Ocean Bus Stockholm, Vasa Museum, Södermalm and Art in the Subway

Today was our last day in Stockholm. In the morning we had booked a city tour on the “Ocean Bus”.

The bus can drive both on land and in the water, which seemed like a great idea for a city made up of 14 islands.

The tour started in front of the Grand Hotel by the water and then made its way through downtown to Östermalm, which used to be a rural area outside the city. Today, it is the most expensive residential area in Stockholm.

Unfortunately, the cheerful tour guide demanded a dynamic audience right from the start in the morning who should participate. This didn't quite work out, but fortunately, we were sitting in the last row and were a bit hidden...

He entertainingly told us about the sights we passed by.

Finally, we reached the water and actually drove in with a “splash” (as advertised).

Because we had a slight lean at the start, a small Asian had to swap places with a hefty European...

In a cozy boat tour, we then went through the harbor.

At the same spot, we drove back onto land and did another round through the city, accompanied by music from ABBA and other Swedish artists.

After that, our two-person travel group split up because I had already been to the Vasa Museum twice, and therefore preferred to find a cozy café at the Skansen Open-Air Museum for a fika instead.

The Vasa Museum is one of the most famous museums in the Swedish capital.

It houses the royal warship “Vasa”, which was salvaged in 1961.

It sank in 1628 after about one kilometer on its maiden voyage - much to the annoyance of the king at that time, who wanted to showcase his power with the magnificent ship.

In the afternoon, we then went to Södermalm, Stockholm's open and creative island.

Once, this was a working-class district that has now turned into a neighborhood with artists and trendy cafés.

During the tour, we also had to tackle some elevation changes, as this part of Stockholm is very hilly.

There are some nice viewpoints toward the Old Town and Östermalm.

Overall, we found the district not as architecturally interesting as it was praised by our tour guide during the Old Town tour.

There were some nice corners and an everyday Stockholm with fewer tourists to see.

In the evening, we took the subway (Tunnelbana) again to see some of the stations that were designed by artists. The Stockholm subway hides 110 kilometers of art, spread across 90 different stations.

There are also guided tours to the most notable places, but we opted for a self-guided tour using websites that explained the individual artworks a bit.
Since we had to transfer there, our first stop was T-Centralen, the main train station.

When you go to the blue line, you see the works of Per Olof Ultvedt, a Swedish artist known for his kinetic art.

Here and at other stations, the rock has not been covered, but is still visible. These are the so-called “cave stations”, where the artists often painted their works directly onto the rocky surface.

First, we took the blue line to Hallonbergen, designed by artists Elis Eriksson and Gösta Wallmark.

The two were inspired by their childhood, perhaps in homage to the housing project of Hallonbergen above the ground, which gave rise to the neighborhood in the 1970s.

The artists also actually used drawings from their own childhood and pictures of their children as templates for the design.

Next, we went to the station “Solna Centrum”, named after the shopping center above it - which of course we didn’t see because we stayed underground.

The station is designed like a red cave, interrupted by various scenes in murals and dioramas depicting the forest landscape.

They show political documents from the 1970s in Sweden.

These include, for example, environmental destruction or deforestation.

Then we went to the station Stadshagen, which opened in 1975. It is named after the sports center above it.

Its design is also oriented to that, created by Lasse Lindqvist, who painted the folded aluminum panels on the platforms.

They depict two different but related scenes depending on which side you view them from.

The one platform shows summer and the other winter sports.

Finally, we visited the station Solna Strand, designed by Japanese artist Takashi Naraha.

Sky-blue cubes protrude from the gray background, often only partially visible.

The cubes are supposed to be like mirrors reflecting the blue sky above the earth.

As a contrast to the darkness of the cave, there is a black cube at the entrance of the station.
Since we had already spent some time exploring these stations - even though we always took the next train - it was already time to head back to the campsite.

This concluded our stay in the Swedish capital, and the next day we would head back to nature.