Today it was time for us to go and explore a bit more of Stockholm, to a part of the city that we so far had not uncovered. This weekend there is a Christmas market at the Drottningholm Palace. In other words, it was the perfect reason for us to visit. We had actually discussed visiting Drottningholm Palace earlier in the year, but we didn’t go for some reason that we cannot remember today.
Drottningholm Palace
Drottningholm Palace is a private residence that belongs to the Swedish royal family. It is located in Drottningholm, on the island of Lovön that is to the west of the central part of Stockholm. The palace was built in the 16th century and has for a long time served as the summer residence of the Swedish royal court.
The palace grounds include not only the palace itself but also a lot of other additions. There are the Palace Church completed in 1746, The Chinese Pavilion completed in 1769, and the Drottningholm Palace Theater originating in 1766. You will also find both a baroque garden as well as an English garden.
The Christmas Market
The Christmas market was quite small. There were maybe around 15-20 stands in total offering everything from sausages to glögg. In other words, visitors had the chance to enjoy a lot of Swedish Christmas specialties. The size of the market actually made it quite charming. There was no need to walk long distances to see if there were more stands selling your favorite elk sausage. As we arrived quite early, only half an hour after the market opened, we were also lucky that the market was not so crowded. It is possible to imagine that the market attracts a lot more visitors later in the day.
It is a really cold day here in Stockholm today. As we write this the temperature is around four degrees below zero. Not having prepared ourselves properly before going resulted in only a short visit. But we did have time to walk around the palace grounds to enjoy the nice weather. Even though it was cold, the sun was shining.
