Öland

Öland is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland is in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. It is separated from the mainland by the Kalmar Strait and connected to it by the 6 km Öland Bridge. 

Öland was settled about 8000 BC. In the early Stone Age, settlers from the mainland migrated across the ice bridge that connected the island across the Kalmar Strait.

A local specialty is kroppkaka, which directly translates as body cake. Thankfully it isn't literal :-) This potato dumpling with porkmince in the middle is lovely. I ate it traditional style with butter, cream and lingon. It was really nice!

Since we only had after lunch to explore we stuck to just the bottom half of the island. We will have to go back and do the top bit another day. Öland is flat, very flat. It reminded me a lot of Ireland as there were numerous rock walls. Interestingly the rock walls had a white lichen that grew on them making them look painted. They also have lots of windmills and viking burial grounds. 

We went all the way to the bottom of the island where there is a light house, called Långe Jan. Here they also have a large bird watching sanctuary as well. If you squint you can see a seal on the rock (bottom left corner).

Kalmar Slott

You thought that ONLY Australia did big things?!?! Think again. This BRIO man was spotted on our way towards Kalmar

So you like history?

This place has some history.  

The castle's ancestry stretches back to the 1100s. It was here Kalmar Union (Denmark, Sweden and Norway got united under one king, which Sweden then left as they were upset that Denmark was being too bossy) was signed in 1397 and during the Vasa kings time in the 1500s the castle got its current look.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmar_Castle

Lovely copper domes

Cannon balls stuck in the wall

Ceiling detail in the gold hunting room

Ceiling detail in the grey lounge

wooden inlays from the 1500s, geometric shapes with brilliant workmanship

Swedes have gotten a bit taller

Spaz thinks he is a king

another of the stunning inlays

The cathedral

Internal courtyard

sculpture in the cemetery

No trip of ours would ever be complete without a trip to a cemetery. The one near the castle was stunning

Summer in south eastern Sweden - part 2

Summer road tripping - part 2 :-)

After a lovely breakfast we made our way to a stunning white sandy beach for a walk, blue sky, sun, white sand and good company. What more could you ask for?

After a lengthy morning stroll along the beach we ended up at Glimmingehus. It was built 1499-1506, during an era when this part of Sweden was Danish.  It had heaps of defensive arrangements such as parapets, false doors and dead-end corridors, 'murder-holes' for pouring boiling pitch over the attackers, moats, drawbridges and various other forms of death traps to surprise trespassers and protect the nobles against peasant uprisings. The lower part of the castle's stone walls are 2.4 meters thick.

naughty  boy

Fish in the mote

Awesome vaulted ceiling

This area is full of grain farms. It was harvesting time when we were there and some harvesters were working all through the night. Below is a relic of a windmill. I enjoy looking at their shapes.

From here it was off to Swedens version of Stonehenge, or Ales stenar. It is a megalithic monument in the shape of a stone ship, oval in outline, with the stones at each end markedly larger than the rest. It is 67-metres long formed by 59 large boulders, weighing up to 1.8 tonnes each.They date back to  about 1,400 years ago or towards the end of the Nordic Iron Age. It was blowing a proper gale and there were hundreds of people there (my pet hate when visiting places) so we WILL return (probably in the March (when it is too chilly for the masses) to enjoy the equinox).

We then ventured onto Ystad for another fika break :-) summer vacation is just such hard work :-) This is a really lovely quaint town. It is full of narrow streets that meet at odd angles. I haven't seen or read the fictional detective stories about Kurt Wallander, by Henning Mankell but this is the city where they are set. They had a hat shop. We spent a bit of time in the hat store and again I was reminded that I have a very small head!

Church

Summer in south eastern Sweden - part 1

Summer road tripping - part 1 :-)

So over a gorgeous week weatherwise in August we went on a lovely road trip around south eastern Sweden. We first stopped at Brösarp and went for a lovely walk through the rolling green hills before driving on to Kivik for lunch.

boardwalk at the beach

Fishing hut on the beach

Anchor at the fishing hut

Lunch in Kivik was amazing! Spectacular herring eaten right on the waters edge with blue sky and sun. After rolling out of the restaurant we continued our road trip towards the Kivik musteri.

Classic Swedish dish - Herring, mashed potatoes, lingon and pickled gherkins

At the Kivik musteri (http://www.kiviksmusteri.se/sv/) there were apple orchards galore and many apple related items were purchased.  Tasty, so very very tasty :-)

trees were tall and thin and branches loaded with apples

Next stop was Simrishamn for a lovely fika and picking up supplies for dinner since we were staying at a hostel. I was so happy I found some tack in Sweden, the 'Happy Prawn' a rundown seafood restaurant on a boat

translates to 'Happy prawn'

Miles statue

We ended this day in Backåkra in a hostel across the road from Dag Hammarskjöld's farm. We went for a lovely walk through the farm, making sure we said hi to all of the cows to a beach. A white sandy beach. It was magic to watch a summer storm roll towards us :-)

Summer electrical storm

Not a camera trick - stunning

Twisters (X3)