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Municipality in Åland, Finland
Photo: Användare LPfi på svenska Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Vårdö is a municipality in Åland, on the northern route between mainland Åland and mainland Finland. It was on the Great Post Route between Stockholm and Turku.
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Medieval "grey stone" church, built ca 1520–1550 and extended in the 18th century. The interior is mostly of newer date.
The Great Post Route between Stockholm and Turku, operated from 1638, when the postal service was started in Sweden, to 1910, is marked through Vårdö, from Båthusviken west of Vargata and Hullvik north-east from Vårdöby (and also e.g. for a leg in Taivassalo). There is a memorial by the shore in Hullvik. The route is also commemorated by an early rowing and sailing competition between Grisslehamn of Norrtälje and Eckerö. The post was brought forward by locals, year round, and many lost their lives in storms and in the ice.
Stormskäret
A novel series by Anni Blomqvist telling about the life of a poor fisher family was made into a nationally famous film in 1975. A new version – the most expensive film ever made in Swedish in Finland – is being shoot in 2023 and will have its cinema première early in 2024. Blomqvist lived on Simskäla and based the plot on real events. The filming location, the small island Väderskär (more or less synonymously called Stormskäret, "Storm skerry", in the novels and the film) is often visited and you may be able to get a guided tour telling about the background, Blomqvist and the films.
Inn. Tours to Väderskär.
By bus
There is a bus connection from Mariehamn by Ålandstrafiken, mostly several daily services, twice a day in summer weekends.
By yacht
5 m; check bridge arrangements in the canal). From Västerhamn or the sea you could also sail between Lemland and Föglö (you might want to check the bridge height between Töftö and Vargata).
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