9 October 2018

A Baltic Diversion

9 October 2018

Sep/October. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
30	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

Tuesday 9 October 2018--Åland is an archipelago that lies between Sweden and Finland. It's part of the latter country, but the people are ethnically and linguistically Swedish. (There are several Swedish enclaves in Finland.) It also has some degree of autonomy, part of a 19th-century agreement that kept it in Finland, but also demilitarized it, which stopped countries fighting over its strategic position. I drove around a bit today, and was a little disappointed--it doesn't have the remote feel of archipelagos like the Faroes or Shetland or even the Hebrides. In fact, it feels like driving around anywhere in Sweden or Finland (not that I've really driven around in either of those). There are some interesting sights, though, including the ruined remnant of a rather astonishing 19th-century Russian fortification at Bomarsund, destroyed by British and French during the Crimean War; and the 14th-century Kastelholm.

Under Construction

Map of today's basic route
not including a few odd spurs

Next