Between Sweden and Finland you will find the Aland islands. A group of islands which do belong to Finland but they are autonomous and the only region of Finland which only has one official language, Swedish. The islands lived a waning existence until the cruise ships between Sweden and Finland started and even today the cruise ships are important for the small islands. Thanks to its special status as autonomous region you actually have tax-free which is very appreciated by the many people who do day cruises or like me, take a weekend cruise.
The Aland island are sparsely populated and have one single city with a population of only 30 000. The city do however have two harbors with a small city center between them filled with hotels, restaurants, ice cream stands which I assume makes it super cozy during the summer. Today, a Sunday in the beginning of May everything was closed. Not fun at all but I found a tiny mall with a coffee machine at least and I got a nice stroll through the city. I saw the ship “Pommern” which is a huge ship and museum (of course closed) and I saw the Russian consulate, surrounded by Ukrainian colors, grave candles and the street was renamed to “Ukraine Plaza”, I guess Russia did not expect that when they invaded their neighbor.
Straight north, on the other side of the main island you will find the resort Havsvidden. Its a resort with hotel, apartments and cliff houses which are located on the red granit cliffs. Here I might have gone a bit crazy when I booked a cliff house and oh my, Just beside the water, with a huge patio with a panorama view over the ocean. The house was of course bigger than my own flat back home and had jacuzzi, sauna and no neighbors which means so you could hear the rhythmic and calming sound from the waves. The water is cold though, really cold but luckily for me the sauna was hot.
Roughly 20 minutes from Havsvidden you will find “Getabergen”. Some call it mountains but they are not higher than 100m above the sea which may not sound much but they do deliver a mountain inspired environment. It is loved by boulders with an almost unlimited amount of opportunities for climbing, loved by children who may explore the maze of small canyons and caves. Myself loved hiking down “Grottleden”, enjoyed the view, felt like a child once again while exploring the caves and actually learned myself both one and two things while reading the informative and fun signs along the trail.
Photos from my weekend may be found in my gallery