Stegeborg is located on a small island and is a place well-known for the Castle ruins that can be seen afar:
Stegeborg was, during the Middle ages, one of Sweden’s most important strongholds, and royal residence until the 1600’s. In those days most powerful clans met in bloody battles or hard bargaining at the castle. The admission fee is 40 SEK. Due to COVID-19, no audio guide was available, and it was a pity, because without a guidance it was difficult to understand the greatness of this place. So we just walked around, and tried to find info on the internet (our mobile phones began working!).
Some of the parts of the ruins are from the 12th century, others were added later. Due to the constantly changing balance of power in medieval Sweden, the fortress changed hands quite frequently during the first 300 years of its existence.
In the course of time, the costs for the maintenance of the large castle became so high that it was sold for the purpose of demolition. In 1731 large parts of the castle were demolished and the stones were sold to Norrköping as building material for houses. The lower parts of the fortress walls proved to be so resistant that their demolition became too costly, and finally failed to take place. A runestone? How did it end up there?
There also was a rock with a signature of King Gustaf who most likely visited the castle in 1913:
We left the ruins, and took a stroll in the marina:
It was time to have lunch, and there was only one restaurant – Hamnkrog. Taking into consideration, it was a very touristy place, we thought it would be junk food, but in fact the restaurant had very good food. Flemming was hungry, so he went for a burger (typical men! :-)). He regretted, when he saw what I got:
I had seared pike-perch (local fish) with wine sauce, cabbage, and radish. It was delicious!
After lunch, we just walked around, and enjoyed the sunny weather.
Later, we returned to the restaurant for coffee and desert. I had crème brûlée with hjortron (the yellow berries we had in Gargnäs):
In the evening, we continued our journey. Do you know how many islands are in Sweden? In Denmark, we often brag about our islands – we proudly announce that we have around 400 islands! Well, in Sweden, there are 267,570 islands! Less than 1,000 are inhabited. We have been flown over many of them during our tour, and every time it was spectacular:
Flemming and I were going to Bunge on Gotland:
The weather was good, but a bit misty, and we couldn’t see the island from the eastern coast of the mainland. In the beginning of our tour, I think it was when Flemming and I took off from Mellansel and headed for Umeå via the coastline, we talked about those brave pilots who made their journeys over the oceans, without having horizon in sight, and with no place to land (in case of emergency). It was especially with regard to Bo Rønnow, the only ultralight pilot from Denmark, who visited Island and Faroe islands in his ultralight aircraft twice.
And now, it was my turn to try just a little of that. That moment when you turn and set course for Gotland whilst you can only see water and skies, and can only guess where the horizon is, is quite special – you get a taste of how it feels to fly over the oceans. Even at 9500 feet, the highest level an ultralight aircraft is allowed to fly, we didn’t have the gliding distance (if the engine should fail) to a land all the way. But it’s a choice. And we had tailwind. We soon were flying over Gotland, and were descending under the clouds:
Bunge airport, former air base, with 3 runways (6 in total):
Inger Martinsson, the owner of the place, welcomed us to Bunge.
When Inger opened the hangar, we couldn’t believe our eyes. We’ve heard there was a small museum on the site, and we imagined a couple of Safir and a glider, but what we saw was outstanding! Among others, there were Draken, Tunnan, Viggen, Lansen, and Saab 105!
When we talked to Inger prior arrival, we asked whether it was possible to stay at the airfield, because it was going to be late. Inger told us, we could stay in the hangar. You can guess what we imagined – a small dark room with 2 bank beds. What we got was a three-room suite by Viggen, fully furnished, light and comfortable. Every time we opened a door from our suite, there was the most stunning view a pilot could wish for: all those gorgeous aircraft!
We also got an exclusive parking place. The following day it was going to rain, and Inger kindly offered us a place in her very special hangar.
It took us long time to come down. We were walking around all those aircraft, taking pictures, touching them, exchanging our excitement. I’m going to write a separate blogpost about the Bunge Air Base later – it deserves its story to be told.
Our bedroom on the photo below. Inger called it “Danish” because of the red-white colours (like in a Danish flag):
It also had a door to the backyard:
It was such a wonderful place! We took the car, and went to a restaurant “Magasinet Kök och Bar” by the sea, Inger recommended. We loved our fish stew, enjoyed the drinks, and watched the ferries go by:
