Exploring Djurgarden Island Sept 4, 2024

 Today we spent the day on Djurgarden.

We took the public ferry, included in our 3-day pass to the island, about a 15 minute ride. The day was warm and summer-like, so great to be on the water. 

Vasa a HUGE ship

  Our first stop: the Vasa Museum dedicated entirely to the Vasa, a war ship which sank on its maiden voyage in 1685.

It was a victim of poor engineering, too narrow and top heavy with not enough ballast. It went down with all hands, about fifty people. 

It was rediscovered in 1959 and it took a herculean effort to raise her from the bottom. Deep sea divers with 100 kilograms of weight explored the wreck. Divers hand dug 6 tunnels under the ship, of about one square meter. It was dangerous and must have been claustrophobic.

  After 333 years in the mud, she was raised in 1961 and put into dry dock.

  An impressive museum now houses the huge ship. It is impressive and 98% of the ship is original. It is covered by carved statues along the stern and the sides and scientists have replicated the original colors. They are imperial and war-like and include Greek, Roman and Christian gods as well as Scandinavian spirits. Over 12,000 artifacts were recovered when the ship was raised.

   The hatches for the cannons reveal fierce lions. Fifty of the original cannons were retrieved.

Skansen Open Air Folk Museum

   After the Vasa Museum, we took a trolley to Skansen, a vast open-air folk museum with over 150 reconstructed buildings from an entire town square to manor houses and farms. We did not walk the entire site which is large. Different parts of the museum represent the different regions of Sweden. We did not go to the zoo or the aquarium.

   Then we walked along the shoreline to Skroten Restaurant where Mark had fish and chips and Barbara had a salad with tofu, lettuce, seaweed, mango, pickled ginger and pickled onions. There was also flat bread. The food was good, but a bit expensive. The atmosphere along the docks was great.

    From there, we walked back to the ferry and home. 

    After a break, we decided to take the subway to Sodermalm, a neighboring island. We had hoped to find a cliff place to watch the sunset, but we gave up after quite a bit of walking and found another spot to watch the sunset.

Looking toward Gamla Stan and the German Church near our flat.

A lovely end to our day