Back to civilization
After wonderful days in nature, SY Blue Layla returns to the Kalmar Strait. We arrange to meet up with the SY Nerrivik crew (see below, off the island of Blå Jungfrun), which is already waiting for us in Oskarshamn, and with whom we spend a couple of wonderfully pleasant, civilized evenings. Along the way, the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant and nuclear waste storage facility (see below) bears witness to past efforts at civilization. It was built in 1959 onwards on a Bronze Age burial ground. Next to its cooling towers lies one of Sweden’s most popular anchorages and bathing bays (water temperature 27°C). Or the Dämman lighthouse from 1879, the most expensive (some might even say prettiest) lighthouse ever built in Sweden, most recently used as a – rather unsuccessful – hotel.
Oskarshamn itself also represents more or less successful times: The old 19th-century fishing district of Besväret is prettier than the post-war shipyard workers’ settlements, which have lost much of their charm since the shipyard crisis of the 1970s. The Nordic sunlight shines equally over everything, pampering us with its vivid colors both morning and evening.
South of Kalmar and the Öland Bridge (see above), we stop in Kristianopel (see below), which was fiercely fought over between Denmark and Sweden in the 17th century. Today, thanks to its old church and pretty Swedish houses, it is a tourist magnet, not least for German sailing yachts.
