In the second edition of the series “Let’s Go Somewhere” you will get to know the highlight of my Scandinavian trip AKA Stockholm from my perspective.
No wonder why I fell in love with the Swedish culture at a very young age when I was raised up reading Astrid Lindgren’s books or watching Ingmar Bergman‘s iconic movies. Always being curious about a Scandinavian culture I was rather excited to visit Sweden for the very first time in my life.
I won’t waste your (or my) time speaking about Stockholm on a geographical level and the number of islands the city covers, or all of the other things that you can easily Google. I’d rather share my personal experience about why I fell in love with Stockholm:
THE SCANDINAVIAN SUMMER
Even though I booked my trip to Sweden from Lisbon (where summer starts in early April and lasts ’till November) I still think Scandinavian summer is the most beautiful thing one can witness and experience. Visiting Stockholm in mid-June I was lucky enough to attend their cultural “Midsummer” celebration and to enjoy the sunny weather for almost 20H a day.
Stockholm, Sweden
Cafés
As a person who enjoys a decent breakfast and tries to spend as much time in coffee shops as possible, Stockholm was my personal paradise. Who wouldn’t fall in love with the retro 1920’s style Café like Vete-Katten where they serve one of the best coffees with a lot of dessert options like their iconic Carrot Cake or Cinnamon Buns.
Another highlight of my food experience was STHLM BRUNCH CLUB, where they have one of the best brunch menus alongside the coolest Scandinavian interior design and very friendly staff. They also have Vegan & Gluten-free options. To start your day with the Chia + Mango Bowl menu with a PINK fresh juice (a mixture of Strawberry, apple, ginger and mint) is a great way to stay healthy and energized. And you should definitely check out their MOCKTAILS (my favourite was BRUNCH CLUB’S MIMOSA) and Milkshakes or as they’d call them – FREAKSHAKES like Donutella, Death by Chocolate (which sounds like a perfect way to die) and a Cookie Monster.
Dalagatan 24, 113 24 Stockholm, Sweden
If you’re aware of the most Swedish thing FIKA – a coffee break that usually consists of coffee or tea and something sweet like cookies or Cinnamon buns is an important part of the national culture. You can Fika (it’s a verb and a noun as well) with your friends and even on your first date, you should definitely check out Bröd & Salt and get in touch with the local culture.
After these fancy coffee shops mentioned above, I already knew that Stockholm was exactly my place to be. But then I came across one place called “Breakfast & Wine” and as a Georgian, I could not think of a better combination of my daily food must-haves. So I decided to give this place a try and guess what? It ended up in my “go-to” breakfast/brunch places in Stockholm.
And lastly, a bit of sad story as you won’t be able to check this place out since it closed its doors forever on December 22nd, 2018 SNICKARBACKEN7 was a really nice place to discover by myself in Stockholm. With the typical Swedish eco-friendly interior and one of the best coffees ever, SNICKARBACKEN7 was also popular with the local people. But GOOD NEWS: for you to have a bit of idea how cool this place was, you can still visit and enjoy their other Cafés like Kaffeverket, Gastcafe or Kavallerietcafe.
Snickarbacken 7, 111 39 Stockholm, Sweden
FOTOGRAFISKA
I am not even a museum person, but as a photography geek, Fotografiska is one of my favourite museums all around the world. It is one of the world’s largest meeting point for contemporary photography and on the top floor, you also have a restaurant which recently won the prestigious Gold Dragon Award and is run by the well-known chef Paul Svensson.
NIGHTLIFE
Stockholm has one of the best options with trendsetting new eco-architecture and a diverse nightlife scene ranging from live jazz clubs like Fasching to some exotic cocktail bars like Tiki Room. And of course, if you happen to visit Stockholm somewhere from May ’till September you should check out Trädgården – an open-air club which has the authentic festival vibe. While walking around Stockholm on a Friday night you will end up having a lot of new, delicious cocktails & dreams.
To sum up my trip to Sweden I would definitely use the most Swedish word “Lagom” which means just “Right” or “just about enough, but not too much“. The word perfectly describes the Swedish cultural and social ideals of equality and fairness. Maybe that’s why I fell in love with Sweden so much, or maybe the Skarsgård brothers were another good reason.
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The Fedora Hat 