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Stockholm was founded in 1252 by the statesman Birger Jarl at the point where Lake Malaren flows into the Baltic Sea, a location chosen because it could be controlled and defended from a single island. The city grew outward from that island, Gamla Stan, onto the surrounding islets and eventually the mainland, until today it occupies fourteen islands connected by fifty-seven bridges. More than thirty percent of the city's area is water, and another thirty percent is parks and green space, which gives Stockholm a quality of light and air that you notice within hours of arriving.

Gamla Stan, the old town, is the medieval core: narrow cobblestone lanes, ochre and rust-coloured buildings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Royal Palace which is the largest palace still used as a royal residence in the world, and Christmas market stalls in the Stortorget from late November.

The metro system that connects the modern city is itself a gallery: eighty-nine of its hundred stations have been given to artists and designers, turning the blue-rock tunnels into one of the world's longest continuous art installations. T-Centralen, the main hub, has hand-painted vines covering the ceiling in cobalt blue.