Trip to Vaxholm Island [06 Sep 09]

 

“Of course Stockholm is wonderful. However, many visitors are unaware of its most spectacular feature – the archipelago. This magnificent maritime landscape of more than 30,000 islands, islets and skerries, of which just some one thousand are inhabited, is unique in the world”

Once you have read the above excerpt taken from here, how can you not plan to visit this so called “most spectacular feature” of Stockholm. And so, the very next week of my arriving here, we planned a trip to “Vaxholm Island”, one of the many inhabited islands in the Stockholm archipelago.

How to reach…

 
View from the bus

As told to us, the best way to reach Vaxholm is by one of the ferries that start from “Slussen” shore. They charge something around 100 SEK for a return trip. Instead, we decided to save even that amount, and use the state transport for which we have the monthly travel pass. So we discovered, to reach Vaxholm by road, take Tunnelbana Red line from T-Centralen station towards Morby Centrum and get down at “Danderyds sjukhus”. At Danderyds, change to bus#670 towards Vaxholm and get down at the last bus station (Söderhamnsplan). There you are at the “Vaxholm Island” beach.

The Shoreline

Clockwise from top: The cemented shoreline, BMW, In water fuel station, enjoying icecream at a roadside cafe.

The first thing that comes to mind when i hear of a sea shore is sand, but not here. The shore line was all concrete bricks, beautifully landscaped, well maintained and without a trace of sand. Cool sea breeze, combined with Europe special open air cafe/pubs all around, made the place an instant hit with all of us. A fuel filling station built over water, meant for refueling sail boats, caught our attention and so did a couple of BMW motorbikes standing on the shore. After having ice creams at one of the sea side parlors, we headed towards “Vaxholm Kastell”

Vaxholm Kastell (Fortress)

Left to Right : View of fort from Vaxholm, the ferry to the fort, a cannon with ammunition

Vaxholm Kastell, a 16th-century fortress, is situated on a small island just a few hundred meters offshore from Vaxholm mainland. You need to take a ferry from Vaxholm to reach there which charges 50SEK for a round trip. The fortress has a long eventful history, notably the events when it held back attacks against Stockholm once in early 17th century and then again in 18th century. The fort was demolished and replaced with current one in 1833. That much for the history. Present day, the fort is a museum displaying 17th-18th century arms and ammunition. There were some half a dozen cannons at the entry with their ammunition decorated alongside. These must be the killer machines at some time in history, but today, they looked more like oversized toys. There was another military museum inside which had an entry ticket, but we didn’t visit it. The central part of the fort was a big empty ground with a couple of big cannons at one corner.

After spending some time at the fort, we took the ferry back to Vaxholm.

The town

The market street

Upon coming back, we decided to take a stroll on the streets of Vaxholm and started moving on the market street. The town was surprisingly quiet and peaceful, so much so, that it almost seemed un-inhabited except for the sound a vehicle passing every few minutes. We didn’t venture much deep and headed back to our bus stand on the shore.

All in all, it was a decent day out, not adventurous,  but one where there was peace of mind, away from the hustle bustle of fast city life and natural beauty to enjoy.