stockholm

Giving the world Stefan Edberg and Ikea furniture is possibly enough for any one country. But Stockholm showed that Sweden has a much more on offer.

This was our first trip to a Scandinavian destination and we were not disappointed.

The stereotype of blonde and tanned people, attractive from healthy living and enjoying the outdoors, rang true. Low population density, wide streets, plenty of green space and the calming affect of being surrounded by water added to the city’s charm.

Stockholm is comprised of series of islands and, like good module furniture, each seemed to be organised to house a particular theme:

* Gamla Stan is the old town
* Södermalm is good for cool bars, clubs and restaurants
* Skeppsholmen is full of museums
* Östermalm is the downtown area with cutting edge design shops and top brand designer stores

* Djurgården is lovely greenery

Although not a city where you feel you must escape the hustle and bustle (because there is neither hustle nor bustle), one day we took a ferry out to the island of Vaxholm, known as the gateway to the Stockholm archipelago. People live here year round but on the sunny day we visited it had a real summer holiday feel - wooden houses, boats coming into harbour, a main general store and a constant stream of people consuming ice cream.

Enjoying this island so much, we would be interested to see what the others in the archipelago are like… one down about 23,999 left to check out.