The Vacation Island of Oland

What do you imagine when you hear “a vacation island”? Probably endless beaches with bright blue sea, sun, cocktails and great night parties. Of course, this is often exactly the case. Not in the Swedish translation, however. There are two prominent resort islands here – Gotland, which I have told you about, and Oland (Öland). The first is a big hit, Denmark and even Russia tried to fight for it. After all, it was fantastic to be able to tease the German Hanseatic League. On Oland, it was not so dramatic.

It’s not like they didn’t fight here at all, especially considering that for centuries Oland and the opposite city of Kalmar marked the southern border of Sweden with Denmark. The so-called Kalmar Strait between the island and the mainland has always offered excellent conditions for shipping. Nowadays, a 6-kilometer bridge, Ölandsbron, has been built across it, which is a tourist attraction and is considered by the Swedes to be a small engineering miracle. As you can see in the photo above, it also offers good photographic material.

During the long years that today’s southern Sweden was a Danish possession, the island of Oland and Kalmar guarded the strait vigilantly. As a result, in the 12th century, Borgholm Fortress appeared, later rebuilt into a castle, and today standing in ruins after being destroyed by fire in the early 19th century. The castle hosts many festivals, concerts and visiting exhibitions. One can admire the views from the fortress walls or try on royal pants. We are talking about King Carl X Gustav, whose waist is said to have reached 2 meters in diameter!

Near Borgholms, there is another royal residence – Sollidens Castle. Much newer, from the beginning of the 20th century, it was built for completely different purposes. We can compare it more to a holiday estate and there is nothing protective in it, except that it was supposed to protect Queen Victoria from attacks of bronchial asthma. To this day, this is the summer residence of the Swedish kings and all visitors are allowed inside only because of their goodwill. And when I say “inside”, I mean only the gardens around the central building.

Another great attraction of Oland are the windmills. There were over 1000 of them and the oldest date back to the 17th century, which may give you an idea of the quality of the winds on the island. For the two days we spent there, we were fortunately unable to check it out, but we did get an idea of the variety of flour production facilities. We had already understood that the island is very good for agriculture. Some mills were very small and simple models, while others were multi-storey buildings with balconies.

Lest you get the impression that all the cultural heritage on the island dates back to the aftermath of the 10th century, I should also mention the remains from the Iron Age, which are not at all as impressive as the other ones. So much so that they are neither mentioned in the guidebooks about Oland, nor are there even signs for them on site. Here, for example, is the necropolis with about 50 graves, which is located on a high rocky plateau by the main road and is recognizable only by the large stones, scattered roughly in circles. You will find a small information sign in front of the stones themselves.

It’s time to pay attention to the natural features of the place. I have already mentioned that most of the land is arable. However, the mosaic of peatlands, forests and rocks still exists, which brings us back to the vacation nature of the island. In addition to breathing the healing air, as in the case of Queen Victoria, Swedes go on summer vacation to the islands to run, walk long routes, ride bicycles and summer ski. They love camping, in which they partner with numerous German tourists. Here are some such places:

For me, the best places were along the coast. As in Gotland, here too nature has been whirling around creating bizarre shapes, for the pleasure of the eye and the bloggers. Those spots are concentrated mainly in the northern part of Oland, in places like Byrums and Neptuni åkrar. They were formed something like 500 million years ago and I won’t even try to imagine how long ago that is. Scientists say that there must be many forms of ancient life “sealed” in the rocks, unfortunately I haven’t found them yet.

The northernmost point of Oland is actually a separate miniature island, connected to the rest by a causeway. On one side the Baltic Sea splashes, on the other a kind of large lagoon has formed with hundreds of nesting birds, at least in the summer. At the “top” of the islet stands the Long Erik, a lighthouse and historical landmark from 1845. The coast next to it is dotted with numerous pyramids formed by flat stones, a kind of entertainment for tourists. And the most pleasant thing is when there happens to be no living soul around.