Djurgarden

 is one of the large islands of the

Stockholm

archipelago. The western part of the island is located very close to the city center, it can be easily reached by ferry plying directly from the walls of the Old Town, or on foot, as Djurgarden is connected with the "mainland" part of Stockholm by the bridge. We got there by ferry, and when returning back from Djurgarden, we took a walk, then we came back to the Old Town.

There are plenty of amazing sights on Djurgarden - children's park called Grona Lund, the unique biological museum, located in a beautiful building from the 19th century, The Nordic Museum, Skansen National Park, museum ships, standing at the waterfront, and of course, 

Vasa Museum

 - one of the most amazing in the world and the most visited in Sweden...

During a four-hour walk around the island, we were able to visit, I suppose, the most interesting - ships, museums, Skansen national park and of course the museum called "Vasa".

I slightly changed the chronology and will start with the National Park, to leave the most interesting - museum ships and Vasa Museum - for the end.

As I said, such pretty ferries ply from the Old Town to Djurgarden every fifteen minutes:

We set sail on one of them.

Once again we see this beautiful panorama of the sea facade of Stockholm...

We are passing a small island of Kastellholmen, on which a citadel built in 1848 attracts our attention:

Wherever you look - you can see exciting marine attractions:

Finally, we moored at the central pier of Djurgarden:

At first acquaintance with the island your attention will be inevitably attracted by the unusually beautiful building of the 19th century, which now houses The Nordic Museum:

But now I'll tell you about Skansen - the open air National Museum located on the island.

Skansen is the oldest museum of its kind in the world. You can spend here the whole day, strolling along the historic buildings, brought here from across the country for reconstruction of rural estates and winding streets of the 19th century. Craftsmen, potters, and weavers work using traditional tools, bread and cookies are baked. There is a school, a farm, a church, manorial estates - you can visit all these buildings and see how people lived and settled in their houses 100 years ago.

Skansen Zoo is also very popular, in its enclosures you can see many indigenous "inhabitants" of Sweden:

Among them there is a wolf...

...the real one...

...and artificial...

A lynx:

A fox:

Bisons:

And such charming "pigs":

I think, if you meet this corpse somewhere in the forest, this "guy" won't just look at you with one stately half-open eye...

But once it was just a little pink pig...

And of course, there is a moose - one of Sweden's symbols. I even had a chance to pat one of them...

And this is a smaller representative of the Swedish fauna...

However, I offer you to move away from a biological subject - after all, our forum has slightly different specialization.

Not far from the passenger pier of Djurgarden you can see two museum ships of the early 20th century.

Here is the icebreaker called "Sankt Erik":

This icebreaker in the winter months guaranteed the boat traffic in the area of the islands of the Stockholm archipelago and in the coastal waters.

And here is the lightship - "Finngrundet"...

...that used to be at anchor in the sea and to warn ships of dangerous shoals with its light.

Now I begin the story of the sailing ship called "Vasa" - perhaps, one of the most remarkable marine sights in Stockholm...

Vasa Museum is one of the most amazing in the world and the most visited in Sweden. It got its popularity thanks to one single exhibit - fully preserved sailing ship called "Vasa" built in 1628. The ship was supposed to participate in the fighting, which Sweden led against Poland, however, during its first voyage, it sank when leaving the harbor of Stockholm, mainly due to the overload with heavy deck gunnery.

The ship was found in 1956 at a depth of several hundred meters and refloated in 1961. "Vasa" was perfectly preserved thanks to muddy waters, as if it was conserved for more than 300 years. When the ship was on land, 25 skeletons were taken out from its belly, as well as ceramics and many personal belongings of the dead sailors. Also very interesting was the vessel's exterior, decorated with intricate carvings of biblical scenes, including a three-meter high lion's head. The entire decor was designed to affirm the image of Sweden as of a great state-warrior.

A visit to the museum, where the huge ship is in a dominant position, leaves just an incredible feeling!

Here are the general views of the sailing ship "Vasa".
Perhaps, the following pictures can't show you the scale, therefore, I'll give you the dimensions of the vessel: length - 61 meters, width - 11.7 meters, the height from the keel to the top of the mainmast - 52.5 meters.

Oh! Here you can feel the scale - can you see the figures of people on a light background above the head of the lion?

Here are carved decorations:

And during its short "life" the ship was much brighter:

And here are another several exhibits.
Here is the refloating of "Vasa":

"Vasa" goes down:

Here is the maquette of the interior of warships of the time:

This is such an amazing museum!!! When you are in Stockholm, I definitely recommend you visit it!