consisting of crispy flatbread with tiny shrimps on top in a mayo-like sauce. We then walked through the Royal Palace and a few of its museums.
We returned to our hotel in Norrmalm to get settled and showered before dinner. We had made reservations for dinner at Restaurang Tegelbacken. We did the tasting menu, and it was quite possibly one of the BEST meals I’ve ever had in my life. We had scallops, pike perch, stuffed quail, and rhubarb custard. Everything was beautifully plated and perfectly portioned.
Sunday Aug 5: Stockholm
After a much-needed night of rest, we visited Rosendals Slott in the royal garden. We managed to figure out the public transportation to get there, which I thought was impressive. After the tour, we made our way to the Vasa Museum (Vasamuseet, a family favorite) and the Viking Museum (Vikingaliv).
That night we had dinner at the Grand Hotel which is probably equivalent to The Plaza Hotel in NYC. It was a very traditional Swedish smorgasbord dinner. We followed the directions from the menu and started with cheese, rye crispbread, and herring. Next was different style salmons and cucumber salads. After that was roast beef, lamb, and other meats. And finally (as if we were still hungry), we had meatballs, lingonberries, and potatoes.
Monday Aug 6: Stockholm
The next morning, we took a ferry out to Drottningholm for a tour of the Drottningholm Palace and to explore the Drottningholm Slott on our own. There was not a cloud in the sky, making the ferry ride and the walking the garden very enjoyable. And we even caught a family on swans in the creek. We spent about 3 hours at Drottningholm, then took the ferry back to Klara Malarstrand.
We then joined a guided tour of City Hall, which was neat. We saw the Blue Hall, where the Nobel Banquet is held every year. Then it was off to dinner at Wedholms Fisk, an elegant seafood restaurant right on the water. We got to the restaurant a little early, so we sat outside with a drink. I got scallops over veggies with a pea soup shooter. Dad got a giant bowl of crawfish. Dinner was delicious; second to Tegelbacken as my favorite meal.
Tuesday Aug 7: Stockholm
We took it easy and walked around through Ostermalm and Norrmalm. I wanted to walk through the Brunkebergstunneln, which is a tunnel that goes under a couple streets for pedestrians and cyclists. The street is called Tunnelgatan which is ironic. We stopped into Albert & Jack’s for coffee and bullar. We shared a kanelbullar (cinnamon bun) and a kardemummabullar (cardamom bun).
Around 2:30 we were picked up by some cousins of ours on my Farmor’s side, the Malmstrom side. They drove us out to their home, southwest of Stockholm. I’m not sure exactly where it was, but the street name was Nibblebacken. Marie made a really good apple tart and of course a pot of coffee. We chatted through the afternoon and eventually sat down for dinner.
Wednesday Aug 8: Mora
We went back to the Arlanda airport to pick up our rental car. We were heading up to Mora, home to the dalahast factories. A dalahast or dala horse is a painted wooden status or a horse that originated in the Swedish province of Dalarna. I believe they were originally produced as toys for children, but nowadays they are a staple to the Swedish home. On our way up to Mora we stopped in Avesta, home to the world’s largest dalahast. It was a cool photo moment, and a chance to pick up a snack and use the restroom. We then continued up to Mora and checked into the Mora Hotell. I had salmon and then a really good rhubarb dessert. It was rhubarb mousse over cooked rhubarb and a cold rhubarb soup.
Thursday Aug 9: Mora
We woke up and headed to the Zorn Garden and Museum. Anders Zorn was one of Sweden’s most known artists. He was born and raised in Mora, and grew to be a painter, sculptor, and printmaker.
After a brief guided tour of Zorn’s house, we drove to the dalahast factories in Nusnas. The two main factories are Nils Olsson and Grannas. We watched some of the hand-painters decorating the horses and bought a couple souvenirs and gifts. I took a photo in front of a very large dalahast that we are pretty confident is the same one I took a photo with when I was about 14 years old.
We had an afternoon to kill and the weather was great, so we decided to drive around Siljan lake. We stopped a couple times to walk out on the docks, the biggest being the Langbryygan in Rattvik. We had dinner at Sjovillan Restaurang & Bar. Dad and I shared some oysters, and I got meatballs, mashed potatoes, and lingon for dinner. We drove back to Mora and took a walk outside just for some fresh air and exercise.
Friday Aug 10: Arjang
We drove from Mora to Arjang which is in Varmland on the west side of Sweden. We paid a visit to the Arjangstrollet, a giant troll that has a slide on one side. I loved the giant troll when I was a kid. The weather was super windy, so I didn’t go up and down the slide (also I’m not a kid anymore).
We met some of our Mossberg cousins for an early dinner then followed them to their ‘compound’ on Lelang Lake. The weather had gotten so crazy that they didn’t have power in any of the small cabins on the property. During the summer, our cousin Christian and his siblings usually fill the cabins with their children and friends.
Saturday Aug 11: Varmland
The power had come back on by morning, which was great. We got ready with lots of layers because it was still pretty chilly and windy out. We drove to the cemetery where my Farfarfar was buried. In Swedish, ‘far’ refers to father and ‘mor’ refers to mother. So, I always referred to my grandfather on my dad’s side as Farfar, and my grandmother as Farmor. The interesting part is that to my cousin, those same grandparents are Morfar and Mormor, because they are my aunt’s parents.
After the cemetery, we drove around trying to find Mosstakan. Supposedly that’s where our family originated from/in. We were unsuccessful at finding Mosstakan, but I did spot a mommy and baby moose instead.
Once we had given up, we headed back to Lelang Lake for dinner. We picked up crawfish from the store for our own mini crawfish party. Crawfish are pretty labor intensive to eat, but I personally find them delicious and worth the work. We had also picked up a can of surstromming, a type of canned herring known for its particularly putrid smell. Supposedly it doesn’t taste as bad as it smells, but there was no way I was going to test that theory. Our cousin Christian opened the can and we made Dad try it. He was not a huge fan, but he agreed that the smell was, in fact, worse than the taste.
Sunday Aug 12: Arlanda Airport
After breakfast we drove back to Arlanda, where we had a reservation at a hotel within the airport complex. We ate dinner at Kitchen & Table, which is a Marcus Sammuelsson restaurant. He’s a Swedish chef that Weight Watchers (my agency client back in NY) had just started to work with at the time, so it was an ironic way to end our trip in a ‘full circle’ type of way. Sadly, the next morning, we flew home.