Åhus, Hanö Bay, Sweden

 Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Åhus, Hanö Bay, Sweden

We are in far south Sweden, at Hanö Bay, docked in the small town of Åhus:

 

The beaches here are called the Swedish Riviera.  They won’t threaten the French Riviera, for sure.  The town is known best as a beach resort, with lovely homes along the waterfront, and also it is well known as the home of Absolut vodka.

 We entered town on the Zodiacs: 

And we walked through the medieval portion of the town: 

The Church of St. Mary dates to the late 11th century: 

It has a fascinating buttress which looks like it might have been added later:

The entrance is imposing: 

There is an ornate and complex altar telling many bible stories: 

At the very top of the altar is a statue of St. Bridget, standing on a skeleton and exposing her leg.  Christ on the wall behind her has swords pointed at his mouth.  This all requires some research:

After visiting the town and the church, we walked to the Absolut factory where we were given vests and lanyards to wear: 

After a rather limited tour of the bottling portion of the factory, we were taken for a tasting, very much like a wine tasting, and then we were taken to another room where we were all given the materials and instructions for making a Cosmopolitan.  In case you’re interested, it’s two parts Absolut Citron, one part each of Triple Sec, cranberry juice, and lime juice.  Pour into a shaker full of ice, shake, pour out and drink.  They were very good, but I’m unconvinced that the brand of vodka used would vary the taste of such a multiflavored drink:

Having had a generous tasting of vodka and then a Cosmopolitan on top of that, we were ready for lunch at the vodka factory.  It was surprisingly good.

After lunch we walked about a mile across the town to one of the beaches where we found tiny charming beach huts.  The beach is now protected, but these were there before the laws prohibiting new construction were passed, and so they are grandfathered in.  They are passed down within families: 

Our goal on the walk was to visit one of the last remaining eel fishermen.  Eels are now protected, but existing eel fishermen have been allowed to fish for three months of the year, every year.  No new licenses are being given out, as the eels have been almost fished to local extinction.  He gave us a talk in his hut: 

In the smoker were two eels: 


They were dripping fish oil, which our host put on his fingers and ate with gusto.  


We all were then offered samples of smoked eel.  It tasted like any smoked fish.

 We went back to the ship to pack, as we sail overnight for Copenhagen and will dock there early tomorrow morning.  Unless something goes wrong with the trip home, this will be the last posting of this trip.  Thanks to all who came along with us; I’ve enjoyed the many notes and comments.  As of now, the next big trip which I hope to blog will be just after Thanksgiving when we will travel again with National Geographic/Lindblad.  We will go first to Indonesia, starting in Bali, and going east, to Komodo, then to Papua New Guinea, and ending in the Solomon Islands.  More then.

Comments

  1. Ralph P. LockeJune 10, 2022 at 7:36 AM

    Fascinating in so many ways. I'd like to hear about Bridget's leg and the swords pointing at Jesus, if you find out. The eel visit was very informative. Also the general tendency to protect the environment, etc., but grandfathering people in so as not to disrupt their traditions and livelihood.

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