The Berkeley Guides:
Berkeley Guide to Europe:
Sweden:
Stockholm
If you ignore the ugly modern city center that only the '60s and '70s could have produced, Stockholm is easily one of Europe's most beautiful cities. The wealthy Birger Jarl knew what he was doing when he founded the city as a trading port in 1252; its location on Sweden's southeast coast means access to the Baltic and protection by the vast skärgården (archipelago) made up of 24,000 islands, now used by Stockholmites as their own private natural playground. The Stockholm City Council has worked hard at maintaining the pristine beauty of their environment; in recent years they have commissioned art for the subways, cleaned the waterways to make them safe for swimming and fishing, and set aside vast tracts of land as Eco Parks, which can't be built upon for all eternity. This is all heartily approved of by the local populace, who, despite their cosmopolitan appearance, spend much of their free time sunbathing by the water, walking through the woods, and basically enjoying the nature that is an integral part of their urban environment. This is not to say that the city itself doesn't have a lot to offer. Spend some time in Gamla Stan (the Old Town), wooded Djurgården, or Södermalm, with its casual cafés and galleries, and it becomes clear that it's a combination of urban and natural pleasures that gives Stockholm its distinct character.
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