ALAND ISLANDS - Mariehamn

Only 18 Euro for a 5 hour ferry trip, cheap as chips, & definitely the way to travel round here. We arrived in the early afternoon, found our hotel very easily as it was only about 200 metres from the port, next stop Turistinformation (I am just showing off my Swedish skills).

We naturally went for a bit of an explore found churches, beaches (however I do use that term loosely as there is no surf or even a tide here, the Baltic Sea is virtually land-locked, not to mention the very low salt content, you could almost drink the sea water), some really huge gorgeous old homes with boat houses, jetties, summer houses etc down near the shore. Guess they belong to the richies eh!



The POMMERN, now a great museum, beautifully maintained & one of the very
last 4 master sailing ships to ply the waters to & from Australia, transporting wheat.
Its last journey was in 1937, just before the outbreak of war. 

Day Two we hired push bikes to do a bit of exploring out of town. Now I haven't really ridden a bike in 40 years so it took me a few minutes to get the hang of it but all went well until we started hitting some hills. OMG it was 30 degrees, with a head wind, I had to walk up most of the hills but Grant is such a gentleman, he rode up then sat in the shade waiting for me.

Proof I can actually ride a bike, shame I didn't bring my bike shorts, haha

All in all we had a lovely time found a beautiful spot to eat our picnic lunch near a swing bridge connecting two islands. Then back to town this time with a tail wind thank god! We were a bit disappointed that most of the summer tourist activities don't start until July so there was no bus tour, most of the museums etc were shut but not to worry maybe next time....

Swing bridge joining two islands, and the picnic area where we had lunch

A darling lady who let me take her photo, her outfit is traditional
& her sister-in-law had handmade the lace & done all the embroidery

When we got back into town, hot & bothered & with really sore butts we rode into the centrum (bit more swedish for you, just means town centre) for a cool drink & an icecream only to find that it was actually a public holiday - Autonomy Day - so as Toni says, the random things that happen are often the best. We threw ourselves into the activities, listened to a heavy metal band & political speeches in Swedish, watched swing dancers & a street parade of locals in traditional dress (just lovely), drank local beer and of all things befriended a man after taking his advice about beer types, only to find we had made friends with a celebrity, he was a journalist & the newsreader on the local radio station. Pizza & beer for dinner and home to collapse into bed.

A lovely shady avenue with walking & biking path leading from the Port to the
town centre, past the Tourist Office.  Just what the doctor ordered on such a warm day

We only had half a day on our last day as the ship to Stockholm left at 13:45 but we wanted to make the most of it so we opted for a walk along the boardwalk and track round the peninsular.  Very nice too, quite recently built, overhanging the water in places with seats & picnic tables etc.

Just happened to be enjoying the view when a ferry/cruise ship sailed past
on its way out of Mariehamn

Leaving Aland Islands now but this is certainly a place we would love to return to, so clean, so beautiful, so much to do, such lovely, lovely people & great pizzas.  We did manage to try a 'whopper' slice of their local Alandspankoken (Aland Pancake) with rasberry sauce & masses of whipped cream--to die for I can tell you.  So nice, it was a bit like a tapioca pudding in texture with some spices added but baked like a cake in a large tray & cut up into 10cm squares then drowned in toppings....mmmmmm!

Off now on the rest of our adventure on Tallink Silja Line Ship - Galaxy - the wifi was a bit dodgy, I expect more than just a comfortable lounge with table, lovely clean toilets, waitress service for drinks, live music, duty free shopping and 5 hours at sea cruising through the islands for our $9 each.  Call me petty!