25 May 2017
“Drottningholm Palace is Sweden's best preserved royal palace constructed in the seventeenth century, the permanent residence of the royal family and one of Stockholm's three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.”
When I read this about Drottningholm Palace, we decided to head out there. OK, I was actually more interested to explore the huge garden at the Palace ground instead of the interiors of the palace itself.
The palace is located on the outskirt of the city but access was easy. Tourists who stayed in Stockholm city center could take a regular boat service from Stadshuskajen (the City Hall Quay) to Drottningholm. For us, we made use of our SL Access 7-days Travelcard and took the subway (Tunnelbana) to Brommaplan and changed to a bus to Drottningholm.
Once we alighted from the bus, we could see the palace across the road. There were some beautiful spring flowers on sale outside the visitor center cum gift shop and cafe.
These were some of the photos we took before we even go see the palace. Fancy names were given to the varieties on display.
It was a good thing we came on a weekday morning. We practically had the lake in front of the palace to ourselves.
To see the interior of the Palace, a ticket is required and can be purchased online, at the visitor center or at the palace entrance. We did not go into the palace as our aim was to explore and take walks in the huge garden on the palace grounds.
These were some of the photos shot at the garden at the rear of the palace.
The Baroque garden next to the palace looked very similar to the garden of the Palace of Versailles in France. The architect who designed the garden actually took inspirations from there.
The garden was very large. It was a good idea to shoot a photo of the above map near the front entrance.
One of the highlights in the garden is a building called the Guard’s Tent, built in 1782.
The building was actually barracks for the palace guards. The design came from the Swedish King Gustav himself. It was modelled after Turkish tents he saw at the palace of the French King when King Gustav went to visit King Louis of France.
Confused?
To make you even more confused, the tents were actually made of sheet metal! Painted to resemble canvas. It is used to cover a 2 storey wooden building inside.
Near to the Guard’s Tent is the Chinese Pavilion. This is another key attraction at the Drottningholm Palace.
This Chinese pleasure palace was actually a surprise birthday present from King Adolf Fredrik to Queen Lovisa Ulrika on her birthday in 1753.
“Surprise!”
Yes. I was surprised that there was a Chinese Pavilion in a Swedish garden. It seemed that Sweden and China had bilateral relationships back in the 17th century.
The original wooden building was replaced in the 1760s by a more permanent one, which today contains one of the finest European rococo interiors with chinoiserie and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
There was a cafe near the Chinese Pavilion, located inside an old stone building. That was the only place selling food within the huge garden. Since we did not pack a picnic lunch (we should have!), we topped up our energy with coffee and some snacks there.
Spring was the perfect time to visit a garden.
There were plenty of colourful blooms on display near the Chinese Pavilion.
Even the lawn looked nice with the yellow dandelions!
We took about 2.5 hours to cover only about half of the palace garden. The other half of the garden, on the other side of the Baroque garden, is around lakes and waterways. Not to be missed too.
I enjoyed seeing the locals bringing their dogs for a romp in the garden.
This is also a perfect place for getting a tan or a picnic.
Although we did not venture into the interiors of the palace, it was the walks in the huge garden that we enjoyed.
Answer to “Guess the name of this flower”. This flower is called “Mickey”. It does has looked a bit like the famous Disney mouse.
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