A Passion Shared: The Victory Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden

Thanks to Visit Stockholm for providing this luxurious experience! As always, all opinions are our own.

Every now and then we happen upon accommodations that are far above and beyond anything we could ever expect.

The Victory Hotel is most definitely one of those places.

The inn is the brainchild of Gunnar Bengtsson, aka The Collector, who over many years gathered an amazing amalgamation of artifacts, mostly focused on the torrid love story of Admiral Lord Nelson and his scandalous squeeze, Lady Hamilton.

Our host and Gunnar’s son, Mats, explained how, while he was growing up, the collection began to overtake the family home.

Ship’s mastheads, antiques, and other assorted marine memorabilia was stuffed under the beds, in the closets, and almost every other nook and cranny.

His father’s solution for storing the collectibles was to open a hotel and decorate it with his treasures.

And so, the Lord Nelson Hotel was born. But one hotel couldn’t contain Mr. Bengtsson’s collection, and soon the Lady Hamilton and the Victory Hotels, the latter named after the Admiral’s ship, were added to the family.

Every room at the Victory is much more than just a place to stay for the night; they are lodging with a story to tell.

Each room is named for a captain, and feature paintings of his ship, family heirlooms, and photographs.

Our suite, honoring Captain A. G. Johansson, was filled with fantastic 18th century furnishings, wedding pictures, and original paintings dated 1642.

This doesn’t mean modern amenities are missing, flat screen TV, wifi, stereo system, and best of all, an absolutely phenomenal jacuzzi tub do their best to blend in.

Check out our full adventure in Stockholm!

Djuret: The Whole Beast

The restaurant at the Victory Hotel is equally unique, Djuret, which means the “whole beast,” describes the concept of serving one animal at the time.

Often wild game, bought directly from hunters is the choice, with two menus, a three course and a six course, prepared each day until an entire animal is used.

On our visit the evening’s selection was moose, so it looked as though once again Veronica would be forced to endure the myth.

But our server explained that the animal was actually more like what we Americans would call an elk.

Veronica believes in the existence of elk because she has personally seen one, so all was well.

Whatever we want to label the critter, it was prepared perfectly as a first course tartar with pickled squash.

The main dish consisted of a moose variation of rare sirloin, leg braised with beer and mousseline sausage with duck liver served with Jerusalem artichoke, onion, and Chanterelle mushrooms.

Dessert stepped away from the moose (we were kind of hoping they’d lay mousse on us), instead we went where every human truly wants dessert to go, chocolate and ice cream.

To be exact, Tarte au chocolat de Valrhona and chestnut honey ice cream.

These were garnished with salt roasted almonds and a tangy berry coulis, made with sea buckthorn berries, which we still, even after much sly at-the-table Googling, have no clue as to what they are.

Whatever they are, they rocked our socks off.

For more ideas on places to stay check out Konferens Stockholm nära Arlanda.

David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com

Visit the the Victory Hotel’s website – it’s one of the most entertaining sites out there – Mr. Bengtssongives you a personal tour of his collection!

Delve Deeper into Stockholm:
Check out our full adventure in Stockholm!
Learn how to smörgåsbord like it’s your job!
Follow us into the Östermalm Food Hall
Find out how to save on all of the city’s attractions with the Stockholm Card!

Thanks to Visit Stockholm for providing this luxurious experience! As always, all opinions are our own.