Hellasgården and walk in the Nacka Nature Reserve

29 May 2017

As an outdoor and nature loving couple visiting Stockholm in Spring, we looked forward to visiting the Hellasgården recreational area, located just 20 minutes by bus 401 from Slussen. Hellasgården is located within the Nacka nature reserve.

We did not have much prior information about the various hiking trails in the Nacka nature reserve. An information board at Hellasgården was useful to provide an overview of the options available.

Information board showing the various hiking routes within the Nacka nature reserve.

Zoomed in portion of the map.

Another version of the map marking the hiking or cycling or skiing (winter) trails.

We chose to do the 5 km loop trail, marked by the yellow line on the map. The overlapping green dotted line marks another longer route, extending from the 5 km route; providing options for 7, 10 or 12 km long trails.

The suggested route was to do the trail in an clockwise direction. We did the opposite and went anti-clockwise instead. This was because we wanted to do the longer section of the yellow route first and then decide later if we want to extend our walk when we come to the intersection with the green dotted trail.

The weather was around 16 degree C as forecasted. Slightly breezy, so a wind breaker was needed even though it was sunny. Perfect conditions for a walk in the woods.

Checking out the Källtorpssjön lake at Hellasgården before starting our walk. Besides fishing, there are sauna, kayaks, chalets or huts for rental too.

These are the photos taken during the walk.

 

Initial part of the walk.

Shortly after we started the walk, the wind breakers were removed as it got warmer once we were in the woods.

We did a slight detour to check out a wooden bridge across the Söderbysjön lake. This bridge is not to be missed as the views from it were beautiful.

Wooden bridge across the Söderbysjön lake.

Views of Söderbysjön Lake on a sunny day.

Enjoying the views from the wooden bridge across the Söderbysjön lake.

After returning to the original trail, we ascended slightly and went close to the cliff overlooking Söderbysjön. This was the place we left the trail and found a spot to have our picnic lunch overlooking the lake.

Tip: it is advisable to pack a picnic lunch and carry sufficient water as there is no food and drinks sold along the trail.

Picnic lunch at the cliff overlooking Söderbysjön.

After the slight ascend and descend near Söderbysjön, the rest of the trail was mostly flat and easy to walk. We did not meet many people along this trail, just an occasional cyclist or jogger. I was hoping to spot some wildlife, e.g. a moose would be nice, but no luck.

Coloured paint in yellow, green or white marking the various trails. 

 

The trail is marked with colour paint on the trees. The paint marking is mostly on one side of the trees, aimed at those hiking in the recommended clockwise direction.  We did the opposite, so we did not see most of these markings but it was not easy to get lost.

We took about 2 hours ( including lunch and photo stops) to complete the 5 km loop trail and returned to Hellasgården. Groups were seen having a BBQ by their chalets at Hellasgården.

We rested by the Källtorpssjön lake at Hellasgården for a moment before continuing on a walk on another trail by this lake. There were signs indicating that we were not to disturb any nesting ducks but we did not spot any duck nests despite keeping a lookout for them.

Källtorpssjön lake at Hellasgården.

Duck snoozing by the lake at Hellasgården on one leg.

Duck stretching its leg after waking up from its snooze.

This part of the trail had more people, with their dogs.

A small snake, probably an adder, that crossed our path.

A family with a big brown dog created some excitement on an otherwise quiet day. This dog really loves water. It was leaping into the lake with a loud splash, swam around, came up to the shore and then leaped back into the water again. Several times.

It was quite a good swimmer, going quite far out into the lake.

At one point, the dog spotted us and came to check us out. It looked like a big bear was swimming towards me.

Then it saw a swimming duck.

Drama by the lake!

Swimming dog stalking a swimming duck.

Thankfully, the duck could fly and made its escape.

The rocky shores of this lake is perfect for sun tanning.  We recce around the shore for a good place to do some sun tanning ourselves, we chanced upon a group of nude sun bathers. Mostly guys, on a secluded rocky outcrop!

We felt we were intruding into their private space, so we quickly moved off to another spot. We spent the rest of day lazing by the lake, away from the nudists, till evening.

Overall, a great and quiet day out in the Nacka nature reserve, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

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Free Museums to visit in Stockholm (Part 1) – Swedish History Museum and Nobel Museum

30 May 2017

For a visitor to Stockholm, one of the best things to do on days with bad weather would be to visit one or two of the many excellent museums located in town.

Many of these museums offer free entry! Some impose entrance fees on most days but are free to enter at specific day and time only. For example, the Nobel Museum has free admission on Tuesdays,  5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the Nordic Museum (Nordiska Museet) has free entry on Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. except June to August.

On this rainy day, we decided to visit the Swedish History Museum (Historiska Museet) in the afternoon. We took the subway to the Karlaplan Station and walked the short distance to the museum in light rain.

Like most museums in Stockholm, there is free lockers to deposit our backpacks containing our wet raingear at the Swedish History Museum.

There are free daily guided tours, conducted in English and Swedish, but we missed them.

The Swedish History Museum is one of the biggest museums in Sweden. In particular, I wanted to see one of the world’s largest Viking exhibits.

Runic stone exhibits at the Swedish History Museum.

The Viking age from AD 800 to AD 1050 is a short one, compared to the length of Swedish history. We already had a sneak peek of this period in Swedish history during our visit to Sigtuna, Sweden’s first town where we learned about the runic stones and saw some ruins of medieval churches.  Here, more runic stones could be seen.

There were also displays of the Norse mythology and their belief in life and beyond.

One of the many petroglyphs (picture stones) and scenes of legends associated with the pictures etched on the stones.  

One could spend many hours reading the information (in English and Swedish) next to the displays.

What really fascinated me was the 1:30 scale model representing the Viking age town Birka, in the Björkö island. I had contemplated making a boat trip to visit the island located in the middle of lake Mälaren in Stockholm when planning my itinerary. I was glad I did not make the trip. I think there is more to see and learn about Birka at this exhibit than at Björkö island. I may be wrong.

Model of Birka in AD800.  Photo of Björkö island in the back. 

The model shows how the town probably looked like in AD800.  There is the main street, running parallel to the shore, and 40 buildings separated by fencing and complete with watch towers. Some Viking boats were moored at the pier.

A good way to end the visit was to have something to eat and drink at the fantastic cafe before heading out to the Nobel Museum that has free admission on Tuesdays,  5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Else, the entry fee is 120 SEK per adult.

The Nobel Museum is located at Stortorget, a small public square in the middle of Gamla Stan. It was still raining slightly when we arrived and the museum was pretty crowded on this Tuesday evening. The Nobel Museum offers daily guided tours in English every day but we chose to wander around freely by ourselves.

The Nobel Museum would allow visitors to learn more about the Nobel Prize, its founder Alfred Nobel, as well as the Nobel Laureates and their creative endeavours. Being an engineer by training, I found some familiar names like Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Heisenberg, Röntgen, Marie Curie but struggled to remember the Physics I learnt in school so many years ago.

There were displays of a range of experiments from throughout Nobel history for us to read and in some cases even try our hands on. On this day, the museum was too crowded for me to spend time on these displays.

Instead, I learnt about the life of Alfred Nobel (1833–1896). He is the person who experimented with nitro-glycerine and invented the dynamite although his brother and some others died in explosions during the process. He made a fortune with his invention and also other works.  

On display in the museum are excerpts of his famous and controversial will. Alfred Nobel wrote in his will that physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace would each year receive a part of the revenues of his fortune. It was not surprisingly that his family opposed the establishment of the Nobel Prize. Also, some of the prize awarders he named refused to do what he had requested in his will!

The Nobel Prize was finally started 5 years later in 1901 and since then, prizes had been given to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind."

Noble Prize Medal in the form of a gold coin.

Another Noble Prize Medal in the form of a gold coin.

The Nobel prize ceremonies take place annually in the Stockholm City Hall, Sweden (with the exception of the peace prize, which is held in Oslo, Norway). Each recipient, or laureate, receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money that has been decided by the Nobel Foundation.

Overall, we had an interesting day at both the Swedish History Museum and Nobel Museum. 

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Free Museums to visit in Stockholm (Part 2) – Swedish Army Museum (Armémuseum)

31 May 2017

The Swedish Army Museum (Armémuseum) is one of the best museum I visited in Stockholm. And this museum is FREE!

Located in the midst of the posh Östermalm district of Stockholm at Riddargatan 13, it is within walking distance from the Ostermalmtorg subway station (Sibyllegatan exit).

When we arrived at the museum, the friendly staff on the entrance floor greeted us warmly and handed us a small information booklet of the museum and recommended that we take the lift to the 3rd floor and work our way down. That way, we get to experience Sweden's history of war and peace from the 16th century to the present day in chronological order.

Stepping out of the lift at the 3rd floor, we heard the noise of a group of chimps fighting.

This display actually tried to explain that war is natural and killing is in our blood. Even our close relatives, the chimps, kills their rivals to expand their territory. Men had been killing each other since 13,000 years ago and we are getting better at it over time.

There are interesting exhibits, with labels and signage in both English and Swedish. The life size dioramas show living conditions of the soldiers, their families and the general population during wartime and peacetime delivered information in an interesting and sometimes gruesome way.

One of the life size dioramas show living conditions of the soldiers and their families.

Although Sweden was not directly involved in the 2 major World Wars, there were many conflicts with the neighbours Denmark, Poland, Finland and Russia in their earlier history. Russian, Polish and Danish banners, and other trophies captured in war, were on display in a special room. 

A cuirass with a bullet dent on it. A sign of quality during those times.

I saw an interesting cuirass (a piece of armour consisting of breastplate and backplate fastened together) with a bullet dent on it. Worn by heavy cavalry during 1620 to 1650, the breastplate had to be bullet proof and so a test shot is always made at the finished armour to ensure its quality. In those days, don’t buy cuirass without a dent on it.

For the avid photographer, there are many photo opportunities with life-size and miniature figures of soldiers of past centuries, as well as scenes of the major battles of Swedish forces. There are dioramas of soldiers fighting in the woods, cavalry charge, cannon crew or freezing to death in winter.

Life size charging cavalry model at the top floor of the Swedish Army Museum (Armémuseum).

Try staring down the barrel of a gun held by this 16th Century infantry man. 

I loved the miniature armies set out on a large table!

The drummers at the front are the bravest. Imagine going into the battlefield without a weapon.

Close-up of the militiamen.

It was very interesting to learn how military disciplines were enforced during those times. Besides the usual imprisonment, lashings, there were some very creative punishments that include “riding the wooden horse”.

There was a mock up for visitor to try. Painful! I did not last more than a few seconds before I gave up. Imagine having to sit on it for a lengthy period of time.

The second floor of the museum deals with the 20th century and the two world wars.

There is a special area called the Raoul Wallenberg room. This is a mini-exhibition about Raoul Wallenberg, the man who saved tens of thousands of people from the Nazis.

WW2 history buff would enjoy seeing some of displays and photographs.

Uniforms worn by British paratrooper (left), German soldier (middle) and Russian soldier (right) during Second World War.

 

The enigma cipher machine used by the Germans during WW2. Unknown to them, the Allies managed to crack the code during the war and able to decipher all their coded messages.

The last section on the second floor showcases the technical development of weaponry.

I was on the lookout for the exhibit of the RBS 70 laser guided anti-aircraft missile. This was a weapon system that I was trained on during my days in the military service and it was with mixed feelings that I found it in the museum. Shows how old I am!

RBS 70 Laser guided Surface to Air (SAM) missile.

We tried handling the various rifles used across history ranging from the muskets to the modern semi-automatic rifle that is accurate to a range of 300m. There were also old army uniforms to try on.

Also seen were Swedish developed hardware such as the tracked all-terrain vehicle and the Ugglan (owl) drone or UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).

Ugglan (owl) drone.

Glass case displaying modern machineguns.

The ground floor of the museum hosts the temporary exhibitions. They were the War Games and photos from World War 1.

The War Games section (on display 24 Feb 2017 to 7 Jan 2018) was quite informative. We saw card games, board games like Risk and also various forms of chess from all over the world.

Chaturanga – Indian chess game that can be played by 2 to 4 players.

Shogi – Japanese strategy game. Predates the chess and related to the Chaturanga and Chinese Xiangqi.

Hnefatafl, a Scandinavia game depicting a chieftain and his bodyguards.

There are a few armoured vehicles, including one that showcase Sweden’s participation with the UN’s Peacekeeping forces outside the museum.

Swedish Army Museum (Armémuseum) with an armoured car in United Nations peace keeping livery in the foreground. 

Across the road from the museum, we took a photo of an impressive red brick building.

Royal Stables in the foreground.

This building is the Royal Stables, supplying the Royal Court with horse carriages and car transport.

I must say that the Army Museum exceeded my expectations. Even my wife enjoyed the 2 hours we spend in our visit. A must see when visiting Stockholm or the Östermalm area.

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