Even though Mariehamn has Swedish as their native language they are a autonomous territory under Finland. They try to sustain themselves, with cattle, farms and apple orchards. The main industry is the sea. They have two harbors one on the east and one on the west side of the isthmus, many ferry services and a school for sea related jobs. Many cruise ships dock there daily. They have a large potato crop, from which they manufacture potato chips.
Mariehamn was named after a Russian empress. It was under Russian rule and Swedish, before becoming a Finnish territory.
The hike we took today took us up above the tree-line onto waves of red granite. The stacked rock in the pictures below are because former visitors thought it would be a good thing to rearrange the natural terrain. The pines were sparse and it was quite rugged. The temperature was in the mid 70’s, but it felt much warmer. After the hike we had a traditional Åland (Or land) pancake. They are thick and custard like, not at all like our pancakes.
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