A very windy day today despite being summer. It was chilly for me but because it is summer, there is no excuse to stay at home. Today's outing to Vaxholm. A bucket list checked for me. Vaxholm, despite being located in the archipelago can be reached by bus too.
Vaxholm, just an hour's ferry ride from Stockholm, is often referred to as the capital of the archipelago. People here have lived off herring fishing for many generations. In the 1500s, King Gustav Vasa decided to put the defence of Stockholm's inlet here. It was the beginning of what would be almost 500 years of military history for Vaxholm residents. The Citadel still stands on the strait just outside the city. A visit there will bring you back to a time when the old fortress was its own little society populated by senior military offers and their wives, soldiers, servants and prisoners. Source from Stockholm Archipelago.
Expenses incurred for this trip:
1) Ferry ticket managed by Waxholmsbolaget - SEK158 for a return ticket
2) Boat to Vaxholm Fortress Museum on Vaxholm - SEK50 for a return ticket
3) Vaxholm Fortress Museum entrance fee - SEK80
4) Lunch (Codfish soup) - SEK185
5) Ice-cream - SEK45 (no photos)
We took the ferry that is managed by Waxholmsbolaget. The jetty is located about Grand Hotel. It took us about 50 minutes to get to Vaxholm.
Upon arrival, we headed towards the jetty for the boat that will take us to Vaxholm Fortress Museum I was surprised that it costs SEK50 for a return tour because the journey was so short. I thought it will be cheaper but I guess since this is not a place that tourists will come twice plus it is summer, why not?
The Fortress! Source from Vaxholm Fastning.
The history of the Vaxholm Fortress begins early in the 16th century, with the construction of a blockhouse on Vaxholm by Svante Nilsson Sture, the Regent. The king Gustav Vasa instructed the governor of Stockholm to replace the blockhouse with a stone tower and to fill the narrow passage of Oxdjupet with rocks, this work was completed in 1839.
A Danish attack was repelled in 1612, and in 1719 the Russians were prevented from reaching Stockholm. In the 1870s, the defensive emphasis shifted from Vaxholm Fortress to the strait Oxdjupet. In 1876, Oxdjupet was opened to traffic and a new fort - Oscar-Fredriksborg - was built. Since the turn of the century, the forces defending the archipelago have moved their positions outwards, ultimately reaching the outermost perimeter of the Stockholm archipelago islands.
Opened 1947 at Oscar-Fredriksborg fort, and moved to Vaxholm Citadel, where it reopened in 1964. In 2003 the museum has been totally restored. The museum’s indoor department occupies thirty beautiful rooms and halls on both floors of the west section. Visitors see the fortress as it was in 1854, and can enter one of the Citadel’s bombproof vaults and see how things were during the Crimean War.
The boat that transports us to and fro from fortress. It has a designated track under the waters and it is pulled by a wire. We went inside the Fortress Museum too. It has been a long time since I paid for a museum's ticket so I thought it was expensive too.
My fish soup. I took soup because I needed something warm. I was draped in 3 layers of blanket. It was blowing really hard in Vaxholm.
We took the 4pm ferry back to Stockholm. What a lovely day!
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