Ekerö Travel Guide

 Sjalen Says:  Versailles and Schönbrunn are perhaps bigger sights but a Heritage site is a Heritage site and this was the first Swedish one in 1991 together with its theatre in the following tip. It is a very nice palace and has a scenic lakeside setting. You cannot visit all of the... 

 Sjalen Says:  There has been a castle in this village since medieval days (see next tip) but Svartsjö as it looks today was built in 1734-39 as the old castle burnt down in 1687. Such a castle was no longer needed out here, so the new castle was instead built as a hunting lodge for queen... 

 Sjalen Says:  Next to the castle are the overgrown ruins of an older castle in the form of a Vasa fortress. This was a royal mansion already at 1345 and had a 15th century stone fortress but king Gustav Vasa built an impressive Renaissance castle here along with his sons. One of them was... 

 Sjalen Says:  Just as important to UNESCO was the Court theatre next to the palace. Built in Lovisa Ulrika's days on the site of an older palace theatre, it was completed in 1766, during the height of Swedish enlightenment, and the stage and its Italian machinery looks exactly the same... 

 Sjalen Says:  Next to the theatre in Duke Carl's Pavilion is a museum dedicated to it. I have actually never visited it (funnily enough since I grew up in various theatres) so I have no personal reflections, but it is a part of the general Swedish Theatre Museum. It is open May to... 

 Sjalen Says:  Not as good as it sounds as there is nothing but the foundation traces left of this once so important place but it is because of its meaning to history that you should see it and because of this that it is included in the Birka World Heritage site. "Hovgården" was where the... 

 Sjalen Says:  One of the nicest rune stones I have seen in the Stockholm area and they are a few by now with a viking mad husband! You will find it in the field between the church and the Hovgården ruins as you walk along the little road. 

 Sjalen Says:  This is where you get off the bus to see Hovgården so you are likely to see it and try to get in as it is a picturesque little countryside church with good English narration inside and it is nicely decorated. If you are lucky, there is a guard in the church who can then show... 

 Sjalen Says:  This place needs to be seen as I cannot explain the special atmosphere. Everywhere you turn there are viking burial mounds and memories. You walk around with an archeologist guide and ponder on why the town was abandoned in the 10th century. Then you can visit the exhibition... 

 Sjalen Says:  Well, not by the commuters who go to Stockholm City every morning, but you will see that most of them live in the communities closer to Stockholm and once you get further out, it is easier to discover by car. Nevertheless, getting to Ekerö and the Mälaren islands are still... 

 Sjalen Says:  Ekerö is a bit of a Garden of Stockholm and if you go to a Stockholm supermarket in Stockholm and look for vegetables or strawberries, you will often find they are from one of the islands. You too can go strawberry picking in summer - look for "självplock" signs along the... 

 Sjalen Says:  In the middle of the pine forest up on a hill, are the remains of a fortress used by the vikings who could see far across the lake from here and also had a good steep cliff to fight off enemies from. This is the entrance from the forest. You find it after the village by the... 

 Sjalen Says:  For a great day out in rural county Stockholm, tracing the vikings, get off a bus at Adelsö Church and stroll around down to Hovgården, passed the runestone. You can then also catch a ferry to Birka (once a day in late morning summertime) or stay on Adelsö and visit the...