Archipelago Cruise

The archipelago of nearly 30,000 islands and inlets in the Baltic Sea approach to Stockholm beckons with a “come hither” allure to tourists and locals alike.  Encouraged by an evening boat cruise arranged by the American Women’s Club, we came a hither-ing and surrendered to the allure of the island clusters.

The evening shrimp dinner cruise of the archipelago is a well-worn ritual with boats of various sizes loading passengers around 7:00pm for a three hour cruise around the islands.   

Just a few minutes into the cruise we were past the storage buildings and commercial loading docks and were enjoying the charming view of well-cared for, expensive houses. Island homes have long been a Swedish tradition. As early as the Viking days, people have been living on these isolated islands. By the early 1700’s it was estimated that nearly 3,000 people, mostly fisherman and farmers, called an island in the archipelago home. We suspect life was pretty tough on these isolated island homes. In fact, in the decade following World War II, many Swedes concluded that city life and a steady job were more desirable than life on an isolated island. Fishing villages and farmers disappeared from the archipelago as inhabitants migrated.

However, given the well-appointed and splendid homes we saw that now dot the islands, it is appears that island life is no longer so ruggedly demanding. Today, having a summer cottage in the archipelago is Stockholm chic.

Another discovery on the shrimp cruise was the shrimp. We consider ourselves somewhat “shrimp savvy.”  Our days on Tybee Island off the Georgia coastline pulling a shrimp net gives us firsthand insight of the  “harvest to table” cycle of shrimping. ”Net, de-head and shell, cook, serve.” We discovered the Swedish rendition of this cycle on a boat ride consists of “net, cook, freeze, thaw, serve.” Hmmmm…

Bowl of Huge Thawed Shrimp

Bowls of cooked thawed shrimp arrived at our table. We dutifully engaged as did the other cruise guests in self-preparation of shrimp for consumption.  We were also totally surprised to find a plethora of egg laden females on our dinner plate. Some things can only be learned though firsthand experience.

Vaxholms Kastel

Our cruise took a short break at the old island fortress of Vaxholms Kastel. The defensive works were originally built in 1548 to protect the approaches to Stockholm with chain barriers erected between island passages.  The martial mission of the island fortress has long been dormant.  

On our visit, Swedish folk songs blared from the loud speakers of our cruise ship, Störmma Kanal, evoking spontaneous communal dance circles by the local Swedes. As we noted, some things can only be learned through firsthand experience.


A Stockholm summer evening that sees daylight lingering past 9:30pm followed us back to our embarkation point.  Seen from the water, Stockholm definitely has magnetic beauty and allure.

Standing in front of Vaxholms Kastel

Another day, another adventure.