Hanging out on Mariehamn

July 17, 2015

Mariehamn is a cool city. More of a town, as it's pretty small. Lots of boats and restaurants and shops, but it feels less like a tourist town than, say, Vaxholm. That's actually saying a lot, as they are getting set up for a big rock music festival this weekend. There is also a Sea Festival going on, which I've been told is about old boats, but seems to me to be mostly about food.

I've been just sort of hanging out today, although I put a few km's on my bike, mostly going back and forth through town. I'm catching an overnight ferry to Helsinki tonight. I decided to go right to Helsinki rather than to Turku. The ride from Turku to Helsinki isn't supposed to be that great, and I'll avoid the ride into the big city in weather that is supposed to be questionable. The sun keeps coming out today, between bits of rain and lots of clouds. To me, it's hard to figure out the weather and to plan accordingly.

Mariehamn has a nice park along the waterfront. These guys were hanging out.

He's showing off for his lesser cousin, the chicken.

The lady in the tourist office didn't have any explanation other than that they've always been there. They're free to leave, and sometimes are spotted in town, but always come back.

The Aland Islands have an interesting political story. They belong to Finland, but Swedish is the official language, and it sounds like folks don't think of themselves as Finnish. They were part of Sweden until taken by Russia together with Finland in the 1880's. Then when Russia was sort of falling apart in 1917, Finland asked for and was given independence. They included Aland, which in turn asked for independence from Finland, but that was declined. Various treaties were signed, and Aland was given it's own parliament. Any laws that are approved in Finland have to be approved by Aland before they are enacted in Aland, including joining the European Union. Going back to a treaty signed by the League of Nations, and since re-written by appropriate organizations and countries, Aland is de-militarized and neutral. There can be no army and no fortifications, and the Islands cannot be part of any military action as either protagonist or antagonist. I think I got all of that right, but need to double check. But I like the idea of an officially recognized completely demilitarized place.

Maria and I kept company, listening to a bit of the concert while passing time waiting for the late night ferry.

Lots of bikes on this ferry. Although most of the passengers and motor vehicles had boarded in Stockholm, all of the bikes got on in Mariehamn.

Departure from Mariehamn, about 11:15 pm.

Today's ride: 11 km (7 miles)
Total: 221 km (137 miles)

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