Skansen, Stockholm

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The next homestead I came across had two Ladie's looking after the House.
One was busy doing the dishes, and the other was inside busily cooking some traditional cake.
Golly, it was a hot day, and it was extra hot in the wooden home with the open fire.
I was offered some cake which I tried and thought nice.

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Next, I walked onto the Sami Camp which is an autumn and spring camp for the mountain Sami. It shows how the mountain Sami lived at the beginning of the 20th century when they still followed a nomadic existence, moving about with their reindeer.
The northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia are home to a Sami population of more than 70.000 people.
The Sami national day is celebrated on the 6 of February with music, speeches and souvas - a savoury dish of reindeer meat and other things....At sami camp, Skansen.

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Please join me on a walk around the Village

As I walked around the Village, I found that each house or farm belonged to a different area, which had different culture and tradition's.

The Delsbo Farmstead was the first I came across. These building's came from north-central Sweden and it's made up of four building's surrounding a courtyard. The setting represents a large, prosperous farm in the mid-19th century.
I was invited inside by the Lord & Lady of the House, both dressed in traditional clothes.
They spoke English so I was able to find out a little about the home, and the richly decorated wall paintings.

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Skansen is a 300,000 square-metre or 75 acre outdoor museum, or park, or zoo founded in 1891. It is basically a miniature Sweden showing each area's wildlife and historical villages and homes. There are areas where local animals are kept, usually in large natural areas, and there are working historical stores and coffee shops where you can buy candy, baked goods, or sit inside for a old-fashioned snack and tea.

The cub bears were especially fun to watch as they climbed the trees and wrestled with each other. We sat inside a Sami (people from the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia) camp and listened to some Sami guides dressed for the part explain to us (in English) about the history of their people and and their current situation. We saw some kind of witch scare some children out of a house (it was all in Swedish, so we didn't quite catch that one).

As it was October, there were no crowds at all and a very pleasant experience. Apparently the Swedes flock to the place at long weekends and Summer holidays. In the Summer there are also regular singalong concerts, demonstrations of Swedish folk dancing, and live music.

This is an excellent way to spend a day, or most of a day, with the family. All will enjoy.

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If, like us, you enter the park at the Hazelius Gate, there is a bit of a climb up into the park proper. If you want to take it a bit easier you can pay a little extra [I think it was around 25 SEK] to take the funicular up the hill

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In the village area one of the buildings has glass blowing demonstrations as well as a shop selling the stuff made there. There is a viewing area so you can sit and watch the glass blowers working away which was pretty interesting. Amazing how a blob on the end of a stick can turn into a beautiful glass or vase in a matter on minutes!! Definitely worth checking out. The only slight downside is that you are basically just watching them work, they don't actually explain what they are doing

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18th and 19th Century buildings from all around Sweden were moved to this museum and preserved. Museum employees play the roles of various townspeople from the appropriate time, explaining what typical Swedish life was like at that time.

In addition to the folk museum, there is an extensive petting zoo, as well as botanical gardens. If you're waiting for your overnight boat to depart (as we were), this is a great place to spend several hours.

In 2009, Admission is SEK 70 for adults / SEK 30 for children through 29 April, SEK 90 / SEK 40 May and September, SEK 110/SEK 50 June-August. Extra admission is charged on Midsummer Eve and during evening music events. Finally, during May, the park offers a special evening admission (enter after 5PM) of SEK 40/SEK 20. Stockholm Card is valid. 50% discount on admission with a 72-hour public transport "Tourist Card" (NOT to be confused with Stockholm a la Carte or the SL Period Card).

Skansen is located near the center of Sockholm on the island Djugarden. It is an open-air museum where you can see old swedish buildings that were moved here from different parts of the country. You can also explore typical swedish animals, this young moose ....