Contiki Scandinavia - Sweden

Oh Sweden, how I’ve waited to visit you. The home of Ikea, Ikea meatballs and most importantly, Abba. Being a girl who grew up watching Mamma Mia as well as having an impeccable taste in music, it was no surprise that I ended up loving Abba and their music. Anyway, enough about music and more about Sweden! We were travelling to the quirky capital of Stockholm for a couple of days before the final leg of our journey into Finland. The drive took us across the border from Norway into Sweden as we waved goodbye to the fjords, and waved hello to the beautiful Swedish countryside. We passed the largest lake in Sweden, Lake Vanern, covering 5,655 square kilometres. Stockholm is notably unique, in its abundance of boutique bars and bustling nightlife. It is known as having some of the best nightlife in Europe!

We knew that the few nights were going to be heavy in the alcohol department, and light in the sleep department. So, most of us took the time to have a long nap as we cruised towards the capital. The one thing I’ll mention about Contiki trips is that there is a partying atmosphere, and it’s certainly something that group travel has implemented into me; the love of nights out in big cities! There’s truly no better feeling that partying with your new Contiki friends in the bustling nightclubs of Europe, I promise.

But the partying hadn’t started yet, or had it? What better film to put on as we drove through Sweden than Mamma Mia! I’m not ashamed to say that I do know most of the words to the script, and all the words to the songs. Fortunately, so did a lot of the group. So, we sang our hearts out as we entered the city of Stockholm.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we all ran up to the rooms to shower and get ready for the night ahead. We had a full agenda for the evening and there was a definite buzz in the air. The first stop of the evening was dinner, I don’t think any of us dared to drink on an empty stomach, although it may have been cheaper! We arrived at the little restaurant where the waiter took us two floors underground to a cosy little candlelit room. It was quite the squeeze for the entire group, but they welcomed us with open arms. They spoilt us with endless rounds of bread and wine before our three-course meal arrived. By the end of the meal, we were full to the point of feeling bloated, but we knew that this was exactly what we needed before the night ahead.

Our trip manager took us to our next stop, the iconic Stockholm Ice Bar! We put on the enormous coats before heading into the artic temperatures of the bar itself. Being a Brit, I didn’t find it uncomfortably cold, I mean we wear dresses and skirts when there’s snow on the ground. However, the Australian members of the group didn’t find it as ‘refreshing’. The drinks are served in fist-sized hollow ice cubes! Even the bar itself, the seats and tables are all made from ice. I suppose that is why it’s called the Ice Bar, duh! All the ice is harvested from the Torne River which is located on the border between Sweden and Finland, where the Ice Bar franchise first began. Everything in the bar must be rebuilt every six months, for somewhat obvious reasons… The Ice Bars are found in most major city in Northern Europe, from London to Amsterdam, Oslo to Copenhagen, Cologne to Manchester. This was my first time visiting and ice bar, and I can guarantee that it won’t be my last!

The final stop of the night was at one of the cities many nightclubs! Nightclubs are difficult to get into, especially for large groups but fortunately our trip manager knew someone who worked in one of the clubs. Our trip manager left before we discovered that the club didn’t have a dance floor! So, we chatted as the bar filled up and questioned whether we should attempt to get into another club or stay here. As we drunk our extortionately priced drinks, the bouncers suddenly barged past us and opened up the underground nightclub! It had three different rooms playing a variety of genres, I can only remember two of the rooms playing current music in one and classics in the other, as far as the third room goes, I never found it! We drank and drank as the hours flew by before it was time to head back to the hotel. We managed to round up as many drunken Contiki souls as we could before bundling them all into taxis. After we were certain that we had got all the group out, we got a taxi for ourselves… except our driver seemed to get a bit lost, or maybe he couldn’t understand our drunken directions! He dropped us off in a random car park out of the city before driving off quickly. Fortunately, I had got a taxi with three guys, I can guarantee that I wouldn’t have been so at ease if I was the leader of a group of drunken girls! We spotted our hotel in the distance, so we headed back, stopping off randomly to explore the empty car parks. Stockholm is far enough North that it does have the midnight sun too, so even though it was nearly 4am, it was still somewhat light outside… or maybe that was just the sun rising? Either way we made it back to our rooms eventually!

With only three hours sleep under my belt, I decided to skip breakfast to have a much-needed shower to wake me up! I was slightly hungover, who wasn’t?! But today was one of the important days, today we were visiting the Abba Museum.

Our trip manager dragged us onto the coach before a quick drive to the museum. Now, I’ve heard many cures for a hangover; eating a full breakfast (whoops), staying hydrated and even taking supplements. But I can confirm that I found the ultimate cure… Abba music and karaoke! The Abba museum is highly interactive, with mini games and as previously mentioned, an amazing karaoke machine. We could have spent all day in there but our time in the Swedish capital was limited and there was a lot more to do and see!

The rest of the day was spent exploring and getting our bearings, as well as shopping endlessly! We did get to see the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. It was a huge parade of guards, horses, a band and police cars, it lasted about 40 minutes and the music was a unique touch! The music sounded oddly circus like though compared to the traditional militaristic music which is played in most other ceremonies.

We ate so much, probably to soak up all the alcohol from the night before! Stockholm was also where we all discovered our love for Joe and The Juice smoothies, which also helped to cool us down from the warm Swedish sunshine. As the evening drew close, our trip manager picked us up and took us back to the hotel where we were having tea. The bar unfortunately wasn’t open so we headed out to ‘attempt’ to buy some alcohol that we could drink in the rooms. However, Sweden’s odd drinking laws did prevent this. Petrol stations and local stores are forbidden to sell wine or spirits. These drinks can only be bought in a government founded store called Systembolaget. Stockholm of course did have an abundance of these, but typically, no where near our hotel! Instead, we found a rather large supermarket which sold cider! The alcohol content was only 3.5% which meant that it could be bought from these ‘normal stores.’ So, we had a drunken night on cider, something I haven’t done since I was about 16! If you ever find yourself heading to Sweden, make sure you stock up on duty free en route…

Cider, tequila and Jägermeister made for a strange mix of drinks, but needless to say, none of us suffered a hangover the next morning! I actually managed to attend breakfast, and it was definitely the best one out of the entire trip. It had every pastry you could imagine, so I knew I would be satisfied!

This was our final day in Stockholm, and no visit to Stockholm is complete without visiting the incredible Vasa Museum. The museum is home to the Vasa ship, which capsized and sank in the Stockholm harbour in 1628. It stayed there underwater for hundreds of years before it was excavated, salvaged and brought to its current home in a specially designed museum next to the harbour. Nowadays, the Vasa Ship is the world’s best preserved 17th century ship and the Vasa Museum is the most visited museum in Scandinavia! After entering the museum, it was clear to see why. The true scale of the ship was difficult to judge until we realised how small the people on the 7th floor looked. Even the photos don’t do it justice as it doesn’t show how tall the masts are, which go straight through the ceiling and roof, so they can only be seen from outside the museum. Needless to say, it was a truly breath-taking experience, and an excellent insight into Viking life and 17th century Sweden.

After gazing at the giant ship and roaming around the museum, it was time to do some last-minute souvenir shopping and most importantly, finding a Hawaiian shirt for tonight’s ‘shit shirt’ party en route to Helsinki. Fortunately, Stockholm is the home to H&M, so we all enjoyed buying our ridiculous outfits for another boozy night ahead.

The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the Royal Palace of Stockholm, the official residence of the Swedish Monarch. It is where the changing of the guard’s procession finishes, in one of the many squares of the palace. The palace and Royal Family have been guarded constantly since 1523! We wandered through the quiet squares and churches to use up the final few hours of our time in Stockholm.

Sweden, you’ve been charmingly contagious and highly entertaining, but it was our time to head to our fourth and final country on the trip. Hello Finland, country number 23.