utö is such a gem of an island located on the southern end of the archipelago. it was a gorgeous day cycling around the island, taking a dip and eating really good seafood. after the russians invaded, burning down houses and destroying several mines - utö was a mining community long ago - it became a summer destination for swedish artists, writers and celebrities. today, families flock there and with good reason...
as we eased toward the harbour, red wooden buildings came into view with a picturesque windmill sitting on top of a hill behind them. there were little shops selling boating attire and of course, sheep skin rugs and other swedish things but we bee lined it to the fish hut - fisk delikatesser - which immediately caught stefan's eye. all sorts of seafood on offer, smoked salmon, trout, and shrimp. we picked up some salmon with plans to go by the bakery (thank you ximena for telling us about it!) to pick out a bun to enjoy the salmon with. at the bakery we could not resist the sockerbulle - sugar bun - incredibly delicious. and that salmon and bun combo... maybe it was utö and the sea breezes but it tasted like the best thing i have ever eaten!
we rented bikes at cykelboden; three gears apparently is all we needed! the only cars on the island belong to the residents; there are 250 of them but just a handful of cars. most use flakmoppes... to ferry children, groceries and whatever else needs transportation.
our destination was the southern end of the island, across a bridge to the neighbouring island alö to eat some seafood and go for a swim! along the way, we discovered that the centre of the island is still used by the military for target practice and the area is open to the public for the summer. as we pedaled through it, stefan and kai explored the target areas finding bullet shells - they loved it. kai wants to return to fully explore the military forests (we'd read that bunkers still exist there).
it was a pretty ride to alo. the chalkboard menu at batshaket - a simple little fish hut - listed all the lovely food we could eat. we settled on the wooden deck with a view of the bay and ate our smoked shrimp with creme fraiche and herring with little bowls of sauces and dill potato salad. so good! we sat next to the loveliest swedes enjoying our conversation about swedish life. next time we'll explore the beach here, a magnificent sandy beach i read about only after we returned home.
we cycled up to the windmill for the view. a dutch man built it in 1791 and apparently his ghost haunts it.
we decided to stay for dinner and catch the last boat home. sitting on the porch of the seglarbaren, i dined on fish soup and its saffron broth was divine! they had miniature golf so, of course, kai played while we waited for our boat to arrive.
at the bageri - bakery - we picked up a loaf of the renowned utöbread, utölimpan - it was devoured within two days of getting it home. we loved utö!
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