Day 5: Stockholm - Borgholm
After three days in Stockholm it was time to go again and fire up good ol' (t)rusty Tweety. When we decided to do this trip by car we figured we should do a bit more than just visit the city, and travel through some of the countryside as well. Which is why we were taking the long way back to Denmark, driving through the forested south of Sweden, with a stopover on one of Sweden's largest islands: Öland.
Apparently Sweden is all about islands, and according to our guidebook Oland is one of the easiest accessible Swedish island experiences, so it seemed a natural choice.
On the way to Öland we stopped for a nice coffee break at one of the many locks in the Gota canal, the canal which (I think) traverses the whole south of Sweden. It's a very picturesque area and makes for a great break along the journey.
We arrived at Öland in the early afternoon. A huge bridge enables you to drive right up to the island, so no hassle with ferries for this island.
The island is 137 kilometres long, but only 16 kilometres wide, and most of the island is a protected nature reserve.
As we hadn't booked any accommodation for tonight we stopped at the Öland tourist office to see if they could find anywhere to stay for us. The staff was very friendly and helpful, but somehow we felt they didn't quite understand what we needed. The girl who helped us kept offering us a room in one of the 4-star resorts on the island, whereas we were more after something a little more 'picturesque'. After all that was the description of the island in our guidebook. I think the tourist office relies on hefty commissions from the reservations they make, as she kept pointing towards the two expensive resorts in Borgholm in her hotel brochure.
We found a place that looked great in the brochure, Villa Ingrid, and she reluctantly agreed to book us a room there.
Villa Ingrid is, as the name suggests, a stately villa, which has been turned into a hotel. Or, hotel... there was no staff or anything present, it looked more like some form of holiday accommodation which you shared with about 20 other people. A communal kitchen and dining area and shared bathrooms adding to that feeling, which was quite a unique experience really, since all the other occupants of the place were well in their 60s or older... as soon turned out most visitors of the island were.
But before driving to Borgholm in the north we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the south of the island. All around the island you'll find little wooden windmills. There are at least 400 of them (once there were over 2000) and while their use is still unclear to me, they certainly made for great photo opportunities.
Another 'must-see' was the World Heritage listed agricultural landscape, a limestone plateau that makes up the largest part of the southern half of the island. I say must-see between quotation marks because, quite frankly, there wasn't an awful lot to see, really. I'm sure the area holds great archeological value, but to these eyes it wasn't much more than a flat semi-wetland, its inhabitants being mainly of the buzzing kind!
We drove down to the southernmost tip of the island where a picturesque lighthouse looks out over the Baltic Sea.
On the way back up north we stopped at a few more places including a pre-historic stone circle. Not exactly Stonehenge, but once again very picturesque nonetheless (another windmill adding to the perfect postcard picture setting).
However, as interesting as some of the archaeological history of the island may be, one thing really kept nagging me throughout. We have several islands in the North of The Netherlands, called the Wadden Islands, and Öland looks an awful lot like those. Where I'd hoped for some striking natural features the place just looked too much like home for my taste.
This was not helped by the other visitors to the island either.
Not that we'd desperately needed another night of partying after three days in Stockholm, but something in between would have been nice. This was too much of a culture shock for us.
For dinner we went to a place called Gunntorps Herrgård, famed or its great interpretation of that grand Swedish invention: Smorgasbord.
The food was great though. The smorgasbord consisted of only starters, and you had to choose your main course a la carte. My barbecued fish was nowhere near as good as the stuff they served at the smorgasbord buffet, so I left it for what it was and stuffed myself on delicious graved lax and köttbullar instead.
After dinner we went on a quest to find a pub for a late night drink, but after three futile walks through the not so exciting center of Borgholm we opted for an early night instead.
Be careful though, the staff is trained to put you in one of the expensive resort hotels on the island. With a little persuation though they will book you into one of the many private residences on the island.
Villa Ingrid is a beautiful villa which has been turned into a hotel. Arrival at the hotel can be a bit of a strange experience, as there is no reception and no (visible) staff. You will have to call the proprietor who will remotely open the front door for you, and once inside you will find your room key and instructions waiting for you.
The rooms are clean and equipped with basic amenities like coffee & tea making facilities. The shared bathrooms are equally clean and -something I have never seen before- have spare towels available.
The villa offers a spaceous kitchen and dining room for self-catering, and in the morning a sumptuous breakfast buffet is laid out.
The villa is beautifully located within walking distance of the centre of Bogholm. The large front yard is filled with apple and pear trees, adding to the idyllic setting.
