that did sound strange but it really translates into Island land
Öland is the second biggest island and the smallest of the traditional provinces in Sweden
and it's where we went yesterday
it's 110 kilometers long but only around 20 kilometers wide
to get there we drove on the bridge connecting the city of Kalmar with the island...a bridge that opened up in 1972 and it's a little more than 6 kilometers long
quite a beautiful drive , when the weather is good (today it was raining cats and dogs)
and it's still the longest bridge in Sweden
my mother is raised in this area and today was her 80th birthday and she wanted to
treat us to the traditional dish from this area....kroppkakor...now this will be funny because if I translate it directly it becomes body cookies and that's not what we had...
we had swedish dumplings !
they are made of cooked potatoes and inside there's bacon and we eat it with butter, cream and lingon berries ....yummy....
when we finally managed to drag our bellies out of there we went for a drive on the island
a flower field for the birthday lady...a field of cornflowers or bachelors buttons and oxeye daises
the island is known for it's stora alvaret - "the big seriousness"
it's an area on the south part of the island that is a vast moor....almost no trees and the limestone often shows....to get into the moor you have to climb over these gates
the alvar has a number of species, flowers that can't be found anywhere else ....you can find some special orchids for instance
a typical ölands wall....made out of limestone
the island is also called the island of the winds..you can find plenty of these old windmills spread all over....used for grinding flower...oldest source say it was used in 1546 already....
most of the mills where built in the 17th century though
the landscape is perfect for sheep ...see them all over...so cute
of course they thought I had something to give them so they all came running up to me
some where newly cut and some where still wearing their overcoat
we had a nice day on this beautiful island
hope you enjoyed it too
we did go to a ceramic workshop also - Paradis, and if you are up for it
I'll show you some pictures from it in my next post
enjoy this in the middle of the week wednesday
we're off on new adventures
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