It has only just occurred to me just how dark the nights have suddenly become over the last week or so. The sky is really black now and the stars have reappeared for the first time in many months. I had almost forgotten what true night looks like after the summer months of "almost dusk" nights. And I do have to say that I like it. There is something very comforting about a deep, dark night.

The winds are a bit so-so for heading south, so instead we are heading more south east across the straits of Kalmar to the town of Borgholm on the island of Öland. Lars-Göran used to laugh at the way I pronounced the word Öland. I used to say "Öl-and" (in English that would sound a bit like "Earl-and"). I guess that was amusing to him as "öl" is Swedish for beer and "and" means a wild duck. You can imagine him quacking as he drank a cold beer when we were here last time. I tell you that he is picking up Aussie humour far too fast for my liking. Anyway, now I've learned to say "Ö-land" (more like "Err-land") which means island country and is a much more appropriate name. Unless of course you happen to be a wild duck that likes beer and you live here. But you can't please everybody.

I really love this island, which is considered the premier holiday destination by many Swedes. It is reputed to have the most sunshine in Sweden and every summer the place is packed with happy holidaymakers, staying in guest harbours, caravan parks, camping grounds, towns, farms etc enjoying the lovely flat countryside, sandy beaches and oodles of sunshine.

Even though it is September, it is still very sunny on Öland and we snigger when we watch the evening weather report and look at the cloud over Stockholm and the big yellow sun hovering on the map over Öland.



You would think that it's mid-July, wouldn't you? We had our afternoon coffee here on the beach, soaking up the sun's rays and enjoying the view across the bay.

Borgholm is the largest town on Öland, with around 11,000 inhabitants. The whole island is only 137km long and 16 km wide with Borgholm lying in the middle of the west coast facing the Swedish mainland. It is naturally the most popular tourist town on the island and during the intensive few weeks of the summer season, thousands of tourists descend on the town. The king also has his summer residence nearby, adding that royal touch to the summer here.

The guest harbour has mooring space for 250 boats and is usually extremely busy, with barely a free space available. But not today...



You've got to love the peace and tranquility of a late vacation. We were all alone in the harbour despite the sunshine, warmth and blue skies. It was funny to have a choice of pier spots and to simply tie up alongside the chosen space - something that would be impossible from mid-June to mid-August. But our peace was short-lived, foiled by the money-grabbing nature of the town. While it is undoubtedly a beautiful town, it is very much a tourist trap and you get the distinct impression that your wallet, rather than your person is what is most welcome here.

The guest harbour guide reports that this harbour closes on August 31st. When we moored we double checked at the office and saw the sign saying that they were closed for the season. All of the mooring buoys had been removed, the hoses were disconnected from the taps on the piers and we were surrounded by the sounds of silence. Great! So, imagine our surprise upon returning from a look around to suddenly find the office open, the sign saying they were closed was mysteriously replaced by one saying they were open from 4pm to 8pm and there was someone on duty to collect our 300kr mooring fee! We felt cheated and were not prepared to shell out that sort of money, so we moved Fiona a hundred metres to the outer harbour near the ferry terminal, where we happily stayed for three days - FREE...



The town is very expensive, even by Swedish standards. For example, a simple plain Margherita pizza for one person costs 90kr (compared to 37kr on the mainland)! The main street is full of cafés, restaurants, ice-cream parlours, t-shirt and souvenir shops á la Glenelg or Manly style, but many of them were closed for the season. Already??

It is not all bad news however. One of the main reasons we wanted to visit was to check out Borgholms Slott, the ruins of the large castle that you can see high on the hill in the background of the last photograph.

But that is another blog entry.