Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
After a few blocks (at Kåkbrinken), a cannon barrel on the corner (look
down) guards a Viking-age
rune stone.
In case you can't read the old
Nordic script, it says: “Torsten and Frogun erected this stone in memory of
their son.”
Continue farther down Prästgatan to Tyska Brinken and turn left. You will
see the powerful brick steeple of the
German Church
(Tyska Kyrkan,
free, Mon-Sat 11:00-17:00, closed Sun except for services). Its carillon has
played four times a day since 1666. Think of the days when German mer-
chants worked here. Today, Germans come to Sweden not to run the economy,
but to enjoy its pristine nature (which is progressively harder to find in their
own crowded homeland). Sweden formally became a Lutheran country even
before the northern part of Germany—making this the first German Lutheran
church.
• Wander through the churchyard and out the back. Exit right onto Svart-
mangatan and follow it to the right, ending at an iron railing overlooking
Österlånggatan.
Viewpoint:
From this perch, survey the street below to the left and
right. Notice how it curves. This marks the old shoreline. In medieval times,
piers stretched out like fingers into the harbor. Gradually, as land was re-
claimed and developed, these piers were extended, becoming lanes leading to
piers farther away. Behind you is a cute shop where elves can actually be seen
making elves.
Walk right along Österlånggatan to
Järntorget
—a customs square in
medieval times, and home of Sweden's first bank back in 1680 (the yellow
building with the bars on the windows). A nearby Co-op Nära supermarket
offers picnic fixings. From here, Västerlånggatan—the eating, shopping, and
commercial pedestrian mall of Gamla Stan—leads back across the island.
You'll be there in a minute, but first finish this walk by continuing out of the
square (opposite where you entered) down Järntorgsgatan.
Walk out into the traffic hell and stop on the
bridge
above the canal.
This area is called Slussen, named for the locks between the salt water of the
Baltic Sea (to your left) and the fresh water of the huge Lake Mälaren (to your
