Stockholm's Skärgård

Lars and Gus took a day trip out to the island Sandhamn (Sand Harbor) on one of the many, many regular ferries that operate everywhere along the coast and especially in the various skärgårdar along the Swedish coast. We got off at Sandhamn, giving us 4 hours to walk around, eat lunch, and then take another boat back to Stockholm.

We went to Sandhamn on Cinderella II and returned on Askungen, the old Swedish name for Cinderella (aska = ashes & ungen = the young one). Yes, it is an older boat, although not THAT much older.

 Notice that the tip of the bow rises up to allow passengers to board and to exit. This allows these boats to "snuggle" their bow up to a makeshift or permanent dock for quick loading and unloading of people and freight.



There are many lovely houses on the island. Here are a few examples.

 

  

The short growth in the last picture is mostly blueberries and some lingon. The blueberries were just beginning to form and ripen and the few lingon bushes we saw were a bit behind in their production of berries.

Sandhamn has its own "Lookout Mountain". These six pictures give a 360 degree counter clockwise view from atop this little hill.

 It should be no surprise that this small community has few "roads" wide enough for cars. We only saw one short road wide enough. The path shown below is wide enough for two-way bicycle traffic. Some were not.