Sundbergs Konditori

Look for the three red awnings on the corner of Järntorget. Printed on them, in Swedish, is the claim Sundbergs has made for generations: Stockholms äldsta konditori, the oldest konditori in Stockholm, established 1785. Inside, stained glass and dark wood make the room feel far older than the coffee machine behind the counter.

The square outside is called Järntorget, the Iron Square. By the early 1500s iron had overtaken grain as the most important goods traded here, and the city's official scales stood next door at number 84. Iron leaving the city was weighed and taxed a few steps from where you are standing.

A konditori is not quite a café and not quite a bakery. It is a pastry shop where you sit down, and in Sweden that sitting down has its own word: fika. It is a verb as much as a noun, and in many Swedish workplaces it is a fixed moment in the day, a coffee break colleagues take together rather than alone at their desks.

So order a kanelbulle, a cinnamon bun, and take your time. Here, slowing down is not a detour from the visit. It is part of it.