Today, I paid a visit to Birka, one of Sweden's UNESCO sites. It was once a Viking village, once the capital of Sweden and the first city of Sweden as trades were going on due to the Vikings. Just to make things clear, Viking is not an ethnicity, it is a job where one trades and conquers ships. As this activity is found mostly in Scandinavian country, it was associated to the Scandinavians.
Birka, on the island of Björkö (literally: "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia and Finland as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö. Birka was founded around AD 750 and it flourished for more than 200 years. It was abandoned c. AD 975, around the same time Sigtuna was founded as a Christian town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people.
The archaeological sites of Birka and Hovgården, on the neighbouring island of Adelsö, make up an archaeological complex which illustrates the elaborate trading networks of Viking Scandinavia and their influence on the subsequent history of Europe. Generally regarded as Sweden's oldest town, Birka (along with Hovgården) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. A silver ring from a Viking-era grave in Birka is the first ring with Arabic inscription from that era found in Scandinavia. Source from Wikipedia.
We took a steam boat to the island from Södertälje. To get to Södertälje, we took the commuter train and alighted at Södertälje Centrum. The tickets for the steam boat ride were bought at Södertälje's tourist center. There are no online ticket sales. A return ticket costs SEK300. It was cloudy and windy that day. Brr..
Here is a brief history on the steam boat, Ejdern. It made its maiden voyage in 1880 and is still functioning well till today. We sat next to the machine room and could see the seaman shovelling coal into the fire where the fire will heat the water and the steam that is produced moves the ship. There were coffee, tea and cakes sold on the boat. My friend got a cup of coffee for SEK20 and it includes second round.
The boat does not have a huge interior. Be prepared to bring your own blanket or seat pad because the chairs are cold. There are blankets on the boat too which I managed to got hold of one. Yes, I needed one despite me sitting next to the machine room.
There is one toilet on the boat and the flush was not functioning. So, I am glad to be one of the first few users.
We reached the island after a 1 hour 45 minutes boat ride. I had no idea what we were supposed to do on the island. It was close to noon when we arrived. We have to take the 3pm boat back. So, that did not give us much to do on the island. I asked the staff in the restaurant and found out that one visits the museum and there is a guided tour to the archaeological site.
The museum is not located far from the jetty. It was about a 100m walk. You cannot miss it at all. It was a small museum but the figurines inside were carved with so much details. They were beautiful artwork. If one comes separately i.e. in a private boat, the museum and guided tour fees cost SEK150. Or if you choose either one, it will cost SEK100 each.
The English guided tour was at 12.30pm and the Swedish's guided tour was at 1.30pm. We took the English tour. And there was a whole bunch of other tourists who joined the tour too. When I said a whole bunch, I am referring to about 50 people!
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