15 days, July 2001

Stockholm archipelago (Sweden)

Stockholm archipelago is amazing: a labyrinth of thousands of medium-tiny islands where you can wander plunged in the wildlife with, in summertime, a 20 hours daylight. Living in Sweden thereby I could not miss the chance of renting a kayak and exploring this charming world; it was the middle of July when me and my girlfriend prepared all the needs for a 15 days travel: a tent, food, water, petrol ring, maps, compass,...and we left towards the open sea. I hardly forgot the sunrise from the sea horizon I saw one morning getting up at 4.00 am. Moreover among all the islands we zigzagged,  I fell in love particularly  for that called Moja. It's one of the biggest, where there're  no car, left alone some funny three-wheels moped, and just one paved road. It seems in Moja time froze 30 years ago. I got so charmed, that I came back 6 months later in the middle of the winter when everything was covered by a fifty cm thick layer of snow, all the creeks  frozen, the 20 hours of light turned in few ones, and all the windows  lit by the typical swedish christmas lights. The island seemed fallen in a kinda of hibernation, waiting for the far far next summer.

Alby