Foglö, no-cola-light-ö

One main issue that I had during the day-three was my huge craving for light cola, it started on board of a ferry that only had a vending machine for hot drinks on board. Once arrived to the Överö harbour I started my light cola search on the island of Föglö; with one grocery store. To my disappoint there were no light cola or hardly any other light sodas available,  so i had to survive with flavoured sparkling water only. 

Also it was quite windy while biking, but i didn't mind it as much as the lack of light sodas.

We stayed in a quite picturesque little village of Degerby at the Föglö island. This time we stayed in a B&B, of which name i've forgotten. . There seemed to be two other bit nicer places to stay in this village,  so if you are planning to do a similar trip, choose one of the other accommodation places, not the one in front of the bank. Although I liked the salmon soup they served for lunch and loved their "Åland pancake" that was served as dessert. . Delicious. . Need to learn to make it myself!

We were able to check out the whole village of Degerby quickly so we had plenty of time for shopping and going out, although the shop closed at six and restaurants at 20hrs. Only the library seemed to be open as late as 20hrs; they must love reading there. So we spent the evening chatting,  reading and drinking WATER.

Day four started again with an early breakfast,  8:00. Once done eating, yet another badic nordic breakfast, we head towards the ferry harbour and returned back to the main island. The ferry took only 30 min, and then we biked an hour or so... until we found a place where i finally got myself a sugarfree coladrink!!! Also bought a "nordic style doghnut" with it .. which is loaded with sugar, one need to keep a balance in life..

By midday we were in the capital of Åland and our first stop was Mariebad, which is a sort of mix of a small spa and a swimming hall. We were happy to clean the bike dust and suntan lotion off of our skin; and swim few laps in the pool, get nervous in the slide, let the water massage with a high pressure, relax in the bubble bath and sweat in the sauna. Only found strange that you had to buy a lock with 3,50 euros,  but you could sell the lock back to them with 2 euros.

After swimming we took a look at the beautiful Maritime Quarter,  and visited a silversmith who was happy to show his work and open up with his philosophy of life.. He thought that my friend is his soul mate,  and was ready to throw me out of his shop. Once my friend was ready to say good bye to him, we visited a shop with a lot of handcrafts from Åland (www.salt.ax). Found a great gift there for my boyfriend.

Rest of the time in Mariehamn we sat in couple of terraces and enjoyed quite tasty hamburger dinner at Dino's, a restaurant that was bit tricky to find. We checked TripAdvisor for restaurants, and found this restaurant interesting.. checked their address,  and biked there based on google maps, which took us bit off centre to a residential area, and no sight of any restaurants.  After biking a bit around there my friend noticed on the old fashioned map that numbers on that particular street don't go chronologically. . So we started biking back and found the restaurant .. And also realised that we were sitting on a terrace next to Dino's restaurant before we left to look for it.

....Boarded Viking Line m/s Mariella around 23:30 and the holiday was heading towards the end. In Helsinki harbour next morning my friend and I head towards our own ways. . She about 3km, me about 30 km of biking..

Really enjoyed my first biking holiday and will definitely do more holidays with my bike,  but in the future will do more planning and will avoid buying package deals as we did this time.

On Board

Day three started with an early breakfast (8:00) in the restaurant that is on the cottage site, quite tasty coffee and basic nordic breackfast servings; i was pleased to have freshly baked bread with ham and cheese + cucumber, oh and yoghurt. Once done with eating we deciddd to take an excursion to a sight that was mentioned on the prochure, a local pharmacy.

Despite the fact that there were not too much to see, the pharmacist made the visit worth our while. She gladly told us about the history of the pharmacy and also about the island. She had worked around 30 years there, and she serves around 350 people who live in Kumlinge and in the nearby islands.

Once we were done with our excursion to the pharmacy,  we returned back to the cabin, packed and head towards the harbour and the ferry towards Överö.

Have to say i'm glad that i manage here in Swedish as i've noticed that the people here doesn't speak that good English, and i just have to assume that their Finnish skills are nonexistent

...

At the moment we're on board the little ferry, unfortunately there's no a cafe on board,  just a vending machine for hot drinks.. And I really need Cola!! ...now just have to survive with a still water until we arrive to the next island. .

Åland by Bike, days 1 & 2

We arrived at 4:30 (am) to Åland's capital Mariehamn after a 9 hour boat ride from Helsinki.

First night we stayed in a hostel type of accommodation nearby the harbour,  well we spent rather just a morning in the hostel as we checked in around 4:45 and out at 11:04. It was called Gästhem Kronan, we had a shared toilet and a shower .. incl very simple breakfast.. all that for 77 euros per room, quite pricy for what we got. When you think that with 100 euros you can book a four start hotel in many destinations.

Monday, the first day of biking started smoothly despite only 3-4 hrs of sleep. Biked in the middle of the main island an enjoyed forest and field views.. stopped by in a strange thai restaurant for a drink, soft drink just to be precise. Then the rain started and I got finally to test my rain gear (shield jacket and trousers), had them on me until i felt like i was in a sauna on a bicycle. . In other words i wore them until Kasterholm. There we took pics of the ruins of the castle and stopped in Smakby restaurant for a tasty late lunch,  that is by the way run by a celebrity chef. Well sort of a celebrity chef, at least in Swedish speaking Finland he is famous as he has been on the most popular Finnish-Swedish tv show,  Strömsö.. Actually even Finnish speaking Finns like to watch that one.

From Smakby we biked the rest ten km with tummies full of tasty Cod and mashand vegetables until we reached to a cottage and camping site called Putte's Camping next to Bomarsund ruins (a fortress built by Russians when Finland was under Russian rule at the end of 19th century). Putte's camping didn't impress us much with their simple cabins that weren't seen any renovation since 1970s or so. Shared toilets and showers had a beautiful mustard yellow colour and the cafe/restaurant was as cosy as a school cantine. Service was friendly and i was happy to communicate in Swedish with the sweet old lady who was running the place. The biggest minus i would give to yhis place from the fee that you had to pay to get hot water (1€ / 4 min), as you already pay 75 euros for a extemely simple accommodation at least the shower should be free.

On Tuesday, after a 13 hr sleep and a little breakfast at our cabin terrace we head towards a ferry that took us to Kumlinge island and to our next cabin. The ferry was quite big with even a little cafe. I enjoyed a nordic style doghnut with Finnish style coffee there, which means water with a taste of coffee.

Once arrived to the Kumlige island we biked few kilometers to the Kumlinge village where i thought to withrdaw some cash as noticed a bank. This bank though didn't have a cash machine, but i had to step in and withdraw money from the clerk.  Not sure if i have ever done that in my life. Since i didn't remember my bank account number by heart the clerk had to call somewhere to get it, but in the end i managed to get some cash.

After being loaded with cash we started to head towards the cabin site, at least we thought so. Then on the way we stopped by a pretty little and very old church.  Took a peak inside as well and almost crashed to a local pensioners' tea party. I left them alone, but my friend decided to film a bit of their violin artist, once shr was done it was time to carry on the journey. . The road changed from asphalt into dirt, and got smaller and smaller until we were on someone's yard, then we had a sort hunch that we have biked a bit wrong. Then we returned back to the village centre and took a correct turn from the bank, and shortly we reached at the cabin site.

As it's off season there're not many fellow passangers and it also gives an idea how quiet it must be here during the winter time. To our disappointment a really nice looking boat harbour cafe was closed next to the cabin site. Also we had to choose the best and the only restaurant in the neighbourhood for dinner, luckily the dish was tasty, thanks to very fresh local fish i ordered. They have also a sauna for rent here, and as we have pretty much nothing to do here we also booked a sauna for an hour. To sum up Tuesday;  we biked about 12 km, took a ferry, ate and went to the sauna. Again the bike route went in the middle of forests and fields, hence not so much sea views until we reached this cabin site that is by the sea.

Tomorrow we'll carry on to another island, I'm hoping to see more of that Eastern Sea!

P.s. more pics will follow. 

Catinspection

Today's main goal was to find a cover for my Samsung Galxy tab S, as I want to take this new toy of mine with me to Åland. Seems like not all stores selling this tab sells covers for it, as it took three electronics stores until I found a suitable "book cover".

Next project was to clean the bike and get a bottle holder installed on to the bicycle.  Although I left the bottle holder for my dad to fix. Once we both had finished with our tasks, then Sotku the cat came inspect our work. 

Now I will bike a bit and after relax in the sauna.

Åland in the Horizon

Oops I did it again, I forgot my blog and carried on with my life.. But now again I have feeling I will get some posts done in near future.

Soon is the time for my second summer holiday week, and really can’t wait to pack my bike, board the Viking Line cruise ship and head to the beautiful island of Åland / Ahvenanmaa. I really hope this tropical weather carries on next week, but it does not look promising. I’m bit afraid that after this constant 27-30 degree weather, 20 degrees will feel freezing cold.

I’m going there with a good friend of mine, who is sort of new at biking.. Hence our trip is rather “biking holiday for beginners”, our longest bike ride during one day is around 30 km. That distance for a normal person means about 1,5 hours of biking, with her this may take half a day or a full day. Then again we’re not in hurry; we are on a HOLIDAY. And while I’m waiting for her to reach me, I can spend time taking pics, reading, crocheting or writing.

Tomorrow I will take my bike for a ride, just to make sure that it is in good enough condition to survive four days with me. Although, I need to trust that Åland is full of kind gentlemen, who can help in case I need some fixing with the bike, as I am as helpless to repair bikes as I am with repairing anything. It also seems like my friend is not that talented either, as either of us can't even fix a flat tyre on a bike. 

Really looking forward to explore this small autonomic Swedish speaking island that is part of Finland. So far I have only visited their capital Mariehamn, which is very cute small town that you can walk from one end to anohter in about 5 minutes, at least the centre. So this time we'll visit several little villages, and we’ll also take a couple little ferries from island to island. Oh and not to forget that we will have many possibilities to practice our Swedish language skills!

 

I'm actually at the airport now, as just returned a nice little brown car with cruise control to the rental place, and now I'm waiting for a bus to take me home to my parents’ place.. In other words holiday started !!