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.

from  $166.33

Victory Hotel

 Lilla Nygatan 5, Stockholm, Sweden

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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.

The cocktail lounge

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.

  His father's solution for storing the collectibles was to open a hotel  

  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.

  Our suite, honoring Captain A. G. Johansson, was filled with fantastic 18th century furnishings,  

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.

  it was prepared perfectly as a first course   

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.

  we went where every human truly wants dessert to go, chocolate and 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.