Stockholm Archipelago Tour – Joel’s Journeys & Jaunts

In this morning’s post, I teased a midday activity that would take place from noon until 3:00 today. This is it, a boat tour through a portion of the Stockholm Archipelago.

I know what you’re thinking. “Joel, that’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Your foot was bothering you for a few days. Resting it for three hours while you relax and enjoy the water and islands on a cruise is just the tonic. Fabulous! Huge kudos on your outstanding cleverness. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know you had it in you to be so smart, but it was pure genius. And I noticed in the couple of outdoor pictures you posted from your walk to Moderna Museet this morning that the sun was shining brightly. What a fabulous day you chose for a cruise. Bravo. And now that I’ve mentioned your entry about Moderna Museet, allow me to say that I loved it. I totally loved it. However, I’m hesitant to mention it because I think all of your posts are fantastic. I didn’t mean to suggest that it was only that one. You are such an absolutely fabulous writer!”

Thank you so very much for your compliments! But, sheesh. You do go on, don’t you? In the future, please try to be a little more concise. I’ve got to catch a plane home in two and a half days. I don’t want to spend all of that time on this post.

And thanks, but my cleverness had nothing to do with it. I planned to take a Stockholm Archipelago tour before I even left for this trip. At that point, I had no idea my foot would cause me pain. So, that didn’t factor into it in the least.

I didn’t buy a ticket for the Stockholm Archipelago Tour until two days ago because I wanted to do the cruise on a day with nice weather. I have zero confidence in weather forecasts more than two days out. My confidence level two days out is less than 100 percent, but it worked out.

And as for resting my tootsies, that part didn’t work out anyway.

The boat has indoor areas with tables and a snack bar. There’s also a restaurant, but you have to have already booked a lunch cruise to get in there. When I booked the tour, I didn’t know there was a lunch option. But that didn’t matter. I booked the Stockholm Archipelago cruise to see the scenery, and not through a window.

Outside, there were some very small seating areas with movable chairs. The boat had narrow, outdoor aisles running for some of the length of the ship on the port and starboard sides. Short benches ran along about, probably, a quarter of the length of each aisle.

I arrived at the pier twenty minutes before the departure time. It wasn’t early enough. By the time I boarded, all of the outdoor seats were taken, including the short benches.

I took a spot in the outdoor standing room area and stood for most of the almost three-hour cruise. Although I did go inside for about ten minutes to have a sandwich. I sat down to eat it. Plus, I snagged a seat for about another ten minutes while someone went to the snack bar or toilets or wherever it was they went. I gave them back their seat when they returned.

I spent much of my time standing on one foot, my right foot, with my misbehaving left foot slightly raised. For some of that time, I held onto the railing at the side of the ship to maintain my balance. And the aisle was narrow enough that, for the rest of the time, I could rest my bum on the wall between the outdoor aisle and the interior of the boat, thereby balancing and having my bum absorb some of my weight, and still be close enough to the railing that no one could stand in front of me and block my view.

The wall I leaned against had a solid, sturdy wall only up to a little below my normal bum level. Above that was a window. So I angled my legs slightly to lower my bum so it was against the wall, rather than against the window. Otherwise, I had visions of crashing through the window when I put my weight on it, which would have somewhat dampened my enjoyment of the cruise.

But enough about that. You probably want to hear about the cruise.

Stockholm Archipelago Commentary

The scenery along the Stockholm Archipelago tour was spectacular. Being an archipelago, there were lots of islands. Otherwise, they would have had to call it something else. Those islands had rocks and greenery. And being islands, not, say, mainland, there was a lot of water between them.

There was a live, running commentary in Swedish and English throughout almost the whole tour. Yes, live. None of this AI nonsense I experienced on the 50-minute Stockholm boat tour I took the other day. Yes, humans can still speak garbage, but at least it’s human garbage delivered directly. It’s not human garbage siphoned off the internet, jumbled together and then regurgitated by a machine. Harrumph.

Most of the islands had homes on them. The bigger islands had small communities on them. Stockholm itself or, maybe, suburbs of it, I’m not sure, extends for a fair distance beyond Gamla Stan and central Stockholm.

When I say, most of the islands had homes, I say “most” only because it’s entirely possible I missed some that didn’t. But all I saw had a structure on it.

We passed a couple of islands that were barely big enough for a hut, and boom, there was a hut on it. I think summering in the archipelago is a thing for the people of Stockholm.

At one point, we passed an island with, I think, two or three dwellings on it. The commentator said that the company that runs the cruise I was on owns that island, and you can rent the whole island.

The woman who gave the commentary spoke perfect English, with a posh accent. I don’t know what her Swedish is like, but I think she’s a Swede.

She only took a few short breaks in her commentary. During those breaks, she walked around the non-restaurant areas of the boat and answered any questions anyone had. It was all very wonderful.

She told us about the buildings we passed, the islands we passed, and a bit about their history and communities. Of course, I forget most of what she said.

However, I did remember some things.

There are about 30,000 islands in the Stockholm Archipelago.

At one point, we passed through a channel between two Stockholm Archipelago islands—one of which I think had services, but not the other—the commentator said people live on them year-round. She said that the average temperature in the winter is -1°C. (For the benefit of Fahrenheit people, the freezing point of water at sea level is 0°C) The water in the archipelago is brackish, but not saltwater. If it stays below 0° long enough, the water can freeze over.

The cruise company that runs the cruise I was on runs that particular cruise year-round. When it gets cold, the residents on the island ask the company to use a different channel so the boat won’t break up any ice that forms. The ice will, if it stays cold long enough, get thick enough that the residents can walk between the islands. The company complies.

We passed by six small islands that are named after the days of the week. The story the commentator gave us is that there used to be a farmer who had some livestock that grazed on the islands. He moved them from island to island every day to give the grass a chance to grow back. (I missed what kind of livestock it was. I assume sheep or goats because cows would probably be too big to load onto a farmer’s boat.) I don’t know how the livestock felt about being loaded onto a boat and moved to another island each day, but I don’t imagine they got a vote.

The islands were named for the day of the week when the cattle grazed on that island. There was no Sunday island because on Sunday, you’re supposed to rest. Did anyone tell the livestock that?

You can take ferries to a number of the Stockholm Archipelago’s islands. Whenever we passed one where the company that runs the Stockholm Archipelago tour I was on runs a ferry to, the commentator told us about the ferry and whether it was a high-speed ferry.

The tour turned around at Vaxholm, a multi-island town and the capital of the Stockholm Archipelago. We didn’t dock there, but the town looked charming from a bit of a distance. The company runs a high-speed ferry there.

We turned around there, but the Stockholm Archipelago continues. It’s gorgeous.

As we got closer to Stockholm, the commentator told us that the prime season for the tours starts tomorrow, Friday, June 27th this year. Then, the company runs many more Stockholm Archipelago tours, including one that lasts 12 hours, includes food and beverages, and stops at some of the islands, with guided tours on those islands.

I honestly would have thought that it would already be high season by now, almost at the end of June. I think the season goes to almost, but not quite, the end of August. So, if you’re coming to Sweden and you want more options for Stockholm Archipelago tours, plan accordingly. Of course, Stockholm might be drowning in tourists during the high season. I don’t know.