Swedish History Archives

Julbocken: the Swedish Tradition that Usually Goes up in Flames

Europe, Featured, History, Humour, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Tourist Attraction, Tradition gävle, gävlebocken, goat, julbocken, sweden, yule, yulegoat

“Runway ready! How do I look?” tweets Gävlebocken, the official social media account of Sweden’s famous Christmas goat. Indeed, he's not only famous in Sweden: according to the Guinness Book of Records, Gävle's Julbocken is the world’s

Loginn: a Floating Hotel in Stockholm

Europe, Featured, History, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Travelling Loginn Hotel, Maritime history, stockholm, sweden, unusual hotels

Spread across 14 islands the city of Stockholm has arisen from the sea, so it seems rather fitting to stay on the water rather than next to it when you visit the stunning Swedish capital. This

Weekend Break: Västerås

Europe, Featured, Food and Drink, History, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism sweden, västerås

If you are researching flights to Stockholm, you may well come across an airport called ‘Stockholm Västerås’, particularly if you are flying with love-it-or-hate-it airline, Ryanair. But, what you should know in this scenario is

So Long, Sweden! I’m Going To Miss You.

Europe, Featured, History, Nature, Swedish Climate, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Travelling, Working Overseas expat, nature, snow, stockholm, sunset, sweden, travel, water

Four years ago I moved to Sweden; a country often associated with long, cold, snowy winters. But, little did I know that after the harsh winter Swedes are rewarded with beautiful summers where the sun

7 Great Ways To Spend Summer in Stockholm

Europe, Featured, Life in Sweden, Swedish Climate, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism best things to do in stockholm, europe, festival, fika, food, gröna lund, midsommar, rooftop, seven things to do in stockholm, skansen, spend summer in stockholm, stockholm, stockholm archipelago, stockholm tourist attractions, sweden, sweden national day, taste of stockholm, upplev mer, vaxholm, what to do in stockholm

Stockholm is a summer city; its leafy parks, rocky beaches, and swathes of Baltic water that swirl around the city’s 14 islands all seem to have been designed for long summer days where the sky

Finding History and Nature in Gorgeous Gotland

Europe, Featured, History, Life in Sweden, Nature, Photography, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Travelling farö, gotland, högklint, museum, stones, sweden, viking

In my last post I write about Visby, a perfectly preserved medieval town and UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Swedish island of Gotland; but the colourful labyrinthine alleys of this Baltic-blasted, cobbled town are

Visby: Sweden’s Perfectly Preserved Medieval Town

Europe, Featured, History, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Tradition, Travelling gotland, scandinavia, st katarina, sweden, visby

Swedes are travellers: roaming foreign lands is in their blood. It is Viking blood, after all. Stone depicting seafaring Vikings. You’ll be hard pushed to travel far without running into a Swede or two. This

Exploring SoFo: Stockholm’s Most Sociable Neighbourhood

Europe, Food and Drink, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Travelling boutique, designer, folkungagatan, greta garbo, hipster, life in sweden, retro, södermalm, sofo, stockholm, sweden, vintage

Travel doesn’t always have to be far away; sometimes you can explore your own area through the eyes of a tourist. As you know, I have been living and working in Stockholm since May 2012.

Anundshög: Sweden’s largest Viking burial site

Europe, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Travelling anundshög, burial, culture, history, scandinavia, society, sweden, viking

Being a bit of a History geek one of my favourite things about travelling is encountering ancient cultures and histories, and where better to be than Scandinavia—home of the Viking? Don't tell me you've never

Midsummer Madness

Europe, Food and Drink, Friends and Family, Life in Sweden, Partying, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Tradition, Travelling flower garland, little frogs, maypole, midsommar, midsummer, sweden

“Why, this is very midsummer madness! “ (Twelfth Night) Not so long ago Sweden was celebrating Valborg to welcome in the spring but it seems that Valborg is only the warm-up act to the biggest

Stockholm on a Budget

Food and Drink, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Travelling finance, gamla stan, meatballs, skansen, stockholm, sweden

‘Stockholm’ and ‘cheap’. Two words that you don't often hear uttered in the same sentence. It is common knowledge that tourists' hard-earned cash doesn't stretch that far in the Scandinavian countries, making visiting them an

Viking Booty

Life in Sweden, Relationships, Swedish History, Travelling nordcham, sweden, vietnam, vikings

"The Viking conquests of yesteryear were often undertaken by the fierce Nordic warriors to "make contact" with new cultures and warmer climes...Today, however, Swedes have ditched the unkempt beards and longboats in favour of designer

Need a place to stay? Check out these wacky hotels!!

Asia, Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism, Travelling, Vietnam, Working Overseas accommodation, aeroplane hotel, crazy house, dalat, hostels, hotel jumbo stay, ice bar, ice hotel, jumbo jet hotel, Långholmen, langholmen prison, stockholm, strange hostels, sweden, utter hotel, utter inn, västerås, woodpecker hotel

Last weekend I went to prison. I was to spend the night in a cell at the infamous Långholmen Prison, Stockholm. The hallways were long and narrow with row after row of bolted and numbered doors harbouring

Weddings and Castles

Life in Sweden, Swedish History, Swedish Tourism rockelstad castle, sweden, swedish wedding

On Saturday I attended my first wedding in Sweden. I am hesitant to say Swedish Wedding as, despite the geographical location, there was probably very little about the wedding that was traditionally Swedish. The bride