LandScope: Travel Diary of An Explorer: Djurgarden

THE BEST ONES OF STOCKHOLM - SKANSEN, MEDIEVAL MUSEUM, NORDISKA MUSEUM, RIKSDAGSHUSET

By zerrinhosgor - 9/09/2017 02:20:00 PM

Stockholm presents a livable daily life to visitors. It is a city that should be visited some favorite attractions if you really want to learn about the culture and differences between Southern and Northern Europe. You are a tourist but not feel like one while visiting the popular touristic places, because local people also use these places for their daily or weekly recreational activities.

Djurgarden, Stockholm

I would like to tell about Skansen, Medieval museum, Nordiska Museum, and Riksdagshuset. These all are impressed me so much. A special one is Skansen in Djurgarden which is an open-air museum and a zoo containing Scandinavian animals in Sweden. It shows the way of life in Sweden before the industrial era. It is possible to watch the folk dances and concerts performing in the summer and you can visit historical buildings and people by characters in period dresses. It exhibits the traditional rural culture by exhibiting furnished houses and farmsteads, cultivated plots and gardens. It was so nice to see the old schools, churches, and houses. Local families come to Skansen for informing their kids about the traditional life and animals.

While visiting the buildings, one of them took my attention -the height of the ceiling-. It was so low for such taller people lived in this country. After I learned the reason it was so understandable. It was really cold in Nordic countries and to spend low heating expenses they had built houses like that. It can be a way of sustainable living in that years before the world was not familiar with the word of sustainability :). So it is one of the must-see places.

Skansen, Stockholm

Typical Swedish house, Skansen

Skansen, Stockholm

Another one is the Nordiska Museum, it is worth to see the daily lives, interior designs such as living rooms, table set-up, dresses in time periods. It takes three to four hours to visit the museum if you want to view in detail.

But the Medieval museum (Medeltidsmuseet) was the bonus one. I confronted with the museum during my researches before I go. It was free and the best one in comparison to the paid museums. People dressed in middle age clothing show the traditional life in that period, their war equipment, kitchen utensils, traditional foods, daily lives at home and outside. It was the best ever.

Medieval Museum, Stockholm

Medieval museum, Stockholm

Medieval Museum, Stockholm

I had a chance for a guided tour to "Riksdagshuset (parliament house)" which has a tour on specific times for a few people. It was a different experience to visit a parliament house and see openness and transparency in Swedish democracy. Anyone can visit the chamber to listen to debates, votes etc. The guide shows the chambers and tells about the works of the Riksdag and what is happening in the Riksdag today and the history of the Riksdag. Another surprising issue was the location of the president's house where is the opposite corner of the Riksdag (in the city center).