Sweden is, to some of us, the land of ABBA, IKEA, Volvo and porno. To Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, it's a country to sing proudly about, which he does with great pomp and circumstance on his most recent album. To the visitor, however, Sweden can be good, clean, healthy fun, and a weekend in its capital, Stockholm, might even alleviate the harassed urbanite's claustrophobia. Stockholm is a totally spaced-out city - no, it's not full of hippies and New Age travellers, it literally is well spaced out. Spread across an archipelago of around 24,000 small islands on the Baltic coast, Stockholm sweeps beyond your peripheral vision into a green, blue and russet panorama which is both breathtaking and pleasantly relaxing. With its various districts divided by expanses of water, it hardly feels like a city at all, and as you gaze across Nybroviken Bay from the waterfront at Strandvagen, you could imagine yourself in a charming little Scandinavian town, nestling elegantly along the shore.
It could be a million miles away from the congestion of College Green, but it's not. The Scandinavian Travel Service now runs regular weekend breaks to the Swedish capital all year round, reasonably priced and with flydrive options to other parts of the country. We were given a brief sample from the smorgasbord of Swedish delights: two nights in Stockholm and one day in Soderkopings Brunn, a tiny medieval spa town in the southern part of the country. For me, the Capital won hands down in the relaxation stakes.
We flew Finnair into Arlanda Airport, enjoying an on-board lunch of salmon, tiger prawns and breast of duck while peering down at the snowy mountains of Scandinavia. I had packed some woolies for the trip, but they never left my suitcase - the May weather in Stockholm was warm and balmy, with a fresh, coastal tang. If you're planning to travel there in autumn or winter, however, some prudent packing may be in order.
We stayed at the Hotel Diplomat, built in 1911, and once used as apartments by wealthy Swedish families. An air of old money still emanates from the brass fittings and clanky old cage elevator, but the crisp elegance of this four-star hotel is a clear reminder that you need a bit of new money to stay here. A large double room with a view of the harbour will set you back nearly 3000 Swedish Kroner a night - that's as near as bedamned to three hundred punts. An extra 500 kroner got me a Swedish massage at the hotel - absolute heaven.
Stockholm is an expensive as well as expansive city, but if all you need is a little cultural nourishment, lots of fresh air and sights, and perhaps the odd half pint of beer, then you might just get away with losing only half the shirt off your back. The Swedes go out of their way to make it easy for tourists to get value for money from the city's many museums, galleries and historic buildings. We were issued with a "Key Of Honour", a sort of cultural backstage pass, an `access all areas' of Stockholm's chequered history. It also allowed us free passage on the city's many ferryboats, easily the best way to see Stockholm in all its spacious glory.
Of the many historic buildings which you can visit, Stockholm's Stadhuset or City Hall has one of the most impressive interiors, and as you pass through its hallowed rooms, each one a themed homage to a different era, you encounter intricate gold mosaics, grand tapestries and massive murals. Opened in 1923, the City Hall is the site of the annual Nobel Prize ceremony; this year's ceremony is scheduled for December 10. Stockholm's most popular cultural attraction, however, is the Vasa Museet, which houses the 17th century battleship, the Vasa. A tall, imposing vessel with two tiers of cannon turrets, the Vasa keeled over on its maiden voyage in 1628, just 1,300 metres outside Stockholm harbour. The wreck was salvaged in 1961, its wood preserved by the brackish waters of the Baltic. During 1998, the museum attracted around 850,000 visitors, who examined the Vasa up close from a number of balconies, or viewed the museum's numerous multi-media exhibits.
Just a short walk from the Vasa Museum is Skansen, a large open-air museum built to resemble a historic Swedish village. Like a rural theme park, Skansen is dotted with cottages, craft shops and glassworks; peasants in period costume stand outside tiny homesteads and herb gardens, and elks, bears and pot-bellied pigs peer out at you from the numerous animal enclosures. Get a sandwich, find a grassy spot, and watch the Swedes enjoying their day out in the park.
History is paved into the streets of Gamla Stan, or Old Town, where small antique shops nestle in narrow streets, and coffee is sipped beneath the shadows of old churches. We had dinner in the vaults of the Aurora, a cellar restaurant in the Old Town which used to house a military academy in the 18th century. We were served the ubiquitous Swedish dish salmon, plus another specialty, reindeer. If my small nephews ever find out I ate Prancer, they'll probably disown me.
Nightlife in Stockholm is much like any other major city, except that you can expect to pay at least a fiver for a half pint of lager. Figuring we might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, we set out for the Opera Cafe, a classy joint adjoining the Opera House where you can have a twirl on the dancefloor and also a spin on the roulette wheel - if you've got any Kroner left to gamble after you've bought a round.
On Sunday morning, we drove to the spa town Soderskopings Brunn, half-expecting to find big, Gothic bath-houses, open-air saunas, hot springs, Baltic mudbaths and big, muscular Brunhildas massaging their corpulent victims to within an inch of their lives. Instead, we found ourselves in a pleasant but sleepy Swedish village nestling near a calm, almost soporific canal and overlooked by a craggy hillside. The Romantik Hotel had a faintly puritanical air, and seemed tailormade for retired couples to rekindle old passions. Activities such as bicycling, boating and golf abounded in the area, we were assured, but all we had time for was a short stroll along the canal and a visit to the Brunnkyrkan church. Soderskoping translates as "south shopping", but shops were few, far between and firmly shut. It was time to retire for a siesta.
Our weekend ended with a visit to Trosa, another pleasant but sleepy village, this one nestling near the sea about 40 minutes south of Stockholm. It seemed the perfect place for peace and quiet - and perhaps a bit of seacruising - but here, as in Soderskopings, I felt just a bit too young for this lark. I'll stick to Stockholm next time: it's got the peace and quiet and open spaces - and lots more active ingredients.
Getting there
SAS runs regular scheduled flights from Dublin to Stockholm, price IR£228
The Scandinavian Travel Service offers weekend breaks to Stockholm at IR£325 sterling per person. The price includes return flights on Finnair plus two nights in a 3-star hotel.
The STS 1999 brochure also features an 8-day fly-drive holiday which starts in the capital, then moves onto Dalarna in central Sweden and then onto Soderskoping in the south. Prices start at £776 sterling per person. The Scandinavian Travel Service operates in Ireland through Home & Abroad Travel and Rory McDyer Travel - freephone 1850 38 11 38.