Free Stockholm. Great way of spending time free

27.04.2017 romanroams Blog

The second day in Stockholm, I managed to spend almost for free. The day started with a free breakfast and a walking tour.

Free walking tour

So, I decided to go on a ‘free’ walking tour around the city. It’s much more interesting to walk when you do not just see the buildings, but you know their history and some interesting details.

Stockholm walking tour guide from New Zealand

Our tour guide was a woman from New Zealand, who clearly was better prepared for the morning weather than I. The wind greatly changes the perceived temperature. During the excursion, we toooo often stayed on the bridges. I struggled to stop trembling and still tried to listen to what our guide was telling us.

Despite those suffering, I love such tours, because apart from interesting information, guides give you lots of useful one: where to go, what’s free in Stockholm, where are some beautiful views, what’s worth trying, etc. I learned that there are a lot of free museums in Stockholm, and on Monday many of them do not work. It was Sunday, and I was flying back to Poland on Tuesday morning, so this was my last chance to visit the free Stockholm museums.

Free Stockholm Museums

Future kings and queens of Sweden

So, my free tour of the museums in Stockholm began like this. First, I went to the Royal Armory Museum in the Royal Palace (Sweden is a parliamentary monarchy), it had a great collection of different weapons from all the royal history. There also was a room for kids, where the future kings and queens could try on some royal clothes.

After that, I went to the Museum of Medieval History, which was very close, and was created on the site where the ancient ruins and a huge number of skeletons were found during the excavation of the foundation for the same Royal Palace. I particularly liked this museum, cause it was created as a medieval village with local masters made out of wax and real Viking ships.

After that, I moved to the island with a free museum of modern art. I’m not a fan of this type of museums. This is a place where you feel that your drawings from the age of six could be worth millions. But, I was advised to visit it by our New Zealand guide, because you could also admire the Swedish design and architecture there.

The museum is small, and I came 30 minutes before closing, so I almost ran through it, especially by the children’s drawings called ‘modern art’. But most of all, I liked the views from this island. The city on the islands is just doomed to be beautiful.

City on the islands

Quest: how to get in the hostel?

Not a completely free day, cause I spent 1 euro! for this beauty

Later, I went to my second hostel, where I didn’t find anyone. There was even nobody to open the hostel door for me, and I did not know that I received a code to enter the hostel to my inbox. So, I bought a coffee in the supermarket opposite the hostel (yes, it was not a completely free day in Stockholm) and sat down on a bench in front of it, waiting for someone to get out. I did not wait long. Someone went out of the building, and I quickly crossed the road and entered the hostel.

There was an Asian cleaning lady, who was working and talking to her friend in earphones. I asked her about the reception, and she replied that half an hour ago it had closed I would not get the keys.

I have already thought about the option to walk around the city, in the evening, just wait until someone comes out of the hostel, get in there and spend the night on the sofa next to the kitchen, which is open 24 hours a day. Also, apart from the separate toilets in the rooms, there were shared toilets, where I could go without a key, so I did not see a particular problem. Then, I was told by one of the travelers at the hostel that we all have our codes, I checked the mail and finally got into my room.

Hanging out with locals and travelers

So, after 3 minutes of rest, I decided to keep exploring free Stockholm. Using the Couchsurfing app, I met a few dozens of foreigners and locals in a café in the center. I started talking to them, some people were really interesting. But, half an hour later, I was fed up of the artificial smiles and familiarity of Western Europeans and Northern Americans (I thought that I’ve already used to that).

After a short search in the same app, I arranged a meeting with one Belarusian and one Ukranian guy, the first one also came with his friend from Moldova. So, we had an international group of Slavic people, with whom the talk was more real and sincere. The Belarusian lives with his parents, who have been working here for several years, and he is trying to get a working visa and find a job in Stockholm.

He told me about different problems that Sweden faces. About immigrants, alcohol and drugs, about Swedish personality and so on. If I didn’t talk to the people living here, I would never know the real situation in Sweden, all the small things that are hidden from a tourist coming here to visit great sights of Stockholm on a nice sunny weekend.

Conclusions of the free Stockholm day

That’s how I spent the second day in Stockholm spending almost nothing but having a great experience and some adventures during the day. It was just my day. Here is a more or less complete list of free things to do in Stockholm . Find out more about the Swedish personality here.Have a great day!