from Föglö to Mareinhamn

In the morning I go to have breakfast as soon as possible in order to reach the 9 o'clock ferry.
Breakfast room has the floor a bit askew and stylish furniture. I reach the ferry with no fuss and half an hour later I'm back on 'mainland'.
I arrive at Lemström canal exactly when a yacht wants to pass. They don't lift the bridge up but pull it aside.
In Önningeby village some art is shown in cooperation with Estonian Art Museum. The exhibition is called 'Female Artists of Önningeby Art-Colony'. What makes female art different from male art and if there are also exhibitions of male artists' colonies remains unclear. Also it is not clear what has Estonian Art Museum to do with the whole thing but maybe some of the works are from their collection. There are a few pretty nice pictures, mostly landscapes unmistakebly from Åland but also some scenes from France. Local artists had the habit to form a community in France. A special exhibition is of the works of someone called Acke who has been proud of the fact that he has had no teacher and will have no pupils.
In Mariehamn I also look for the art museum. It's in one set with history museum and they show 'Friends of Åland'. Mostly landscapes, again, one guy is thought of as a local van Gogh. Certain similarities exists. Pictures of Tove Jansson are more colorful than others. History consists mainly of different items and stuffed birds and animals. The texts are in Swedish but a brochure in English comes with the ticket. I always wonder these small museums. All texts are in local language and even if some tourist moves between the exhibits then he's rarely a local.
Cultural program ends with Pommern. Pommern is a more than hundred years old sailing ship with four masts. One could hang around there for a whole day if you read all the stories. These are also in Finnish, German and English in addition to Swedish. I go through the photographs, of giant waves near Cape Horn among other things, and the cabins. Captain's cabin is fancy, he even had a bath-tub and water-closet. With the same ticket it is possible to visit also the Maritime Museum but I have had enough of museums for today. The book shop has nothing to offer me.
Lunch, swimming. Water has not got noticeably warmer. Anyway I'm rather cold lately.
Remains the most annoying of activities - souvenir shopping. Most of the shops appear to have closed, damn, it's Saturday. Others offer nice handicrafts but who needs these things. I have went through all the streets of Mariehamn and seen all people and had enough, so I go to have dinner instead.
Gloomy cloud comes up. Eateries close mostly at nine. In harbor no-one has thought to open a place from 9 PM to 1 AM. Interesting, where hide the people who leave with the nocturnal ship?
I huddle on a bench until I finish the book and go then to cycle around a bit for warm-up. It appears that there is a house, light and warm, where passengers can sit. There are also annoyingly cheerful and loud young men. Must be balance.
I'm the only one with a bicycle so the girl in the booth knows my name without asking and does not want to see my ticket. The cabin in this ship is somehow nicer than on my way here.
57,6 km cycling today.
Previous
Föglö
Next
from Mariehamn to Tallinn

Add a comment

Email again: