The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. What most people don’t realizie is that Stockholm, while it is one city, is located across 14 islands dotted across the fresh water Lake Mälaren. Each island has its own character and ambiance. So far, we haven’t had much time to explore Stockholm and today that exploration will have to wait for we’re catching the ferry to Birka.
Lake Mälaren is huge, but surprisingly it’s Sweden’s third-largest lake and home to over a thousand different islands. The island of Birka was once the largest Viking trading center of the North.
According to Wiki, during the Viking Age, Birka in present day Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. Birka is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö. Generally regarded as Sweden’s oldest town, Birka has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993.
Today’s the first rainy day we’ve had on the trip, but as we sailed across Lake Mälaren the sun decided to claim the day. By the time we arrived at Birka, the clouds had vanished and the skies were blue. Here are some pictures of the Viking settlement rebuilt as it would’ve been in the tenth century.
I am in Valhalla, too immersed in Vikings to even contemplate our century.
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