Sometimes we go to great lengths for lunch. Literally. After two fun excursions by ferry, we were eager to get back out into the archipelago. But we were hoping for a less obvious journey. We found a good option on the Stockholm city tourism website, VisitStockholm.com. Called ‶A day trip with the commuter ferry,″ the suggested itinerary combined a long ferry ride with a bus and a hike that ended at a beach on Lake Mälaren. There was, of course, lunch at a lakeside cafe.
We caught the first #89 ferry of the day from Klara Mälarstrand, close to City Hall, since we knew it would be a day-long outing. As we set out on a carefree trip, we felt a bit sorry for all the nicely dressed folks who stepped off the ferry, presumably bound for work. Many fewer of us boarded for the return trip to the islands. As we left central Stockholm, we entered the world of green but rocky small islands with private docks and tiny beaches. Tucked intothe trees were what we presumed were summer homes.
It took 45 minutes to reach the end of the line at Tappström. Located on Ekerö island, its ferry dock is set into marshlands of an otherwise well-developed community. The website directions from this point were vague but we eventually found the bus to Nockeby, back on the mainland. On the 25-minute journey, we crossed two more islands, including Lovön, home to Drottningholm Palace. Most of our fellow passengers got off at the palace. It is, after all, one of Stockholm’s top tourist attractions. But the Swedes are known for embracing nature. We weren’t exactly engaging in their passion for forest bathing, but we certainly didn’t want to waste a beautiful day gaping at royal excess.
Walking with faith in Google Maps
At Nockeby, we followed the website directions to ask Google Maps for walking directions to Kanaans Trädgårdscafé. We were more than a bit skeptical as we followed a sidewalk along a busy two-lane highway. We felt better when we finally reached a nice lakeside park. Shortly after, we stepped off the pavement into the well-groomed trails of the Grimsta Nature Preserve. We have to give it to Google Maps. The app guided us to the correct forks in the trails as we walked along the shore, then through the woods, and even up a steep side trail to a high vantage above the 75-mile-long finger of Lake Mälaren. (The view is at the top of this post.)
Once we entered the nature preserve, we encountered plenty of Swedes out for a walk. Many of them were accompanied by leashed dogs out for a trot through the woods. Others had young children toddling along with them. For a while, we found outselves following two young men with a baby carriage — until they stopped to change the infant. Forest-bathing indeed. When we weren’t in the forest, we were at the water’s edge, at one point even walking on a boardwalk that skirted the shoreline under the shade of leafy trees that grew right up to the water.
There must be lunch in here somewhere
Two-and-one half hours after we stepped off the ferry, we arrived at Kanaanbadet (which translates loosely as ‶Kanaan’s bathing beach) on the Lake Mälaren shore. Perhaps a hundred yards uphill from the beach was the destination we had requested in Google Maps.
Kanaans Trädgårdscafé (Kanaans väg 83, Bromma, +46 8 410 460 18; kanaans.se) is a modest little bakery/cafe that stays open all year but really blossoms in spring and summer. When the weather permits, the cafe opens its outdoor bar and dining areas set in a charming garden landscape.
Kanaans Trädgårdscafé was hardly as elaborate as the summer cafe in Vaxholm, but it did offer a quiet and tasty respite after a lomg walk. While the menu did not include hot dogs (maybe the quintessential beach food), it did offer grilled lamb sausages, truly the next best thing and decidedly local. As a major wool-producing country, after all, Sweden has a lot of sheep and lamb is popular for both sausages and meatballs. Given that local hothouses had already been producing lots of vegetables, our other lunch option was a thick tomato soup with a side of rye bread.
We almost hated to finish, since we would have to vacate our pleasant garden table. But we partially retraced our steps through the nature preserve before turning inland to Blackeburg, where the green line of the subway system whisked us back to the Fridhemsplan station in under a half hour.
To see the Visit Stockholm’s original version of this trip, see visitstockholm.com/see-do/excursions/a-day-trip-with-the-commuter-ferry/