Cultural! few peers in Scandinavia and there are rich pickings for most tastes different museums and galleries, the extraordinary seventeenth warship and Skansen, oldest and best of Europe's openair mus loud, and deserved, acclaim. Onentation, arrival and information Three small islands at the mouth of Lake Malaren constitute the Stockholm, on which most of the city's national and historical bulk breathing space. Gamla Stan, the original heart of the city, is the' crisscrossing the centre of this island mass. Immediately east an ong is Skeppsholmen, site of the two most central youth hostels best views of Stockholm's proud curving waterfront, from the Royal to the National Museum. The modem city is just to the north, split into two main sections north and east of the train station, contains most of the fancier hot CHAPTER NINE s A S tockholm comes lauded as Sweden's and Scandinavia's most beautiful city and, apart from a couple of sticky modem developments and a tangled road junction or two, it lives up to its own propaganda. Straddling several small islands, the capital is a delightful place in which to spen time, not least as a contrast to the apparently endless lakes and forests of the res f the country. It is attractive and accessible good for a few days spent amid ffal monuments, hightech, high4;ost consumerism and its stylish inhabitants. 'Move away from Stockholm and it's not difficult to appreciate its unique eoeraphical position. Water surrounds the city, and though you can travel by £ain and bus it's worth making the effort to follow the serene lakes, canals and rivers by boat The eastern archipelo is within easy reach 24,000 Baltic islands and a summer playground for holidaying Stockholmers. Then, close by, to the west of the city, there's Drottningholm, the seventeenth4:entury royal residence that gains nothing from its description as Sweden's Versailles and everything from its glorious lakeside location. Another easy trip is to the equally important castle of Gripsholm at Mariefred, again just an hour away by boat. And still within daytrip reach is the ancient capital and quiet medieval university town of Uppsala, a distinctive foil to Stockholm's burgeoning modem air. Sn)CKHOLM 'It is not a city at all," he said with intensity. "It is ridiculous of it to think of itself as a city. It is simply a rather large village, set in the middle of some forests and some lakes. You wonder what it thinks it is doing there, looking so important." Ingmar Bergman, interviewed by James Baldwin. Selfimportant perhaps, but STOCKHOLM is without doubt a disparate capital, one whose tracts of water and parkland, and range of monumental buildings give it an ageing, livedin feel an atmosphere that's at odds with its status as Sweden's most contemporary and forwardlooking city. Gamla Stan, the old town quarter and site of the original settlement, is an atmospheric mixture of pomp and historical authenticity: ceremonial buildings surrounded on all sides by a latticework of medieval lanes.