The next morning at breakfast we met the owner of the Hotel, who gave us a bunch of ideas of what to see and do during the day. First, we made a stop at Sund church. The church is dedicated to John the Baptist and dates from the 13th century. It is the largest church on Åland. Then we headed to Bomarsund Fortress. Russia began to build a fortress in Sund in 1830 in accordance with the orders of Emperor Nicholas I. A town, Gamla Skarpans, was built and another settlement, Nya Skarpans, was established inside the fortress. However, the fortress, designed for 5,000 men and 500 cannons, was never finished. In 1854, during the Crimean War, British and French troops invaded the fortress and blew it up. Today, you can visit the fortress ruins and the ruins of two watchtowers. The magnitude of the constructions the Russians had planned is impressive.

A dip in the sea

After we had explored the fortress area, we drove to a place called Östra Simskäla to admire the views of an area where a Finnish television series depicting life on an islet on Åland in the 19th century. On the way back towards Stalldalen we stopped for lunch. While driving I spotted an abandoned house and cowshed I had to go take pictures off. Then we decided to go swimming, so we drove to a small beach in Godby. After a refreshing swim, we returned to the hotel to relax before dinner.

Time for shopping

The following day it was time to move to our final place of accommodation in Mariehamn. We started by driving out to Långnäs. On the way, we spotted a canal and a little local soft drink producer called Amalias Limonadfabrik. So, on the way back we stopped and bought some soft drinks. We also stopped at the canal to take pictures. We had lunch in Mariehamn before heading to the Taffel factory shop. Taffel is a Finnish snack brand now owned by Orkla. With a couple of bags full of snacks, we finally steered our way towards our hotel, Hotel Pommern. This proved to be another nicely renovated hotel. After we had settled in our room, we took to the town for some coffee. Back at the hotel, we read for a while before heading out for a stroll before dinner.

Superb ice cream

Coming up

We had a wonderful trip to Åland, there was loads to see and experience, even if some places had closed for the season. Even though we were still in Finland it almost felt like being abroad. Next, I’ll write a post about the lovely food we ate during our trip.

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