Let me take you on a little journey from Stockholm to the Åland Islands, which are an autonomous region of Finland…
Travelling to new countries (and blogging about them) certainly teaches you a few things, like there is hardly any tidal movement in the Baltic sea (which is why the thousands of islands are always visible); the water is not as salty as the ‘normal’ sea and, despite belonging to Finland, the islanders all speak Swedish (and most also speak English thankfully).
We caught a Viking Line ferry, called Grace, which was more like a cruise ship, from Stockholm to Turku, on the Finnish mainland. It’s a sailing which is highly recommended, if you ever get the opportunity, as the boat weaves its way through the almost impossibly narrow channels between the many islands. After an overnight stop and hiring a car, we then hopped on and off 2 more ferries to get to the group of interconnected islands called Brändö. (See map pic B11).
A particular highlight of our time there was a day on the island of Jurmo. We arrived too early for the ferry, but an extremely friendly local, called Ari, offered to give us a lift in his small boat. There was a harvest festival type celebration on that weekend and we were treated to a tour of the island on a tractor trailer.
Like yesterday, I’ve divided my photos into 3 distinct galleries. (Click on any image to get a larger view).
The ferry journey:
Brändö:
Jurmo island:
Alittlebitoutoffocus 
It’s a beautiful island, I been there several times but it’s a long time ago now. Thank you for sharing these amazing images!!! You gave me some memories from when I was young 😀
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Glad to oblige. 🙂
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Gosh, how stunning is it there? like photo book beautiful!
I didn’t know that about the tides and the salinity of the water… I guess being closer to the North pole, accounts for the salinity as there is all that melt water, but very little tidal movement? what does all of that happen around the equator then? the pull of water toward the poles? hmmm interesting…
VERY beautiful, what a privilege to be able to travel like this!
enjoy x
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I think the tides and the salinity come from the fact that there’s quite a narrow gap (or 2) between Denmark and Sweden and there’s not enough room to get all the water in nor out. So most of the water is indeed just run off water from the neighbouring countries. (I’m also amazed that the high and low tides around the UK all happen at different times, but I can’t explain that one!) And yes, I am very fortunate to be able to travel wherever… (but that’s only one of the joys of retirement!) 😊
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This is awesome how you are bringing us along with you! Great photos.
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Thanks! 3rd instalment just posted… Hope you enjoy that too. 🙂
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