This is one Swedish Christmas Market that is really worth the effort of attending if you happen to be in the Stockholm area. We had a great weekend, despite the best efforts of mother nature to provide two days of piss awful weather! A lot of glögg helped restore our good mood! We have taken a few pictures to bore you with. Unfortunately, there was no snow which would have made the pictures really nice, but you can use your imaginations!

Utö lies about 15 nautical miles north east of Nynäshamn. We sailed there Friday in glorious weather - cold, certainly, but clear blue skies and a good wind that kept us moving under full sail at around 6 knots.



This shows Lars-Göran, well rugged up as we set sail from our pier at the sailing club. He's looking in great spirits! We had one funny moment when we saw a boat in the distance that made a full 90 degree turn and head towards us. I wondered if it was a military patrol or perhaps the coast guard, but it turned out to be a fishing boat. We were obviously "Sight of the Week" as they came very close to us, went behind then alongside our boat, waved heartily to us, then promptly resumed their course! Lars-Göran thought that they may be pirates and told me he was prepared to "sacrifice the women" in order to save his precious boat!

Utö is an incredibly popular summer getaway, but it is accessible via ferry all year round and the Utö Värdshus is a very well-known restaurant and a great reason to visit the island no matter what the weather. From the restaurant, you can enjoy views like this!



But our main reason for going there was the Utö Julmarknad. This was held in the courtyard of the Utö Värdshus. There are some pictures here of the markets.

First the venue itself - Utö Värdshus (this is at 10am)



The entrance to the courtyard



Some of the market stalls:



Another view of the market:



It was a small market, but really pretty, with a nice range of good quality, hand crafted goods. There was no crap here at all - everything was high class. The stalls had a variety of christmas foods, drinks, decorations, gift ideas. There was music, food to eat and a lovely bustling atmosphere. My absolute favourite stall was one by a local woman, Helene Larsson and her driftwood art. I was drooling! So many that I loved, but they are quite expensive, so alas, I wasn't able to buy any. Maybe one day I'll be rich again. There are a couple of photographs of her work.

Yes, that's me dressed like an eskimo admiring the artwork!



A closer look at the detail in one of her driftwood pieces. You can see more on her website.



The other lovely place was a little shop just off the courtyard that was set up like an old fashioned corner store, with a lovely array of gifts. The shop is apparently open all year, so we must make a time to come and see it again when it is less crowded. I could have stayed forever and pottered around. Look at the traditional hardbread drying on the stick across the ceiling.

While Friday was a lovely day, it was unfortunately very wet and cold on both the Saturday and Sunday. We were hopeful of snow and I'm sure that the markets look much prettier with a light dusting of the white stuff, but still it was a beautiful atmosphere and I'm really glad that we went.

Next year, we may try and angle a weekend with better weather, as the markets are held over three weekends. We did see some people we knew - a couple we know from Nynäshamn and someone from the OE Yacht Club. They had all come via ferry from Åsta Havsbad and eaten at the restaurant. We spent the remainder of the time enjoying our life onboard again - after all, it's been a while!

On Sunday, it was wet again, so we decided to motor home, rather than hoist the sails in uncertain conditions. We were so lucky that rain held off until we were actually in Nynäshamn. It could have been much worse.



These last few shots show a little of the boats that were here (lots of ferries!), the village itself and a couple of night views.

The village with a view across the bay to the church. (the tiny yello dot in the distance)



Some of the ferry traffic (our boat, Fiona, is in the foreground of the photograph)



The harbour shops at "night" (it was only 4pm!)



The main street at "peak hour" - don't get run over in the rush!



Till next time!