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The direct SAS flight to Stockholm is on time. The plane is not full and very comfortable, the flight is only a couple of hours.

Stockholm, Öland

Gaby
2004-01-25 13:47:42

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/>We have our evening meal at Guntorps herrgård restaurant. Smorgåbord as much as you liked followed by main dish, dessert and coffee for 516 SEK - a very modest price by Swedish standards. Well-nourished, we return to the farm. The weather has been extraordinarily good again.

On Saturday, we take the car South. The biggest lighthouse, Långe Jan, is at the extreme south and had been on our itinerary initially, but after climbing Erik we decide to stay closer to home.

Stora Rör is a lovely place on the west coast, with pleasure boats and rocks and wooden houses with well kept gardens. A little drive south brings us near a secluded little beach, where we swim in the crystal clear water. No jellyfish here. Jack enquires with a local man about the jellyfish we had seen earlier. The man says that the ones on this coast were not at all dangerous, but the ones on the Swedish west coast could give a nasty sting. So no swimming in Göteborg.

We cannot find a rökeri in the area and settled for a light lunch near the ruins of the local castle.

We spend a few hours on "our" farm, have tea and cakes in another farm nearby and end the perfect afternoon with a stroll in the fields.

In the evening we look at several restaurants in the centre of Borgholm and sit on the terrace of "La Casa" to enjoy a decently priced and very tender "ox in rodvinsås". After an evening walk along the harbour we return home for our last night in Öland.

On Sunday morning there is a long journey ahead of us. The little cat, Molly is nowhere to be seen and the third cat has been missing for a couple of days now. Today the whole family is going to look for her in the area.

We drop off the car at the garage and take the bus to Kalmar on the Swedish mainland. When we reach the train station it is already mid-day. The Chinese restaurant at the station is good and cheap and sets us up for the train ride to Linköping. At our arrival, Ciarán and Birgitta pick us up in their big car; three little ones are already waiting for us: Marcus, Julia and Emma.

Their wooden house has a half-open extension with a big table for eating outside. It is not a warm evening, but there is plenty of wine to warm us, and marinated garlic for extra spiciness. For once, I feel the outsider for not smoking. The Swedes have a thing called "snus", small packets of tobacco that are kept in the mouth for when they are not allowed to smoke. It is sold everywhere, I have even heard someone ask for snus in the train buffet. Ciarán lights the barbecue and a while later we are all eating away happily, with four or five layers of clothing and a blanket on our knees. It is delicious and after a while we no longer feel the chill.

We learn a lot of things from our hosts about Swedish life. We had wondered about the reddish brown colour that so many of the houses are stained with. Not a special promotion at IKEA's paint department, as we had initially thought, but traditionally the colour of iron oxide used to protect the wood. Ciarán also tells us more about the local jellyfish - and indeed to avoid as much as possible the Norwegian Man-of-War, a large poisonous jellyfish that lives in the waters around Göteborg.

Sleeping accomodations are a bit rough. Jack and I sleep on matresses on the floor and get about four hours of sleep between the two of us. Still, we survive, and breakfast makes up for a lot: polar sandwiches and good hot coffee. It is Monday morning and today we will head for our last stop: Göteborg.