Day 4: Exploring Marstrand Island

Jetlag seemed to finally hit today, when we accidentally slept in until almost 11. Since it gets light at 3:30 am, it's hard to know the time around here when you wake up in the middle of the night. It looks like we'll be setting alarms from now on...

Since the weather was fantastic today, we decided to visit Marstrand Island upon Cindy and Anders' suggestion. We got a late start, but we took a 40 minute drive out to the coast, where we hopped from island to island on bridges and then stopped one island short of Marstrand. We parked and took the ferry over. Only service vehicles and others with special permits are allowed on Marstrand so it is a nice island for pedestrians. Marstrand is sort of a resort island with little shops and houses that remind you of a cross between Nantucket and Seaside. We sat in a park and enjoyed some cheese sandwiches and guava juice while Nuri chased birds.

The main site on the island is Carlsten Fortress at the top of the hill on Marstrand. This stone fortress was built starting in the 1600's, though it was added to in various centuries. For some time it was also used as a prison, which was difficult to escape since it was 4 or 5 islands away from the main land (at that time there were no bridges). It was a wonderful structure to explore, with many nooks and crannies, and Nuri had a great time going up and down the stairs and ramps, throwing rocks into the moat, and sitting on cannons in the courtyard. We topped off the visit with a climb to the top of the tower in the heart of the fortress, where there was a lovely view of the rest of the island. We then decended through the "secret tunnel" that led us through the walls of the fortress. In some ways it reminded us of the Tower of London, without the crown-jewel type of exhibits. But in striking contrast to the Tower of London, there were almost no tourists at all. We must have bumped into 2 or 3 other parties of people in the couple of hours that we were there. It was fantastic to have the fortress all to ourselves.

We ended our visit to the island with a little well-deserved ice cream (after climbing the hill and the fortress, Sal having a stroller and diaper bag in tow). When we got back home, we had some delicious vegetarian chile and cornbread for dinner that Cindy made. Nuri had a tough time going to sleep, given his late wake-up time. We finally coaxed him to bed at almost 1 am.