A Thousand Islands Cruise - Day Trip Through the Stockholm Archipelago

We traveled through the archipelago islands on the Waxholm III, an old archipelago ship.

It was dry, but the wind was quite cold during the trip, so we were glad to have our warm jackets with us.

First, we traveled through the inner archipelago, many of which are inhabited.

We saw large houses right by the water, each accompanied by a smaller cottage by the water and, of course, a dock and boat house.

Our first stop was Kymmendö, an island that belonged to the same family for 200 years starting in 1802.

It is particularly known in Sweden because the author August Strindberg spent several summers here - until he wrote a novel about the people on the island and was no longer welcome.

Our journey continued to the outer archipelago until we reached the island of Bullerö.

Here, the 31st National Park of Sweden is set to be opened on September 5th.

It is the first national park focused on marine life in the Baltic Sea.

Bullerö is the main entrance and we already saw the newly built entrance sign.

The island is famous for its rich bird life.

On the island, we followed the “Cultural Path,” which has also received completely new markings and was thus easy to find.

At first, we were a bit concerned, but we easily completed the short loop in time for the ship's departure.

The nature with rocks, heath, and beautiful views of the water particularly pleased us on Bullerö, and we would have liked to spend a bit more time here.

But now we continued until we reached Sandhamn.

It is a popular vacation island for the wealthy who can afford one of the not-so-cheap houses here.

Only about 100 people live permanently on the island, but it swells to more than 2000 in the summer.

The Swedish writer Viveca Sten also has a house here and has set her crime novels on the island.

The books were also filmed on-site for Swedish television.

Then we headed back to Stockholm.

Along the way, we were able to enjoy some sunshine that finally appeared in the evening.

In Stockholm, we still went to Gustav Adolf Torg, where the Stockholm Opera performed excerpts from its program as part of the cultural festival.

In addition to instrumental pieces, there were also songs with opera chorus or soloists from the opera house.

Through the old town, we then walked to the subway.