We drove to Stockholm from Gothenburg on Friday, stopping for a quick venture into the town of Granna.
Granna wasn't mentioned in any of our guide books, but one of the people at Volvo suggested that we stop there to buy some polkagris.
What's polkagris?
Polkagris is a red and white candy, that seems to me to be a lot like peppermint candy canes! It comes in several different shapes and colors, but the most common is red and white. The town of Granna is famous for their polkagris.
Driving across Sweden was a fun experience, and we arrived in Stockholm quite quickly. We stayed at the Hotel Skeppsholmen which was an amazing find by my husband.
It was within the city limits of Stockholm, but as you can see on the below map, it was a separate island from the rest of the city. Skeppsholmen is the bigger island on the map below. Kastellholmen is the smaller one, which was so small it didn't have any hotels on it- just an old church.
Skeppsholmen was a short bridge walk away from the city center, but due to its location, it was quiet and lacked the throngs of tourists of other neighborhoods. I absolutely loved the hotel, and would highly recommend it.
enjoying a drink at our hotel..
We arrived in Stockholm on Friday afternoon, and were up early on Saturday to do our "long run". A coworker of mine had told me about the island of Djurgarden, which is "Stockholm's playground"- a large island of trails, forests, museums, and an amusement park.
It was the perfect location for our long run. It was less than a mile to the entry gates if we took the long way; it would have been a short ferry ride across the Baltic when the ferries are running. However, the ferries didn't start running until 8 am on Saturday, and we wanted to get started earlier than that. Therefore, we took the long way and explored the island by foot.
Djurgarden's amusement park...
The island was a little confusing, and we did have to stop quite a bit to look at maps to see where we were going...and of course, the maps and trail names etc were all in Swedish.
It was a beautiful place to run, though we could have used a bubbler or two along the way. We should have brought some SEK to purchase some water, as we were both quite parched by the end, and the lack of hydration caused us to cut the run a little shorter than planned.
What they lacked in water fountains, however, they made up with public restrooms. There were plenty of WC's if you needed one. Be sure to bring 5-10 SEK though, in order to obtain access.
We returned to the trails of Djurgarden several more times during our time in Stockholm, and found it to be a great place to run. Here, we didn't have to dodge the crowds of tourists, and the tree-lined trails were a surprising escape from the bustle of the city.
If you plan to visit Stockholm in the near future, be sure to find a hotel somewhat close to this island to be able to run long!
Running provided us with a free way to explore Djurgarden, which is technically a big tourist attraction. Other tourists rented bikes to explore the island, but we were able to experience it on foot, while getting in those long run miles necessary for our training.
Running was the "right fit" for us when traveling!
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