Mainland

I was in my new house for a short while and before I went home I went to the highest point nearby, to look at the view. The area where I'm going to live is called Björnhovda, in translation that could be Bears head, but the  origin and meaning of the name is debated. 400 years AD there may have been a hillfort (a new word I just learned from Wikipedia) here, where one of the many chiefs on Öland had his stronghold. There is no longer any trace of the actual hillfort, as far as I know, whatever it was it was situated around here. It may have been a longhouse with surrounding farms and no hillfort but the point is that it's a fabulous place to live if you want to have a good overview and control over who was travelling in those unsafe days.

Today travelling is somewhat more peaceful and well organised. You can see the Öland bridge to the right in the picture and the city of Kalmar on the mainland, a little to the left of the bridge. My house is about tree hundred metres to the left of me, and half way down the slope. Even longer ago, after the last ice-age, sea level was right below where I stand and all you see in front of you was sea-bottom. Now, it's rich farming ground.