Overnight Ferry to Sweden + Day #1 in Stockholm (Gamla Stan + Ghost Tour)

For the first time in my life, I spent the night at sea!

The cheapest way to get from Helsinki to Stockholm ended up being an overnight ferry. I had mixed feelings going into it about being crammed into a tiny cabin with the rest of my family, but ended up having the most restful night’s sleep on our trip so far. It must have been the subtle rocking motion of the water?

I’m getting ahead of myself; let’s rewind a bit.

I know I said I was done mentioning anything about Helsinki, but then I remembered I took a few pictures after we had packed up and were ready to leave our apartment.

It was a great little spot. And, like Vienna, I felt a bit sad closing the door for the last time.

Once again, this is what we had to take with us: four small wheeled suitcases, four backpacks, and a cotton tote with some snacks.

Poor Indy drew the short straw again—metaphorically speaking, no straws were actually drawn!—and slept on the couch for the duration of our trip. I thought it was important Belle had her own space whenever we had that option. The privacy needs of a 15-year-old girl wildly outpace those of a tween boy.

I loved this kitchen!

The glassed-in balcony was wonderful, but it wasn’t heated or insulated so we basically never used it because it was SO cold.

A picture on our final walk to the public transit stop closest to our apartment.

We took a tram to the ferry terminal.

And then we boarded the Silja Symphony boat from the Tallink Silja Line ferry company.

It was my first time on a ship this big, and my first time spending a night at sea.

We’re not really shoppers, so this indoor mall space was lost on us, but it was a busy spot by the early evening.

After dropping off the bags in our cabin, John and I went to the top deck to watch the ship pull out of the harbour. (The kids wanted to stay below and watch a movie. Sigh.)

This provides a great perspective on just how prominent the Helsinki Cathedral is on the city skyline.

This Viking Line ship traveled close behind us on the same route to Stockholm. It’s a very popular ferry crossing.

The sun even came out as we made our way across the Baltic Sea.

I wasn’t very hungry, so John took the kids to get some food while I read a book in our cabin. Later in the evening, after we had watched a movie (Project Hail Mary, it was good!), Indy wanted to FaceTime his best friend back in Nova Scotia.

We took the call up on the top deck at 10:45 pm. And it was still so bright I could have read a book. Wild!

It’s bedtime and still very bright outside.

Those little white specks off in the distance are other ships!

Here’s a little peek at our cabin. It was tiny, but efficiently arranged. The beds all fold down from the wall, there’s plenty of space to store luggage under the bottom bunks, and everyone that took a shower raved about the water pressure.

And, best of all, I slept so well!

In fact, I slept so soundly, I missed most of the navigation through the many inlets and channels leading into Stockholm.

After docking, we took a train to our hotel which, despite being outside the heart of Stockholm, ended up being incredibly conveniently located. It was on a main transit line, so we were able to quickly drop off our bags and get back into the central core of the city.

Our first stop was the former site of the Kreditbanken in Norrmalmstorg Square. In 1973 there was a hostage situation/attempted bank robbery where, in the end, the captives sided with their captors. This phenomenon was originally referred to as Norrmalmstorg Syndrome before becoming… Stockholm Syndrome.

Yes. This is THE site of the root of Stockholm Syndrome which is now broadly considered to be: the response of a captive or victim where they develop an emotional attachment, empathy, or loyalty toward their abuser.

Next we walked by the Royal Palace.

And then Storkyrkan—the oldest church in Stockholm, dating back to 1279. The peachy-pink exterior is very striking! This is the site of Swedish royal weddings and coronations. Very conveniently located so near to the palace!

We admittedly didn’t pursue Nobel Prize-related attractions (Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, and all the Nobel Prizes—except the Nobel Peace Prize, that gets handed out in Oslo, Norway—are awarded in the city.)

Anyhoo, there is a Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm! We took a picture and then I wrote a few sentences about it.

It’s located in Stortorget, the oldest and most picturesque square in the Old Town of Stockholm (Gamla Stan). This area is considered to be one of the best-preserved medieval city centers in all of Europe.

We were getting hungry so we stopped at a restaurant in the square claiming to have the best Swedish meatballs in the city. A bold claim, and one I can’t definitively corroborate, but they were delicious served alongside creamy mashed potatoes, simple pickled cucumbers, and lingonberries! I mean, I HAD to have Swedish meatballs in Sweden, right?

After we had enjoyed a leisurely lunch (I was the only person to get meatballs; the boys both got toast skagen—a very traditional dish of toast topped with a shrimp/prawn salad, and Belle got a cheesy garlic loaf), we headed off to see Iron Boy (or, The Boy Who Looks at the Moon or, in Swedish, Järnpojke). Whatever you want to call him, he’s the smallest sculpture in Stockholm.

At less than 6 inches tall, he’s tiny. But people come to see the statue and then leave coins and other little trinkets/tokens beside him for good luck.

The sculpture is tucked away in this cute little courtyard.

We popped into a few souvenir shops looking for the requisite keychains. There were lots of Pippi Longstocking dolls. She’s a beloved national character, created by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.

Next up was Mårten Trotzigs Gränd: the narrowest alley in Stockholm. At its smallest point, it gets down to a width of 36 inches/90 centimeters. We love this sort of quirky adventuring. You could say it was right up our alley. PUN INTENDED.

You had to know this meant some climbing!!

There are so many quaint cobblestone streets.

We got this great aerial view of the city from the free viewing platform Katarinahissen (The Katarina Elevator). You go up the elevator 40 m (it was nice not to be taking stairs for the view after climbing so many towers on this trip). Plus, the price is right 🙂

I loved how the waterfront and buildings were all reflected in the glass windows of this building.

We navigated to the Monteliusvägen viewpoint. It is lovely, especially with lilacs in bloom.

We could spot the iconic Stockholm City Hall across the water. This is where the Nobel Prize banquet is held every year after the awards ceremony. We didn’t have time to visit, but from the pictures I saw online, the interior looks spectacular.

Here’s Indy posing with a statue of famous Swedish musician and author Evert Taube. The matching sunglasses are a nice touch.

In Sweden, in its simplest form, fika means a coffee and cake break. But it’s basically a state of mind in their culture. People stop and slow down and enjoy life (and treats) in the middle of every day. Most workplaces in Sweden build fika into their workday. And nothing is more iconic than indulging in a cinnamon or cardamom bun.

I opted for cardamom (though I likely would have preferred cinnamon, cardamom just isn’t something that’s used much in Canada, so it felt more authentic).

Delicious!

We stopped by the famous St. George & The Dragon Statue.

I paused to admire all the picture-perfect cafes and shops. So cute!

About this point in the day, we wandered by a poster for a Haunted Ghost Walk through Gamla Stan and we spontaneously signed up for an evening tour.

Since we now had an evening anchor activity, we set about filling the rest of the afternoon.

I also LOVED all the giant planters that seemed to be absolutely everywhere around the city and filled with flowers.

Clearly, it had been too long since his last tree pose.

Back to perhaps the most iconic building on Gamla Stan: Ribbinska Huset. Legend has it that each of the white stones in this building represent the murder of a Swedish noble.

At one point we wandered by another portion of the Royal Palace and got to watch the changing of the guard.

And then it was time for the Ghost Walk.

Our tour guide had a thick Scottish accent (and was admittedly a bit tricky to understand sometimes), but he was engaging and fun.

There was one other family with kids slightly younger than ours. The boy in the family was… a handful but in a devious, naughty way which his parents seemed to think was funny. They never did anything to try to corral him. You could tell that the tour guide was getting more and more irritated, but he handled it well.

The happy side effect for our kids was they got asked to do all the interactive bits because the tour guide didn’t feel like he could trust the other boy to follow the rules.

The English term blood-bath stems from this very square during the Stockholm Massacre in 1520. There were so many executions over three days (about 100) that the streets ran red and it was said you could bathe in all the blood. Horrific and… now you know the root of the saying.

Indy on the chopping block for dramatic effect.

At one point in the tour, our guide was talking about all the victims of various plagues and pandemics. For the previous few minutes he’d been coughing periodically but in a VERY realistic way. Earlier in the day, we’d seen another group running through this exact part of the tour so we knew what was going to happen but the other people on our tour were completely unaware.

All of a sudden, he had a giant cough into his white handkerchief and it filled with “blood.” I can’t decide if it was more dramatic knowing it was coming or not.

The kids loved this part.

Here he’s having Belle eat a piece of “dried rat”—I can’t remember why, but it had a purpose in one of the stories. Obviously it wasn’t dried rat but, again, a fun touch.

It was a fun way to explore the city and it was especially interactive for the kids.

After the tour wrapped up, we grabbed some salad kits and sandwiches from a grocery store and took the train back to our hotel. I never did manage to take a picture, but I think this was my favourite hotel ever with kids. They had bunk beds, hardwood floors, and the BEST breakfast buffet.

And that’s a wrap on our first day in Stockholm.

Your turn.

• Ghost tours—yes or no?
• Did you know the origin story behind Stockholm Syndrome?
• Cinnamon or cardamom?