Gold nuggets in Åland - tips for your visit

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Guest writer: Jonathan Gharbi de Maré

Åland is cosy, beautiful and relaxing. There is a lot to see and do. For those of you who may have already been there or who find it exciting to get to know the people and entrepreneurs of Åland, there are some gems to discover. We start with a day in Mariehamn. 

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Considering that only 30,000 people live in the whole of Åland, Mariehamn naturally feels very cosy. Everything is so small and cosy and if the holiday feeling didn't come when you stepped ashore, it definitely does when you hear the cosy dialect spoken. Not only the language is nice but also the calm and pleasant attitude of the Ålanders. 

Sjökvarteret in Mariehamn

Salt craft shop is located in Sjökvarteret and is the island's hub where over 150 artists and craftsmen sell their work. Marie Lundgren is one of six active female artists currently selling her work. Her focus is textiles in colours with an Åland touch.

Entrepreneurship is a common feature of many people we meet on the island. Many of them balance creative work with a little temporary work here and there and are real all-rounders. The island is small and jobs are limited, so you have to be flexible.

A little further away in Sjökvarteret, two craftsmen sit in the sun and plan the upcoming work on the construction of the ship Emelia. The art of boatbuilding is kept alive in Åland and the ship, which is being built using old methods, is scheduled for completion around 2026. Like many others we meet, it's easy to talk to people and they are happy when you ask them questions about Åland. 

Stallhagen Brewery

All distances in Åland are pleasantly short, so it takes 20 minutes by car to reach Stallhagen's brewery. For the beer enthusiasts on the island, you can enjoy twelve beers on tap. The brewery is located in the house next door and regular visits are organised there, but you can also ask and it will be fine.

If you're lucky, you might see a 200-year-old bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne salvaged from a shipwreck in the Åland Islands. It may not just be the bottle itself, but the whole story around it that is very special. Research is also underway with a project led by the University of Reims in France and Veuve Clicquot to store champagne at the bottom of the sea, inspired by the flavour of the champagne found in Åland. 

They have a restaurant with large glass surfaces to the kitchen you can enjoy watching the chefs when they cook the food you will eat. It's also a bit cheaper than in Sweden, even though the place is cosy and lavish. 

From the moment we walked into the restaurant until we sat down, the menu could change. Here, the morning's fresh produce determines the menu and it is vibrant and varied. Love and craftsmanship behind both beer and food. On this particular day, it was local asparagus and pike-perch that went perfectly with a tasting tray of 10 small beers. The asparagus was of course local, as was the pike-perch. 

Hard pruned apple trees, almost like vines, are planted by the road to the brew pub. The landscape is beautiful and they have an outdoor stage where they have performances during the summers. The level of engagement at Stallhagen is high and the impression is simple but knowledgeable if you have questions. They are happy for visitors and the appreciation is felt. 

For those interested in more beer, the Indigo restaurant has the best selection of local craft beer on the island as well as good food and drinks. The Open Water Brewery also makes craft beer in Åland, they are a little smaller than Stallhagen and can therefore make a little more daring beer. 

Flavour Village with Michael Björklund

When you meet a Robinsson winner who has also won awards as both a Swedish and Finnish chef, you know you're in for a show and some creativity. Star chef Michael Björklund is the profile who runs the restaurant Smakbyn, where Åland's distillery is also located next door.

There's a bakery, one of the biggest restaurants on the island, and a range of their own products. Every self-respecting celebrity has their own brand of underwear, right? This is called BB, Björklund Boxers.

There is also a caramel factory where the experience and know-how has been taken from the candy canes of Gränna. A wine brand with wine from a vineyard in Germany is also one of the specialities.

If you are lucky, you can talk to Micke if he is not on one of the other projects he is juggling right now, a lot is going on. The business is growing and changing, so if you have been there last year, there is certainly a lot of new things that have been added. 

Amalia's lemonade factory

Amalia's lemonade factory sounds like a cosy summer place with lemonade and buns. Which it partly is. But it's not just lemonade in the bottles, the Gin Tonic popular in Finland is also available ready-mixed in bottles, as well as a few other things with a little kick.

The stronger drinks are mixed with apple, orange, cranberry, elderflower-lime and rhubarb-vanilla, among others. Their café is about to open and is surrounded by forest and a small cow pasture. They also have their own chocolate under the Mercedes Chocolaterie brand, which can be found on some boats to Åland and here and there on the island. 

Bomarsund Fortress

After meeting entrepreneurs and tasting the local delicacies, it's time for some history. Åland is now de-militarised, but as recently as the mid-19th century, 10,000 French soldiers were in Åland and, together with the British, they defeated the Russians and the fortresses were destroyed. These included Bomarsund ruins commemorating the war and the Russian advance in the North.

What strikes you is that the walls were built with hexagons, which was very time-consuming and more of an aesthetic choice than practical and economic. But then it was never finished, and one might wonder why hexagonal stones were cut out if the economy was already tight.

But with that in mind and all the champagne bottles found in various shipwrecks, you can see that the officers were probably a little too obsessed with appearance or maybe even drunk when they came up with the crazy idea of building hexagonal. Or perhaps one could say giddy ...

Åland - a relaxing experience

Åland was a relaxing and pleasant experience and it felt like you were constantly surrounded by helpful and nice people. Here you get down to the pulse and it feels purely healthy to be there. So instead of yoga camp or one of those retreats where you go to be quiet for a week, go to Åland instead. 

You can get to the Åland Islands by boat, for example with Finnlines' major programme Finncanopus and Finnsirius, which runs from Kapellskär. 

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Jonathan Gharbi De Maré

Jonathan runs the start-up abudhabibeer.com about beer both in the UAE with offshoots in neighbouring regions. Jonathan opened the first craft brewery in Burkina Faso and wrote the book Beer guide to Vietnam. He is a regular writer for the beer magazine Maltesen. In addition to beer, he has a keen interest in nature and more unusual travel destinations. He has written articles for a variety of newspapers and magazines.

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