The archipelago of the Alands consists of 6000+ islands of different size. 30000 people live here. 12000 of them in the neat capital -Mariehamn. Today in the morning I had a time to explore in details the city. It was worth to start from the park below the city hall where you can find the statue of Maria Alexandrovna – the wife of the Russian tsar. The city was named after her… Funny – isn’t it? Then on the bayside there is a new, big building of the Aland’s parliament -see the picture. The parliament has only 30 members. The archipelago has authonomy, it belongs to Finland but people speak Sweedish language… Mariehamn lies on the peninsula. Beautiful, wide esplanade of old trees cuts this peninsula from marina side to ferry dock side. The Protestant church stands somewhere in the middle. South of the esplanade you can find some old houses in the narrow streets of the “old town”. Now, after touris season the city is very quiet, prices of the hotel rooms go down – I saw the offer for 38 euro (it is still a lot for the backpacker).
In the afternoon I plan to take the ferry back to Turku…
