We enjoy the amenities of this harbour in the middle of Kalmar – in general I would like to add that Sweden offers excellently developed guest harbours; we take a shower, prepare our breakfast and warm up lunch, meet the harbour’s purser, chat a little and learn in passing that the island of Hanö is very attractive and that this could be our next destination.
We like to be influenced, in so far as we like to be surprised, and we like to tread new paths. We want to have a look… and off we go. – The drive is quiet, wet, windy. The usual since we have been in Sweden…
Hanö is circumnavigated to the north and approached from the west side; the island is not large, perhaps two kilometres long and one wide, and 90% of it is a barren nature reserve, with only one tiny town and one harbour being ‘civilised’. And here, too, everything is lovingly arranged and designed as it should be. There is no shop; tourists only come in high summer, now it is quiet here.
The harbour is spacious and we can choose our spot – we park near the little house of the energetic harbour administrator and let her inform us comprehensively, then visit the local museum and set off to climb the prominent hill of this island with the weather observation station on top, and to face the biting wind along with the lashing raindrops.
Later, we enjoy an extended visit to the sauna (also to warm ourselves up again), only to take a dip in the ‘sparkling’ Baltic Sea afterwards… In the kitchen of the harbour master’s cottage, where you can hardly turn around (about four square metres in size), we prepare our evening meal, and soon we hole up in the sleeping cabin of the ArgoFram.