On the border

If you enjoy modern architecture, Sickla is always a good place to visit. I took the top photo from Hammarbybacken, a ski hill used for recreation year round. The hill can be seen in the next two photos. This part of Hammarby sjöstad sits just on the border between Stockholm and Nacka and to prove that I also snapped a photo of the boundary marker. The one from Nacka is a mill wheel. The Stockholm one is Erik den helige. Eric IX of Sweden. And it is also the border between city and nature. There are trails and gravel roads everywhere here. In the fifth photo I just missed a couple of kayakers as I wasnt quick enough with the old Canon for once.

Lakeside Living

After my stop at Hellasgården I continued my bike ride and a few minutes later I arrived at Järla. Also in the Nacka municipality. The lake is called Järlasjön. I like the mix of architecture here. The brick building is known as Läderfabriken. The Leather Factory. It dates back to 1888. Later it was also used for other things, but the name stayed on. In more modern times, Oscar Properties together with Fabege have turned the old factory into a very modern apartment building. There are 59 apartments here. From a 19 square meter one-room apartment to one at 149 square meters. And there is even a dog spa, because why not!

Nackareservatet

I decided to take a different route to Stockholm a while back. Cycling first through Tyresö, and then in to the Nacka municipality. There is a big nature reserve there called Nackareservatet. It is located just a few kilometers from Stockholm, and it is very popular for the outdoor people. People like me. This time I only made a quick stop, but here are a couple of photos. Top photo shows streetart By Elina Metso. A street artist, illustrator and game developer based in Skåne. This piece was part of Wallstreet Nacka a few years ago now. Fun to see that it is still there. The first thing to check out when you arrive at Hellasgården is the big info board. It lists most of the activities here. There is also an app with all the MTB areas. Very useful. You can rent a cottage here. There are a few lakes. This is Källtorpssjön, great for kayaking and swimming. There's also, a big restaurant here, Storstugan, as well as a big sauna.

Long rant of the day

So I decided to walk up to Fåfängan a while back. It is a lookout point on Södermalm in Stockholm. I took a lot of photos during my half hour-long visit. From maybe ten different spots. Walked up and down, right to left. Then sat down for a bite to eat and drink before continuing photographing. And then, back down below the stairs, I was ready to continue my bike ride as it was a beautiful day for that sort of thing. Only to realize that somewhere along the walk I had lost my key to the eBike. So I spent another half hour walking in my own footsteps, but the key was nowhere to be found. The eBike weighs 22 kilos, so you can't just lift it up and carry it to wherever. So I called a woman who owns a truck, she usually drives to Stockholm on a daily basis, but obviously not on this day. So I had to call a taxi. That costed me, 1000SEK. I then emailed Cykloteket, where I bought the bike, and told them my sad story and asked if they could give me two spare keys. No, that is impossible, you have to bring us the bike so that we can remove your old lock and replace it with a new, very expensive new one. Thanks, but no, thanks. So I opened the Gazelle website and five minutes later, thanks to the ID-number on the spare key that I had in a box at home, I ordered two new keys. Oh, and the photo here shows a building site where hundreds of new apartments are under construction at Tegelviksgatan. A ferry that will take you to Fjäderholmarna. The Marina Hotel at Danviken in Nacka. Expensive villas at Royal Djurgården and two women wearing white t-shirts sitting on a bench at another lookout point at Åsöberget. And, in the second photo, the stairs where I probably lost my key.

Lugnets Terrass

Four more reflection photos from my recent visit to Sickla. Technically this is in Nacka, a neighboring municipality to Stockholm. But all part of Hammarby Sjöstad. The church that you can see in two of the shots is Sofia kyrka that sits on top of a hill on Södermalm in Stockholm. I took these photos from the terrace where I photographed the birds out on the ice.

A reflection

Out walking at Hammarby Sjöstad. It was a good day for reflection photos. This is Henriksdal. The water is Hammarby sjö. The municipality is Nacka. If you would like to see a photo from above press here. I shot this from the left pier in the middle of that overview photo. From a terrace called Lugnets Terrass.

Story of the day

The peace monument at Nacka Stand. Thought out by Carl Milles. The plan was for the 23-meter high sculpture to be placed outside the UN headquarters in New York. But for whatever reason the idea for the sculpture stayed in a sketch-book. Many years later, a former student of Milles, Marshall Fredericks, by then in his eighties, decided to make the sculpture a reality. He did so with the help of Herman Bergmans konstgjuteri in Stockholm. And since 1995 you can see the sculpture down by the water at Nacka Strand. Photographed from Blockhusudden on Djurgården.

Fåfängan

Fåfängan is a hill at the most eastern side of Stockholm, on the border with Nacka, the neighbouring municipality. Nacka is a very hip place to live these days. And it is crowded with media people and politicians. Our current PM, Magda who you saw here on the blog last year, will be moving back there any day now after losing the election last month. There has been non-stop construction in Nacka since quite a few years. The municipality also has a long coastline and very big nature reserves. I have shown you some of it before. The areas that you can see from Fåfängan are Danviken, (old hospital), and Saltsjöqvarn, (very big mill industry a century ago), at Sickla. Panning the camera to the right you can see parts of Södermalm, Johanneshov, (with the big Globe arena), and Hammarby Sjöstad, that remodelled industrial park I showed you a couple of days ago. But, back to the hill from where I took these photos, Fåfängan. Named so by the owner Fredrik Lundin, who back in the day in 1770 built this gazebo, or lusthus, in Swedish and decided to call it Fåfängan, Vanity. There is a cafe and restaurant on the hill, open during the Summer. But people come here even when everything is closed to have a picknick and to look at the great views over the water.

Counting Cranes

There is a man-made hill at Björkhagen. It is called Hammarbybacken. The Hammarby Hill. The top of the hill is at 93 m.ö.h. From there you have a great view over parts of Stockholm and Nacka. The hill is today operated by a company called Skistar.com. They offer alpine skiing during the winter. The skiing world cup comes here once a year. The rest of the year the hill is popular with cyclists, hikers and people working out. The company also offer other attractions that you can read about on their web site. My visit was a bit special. Around 22C. I rode my bike there. Parked it, and then decided to climb up the toughest way, as I am quite fit. I stopped a few times for photos, some of which you can see here. They show Nacka, Danviksklippan, Sickla and more. But then, halfway up, a rainstorm moved in. I turned around and made my way down in the mud without falling once. I then spent 30 minutes under a roof, hiding from a hard rain and a serious hailstorm. When the hailstorm gave up, I figured biking in the rain was a good option, so that is what I did for around one hour. The rain stopped as I entered Haninge and when I arrived to the old tree and took the photo I showed you on Sunday I had almost dried up!

Kashink

Murals at Sickla in Nacka, made by the French artist Kashink. It was part of a project called Wall Street Nacka.

Skyttlar

Skyttlar. Sculpture group at the entrance to the Storkällan cemetery at Ältadalen in Nacka, made by Hanna Stahle. The material used is weathering steel. All made with lamella so when you walk around it you can see right through it from some angles. It is lit up with LED-lights at night and I am guessing that's how you should see it. The word Skyttlar has to do with people coming and going all the time.

Henriksdal

Three photos from Henriksdal. A newish housing area at Sicklaön in Nacka that is part of Södra Hammarbyhamnen in Stockholm. I have to confess to never actually been there, yet. This is as close as I have come, but every time I see the new houses from a distance I feel an urge to check out the place. The architecture looks very interesting. I will have to ask the usual suspects if they are up for a visit.

MonstroCity

Not the official name. That would be Lighthouse Stockholm, but I think my name fits better. From a recent walk around Djurgården in Stockholm. The apartment building stands at the Kvarnholmen island in Nacka. The architects who really shouldn't be named are Sweco. When they are done around 3000 apartments will have been built here. There are a few big mills still standing here from when KF, the Swedish Co-operative Union, was in charge of the island. In 1897 they built Quarnen Tre Kronor a mill that was in operation for nearly a century and that is the building in my second photo.