Brännö Serenad

If you are living in Gothenburg, I consider that you enjoy listening to Håkan Hellström. If you have not heard about him yet, there must be something awfully wrong with your student exchange environment! No, I will consider you know him. Yes, you know him. Oh give me a break! Okay so since you love Hellström, you also know his song Brännö Serenad. The lyrics are not very uplifting and it does not mention anything about Brännö, one of the islands at the Gothenburg coast. I have always wanted to discover these islands and finally I took a trip to Brännö two weeks ago. I had a guest from the Netherlands by the time and I thought the island trip would be a good activity. He is a photographer himself, not a nature photographer though so it was his opportunity to take some nature pictures. The sky was grey and it was a typical autumn day. I was content with it, I knew that the summer was long gone so my only wish was a day without rain. We first took the tram to Saltholmen terminal. We had made box of rocket-cherry tomato-avocado-walnut-fumed salmon sallad in the case we could not find a place to eat. And I am glad we prepared a lunch box because the port was quiet dead, the cafés were closed. The picture below is the view we had while eating our sallads by the wooden tables at the port.

While waiting for the ferry, we talked about spooky stories. It fit to the atmosphere. Grey sky full of clouds, going to a relatively remote place and it felt like everybody except us were the locals of these islands. When we hoped on the ferry, we had an urge to have  coffee with some sweet treat. A fika! Because 'fika' is the greatest invention in the world that no other culture has it (!) We had stroopwafels speculaas (another thing you have to know, the Belgian invention Speculoos) and we bought coffee at the ferry café. Black for my friend, milky for me.

In around 20 minutes we were in Brännö. The view from the part was lovely. Before we take a walk around the island, we spent some time around the port which is basically called Brännö Rödsten. A freindly chubby cat joined us, he walked with us for a while and he posed for some shots.

The cat must have been quite lonely and perhaps one of the only cats in the island. We saw many dogs with their owners who were jogging. This cat though, was just hanging around fishing for some strokes and attention. I like the picture where he is on the edge, spending a lazy Sunday. The pictures we took totally give a Gothenburg feeling, the sea breeze, the colour blue, cloudy sky and sweet melancholia. 

The island was empty. We were the only ones walking around. While walking, I was reading the history of Brännö to my friend. The island compared to the other islands in the peninsula is not a fishing village. The smallholder farmers could enhance their incomes by selling plots for summer chalets. It was written in the brocure that, in the middle of the island there are sheep farms. The moment I read it, we saw the sheeps. One of them was quite interested in us. "Oh hai!"

While we were wondering around we saw many cottages and nice houses with gardens. One of these houses was the Museum of Brännö, a tiny cottage. It was closed so we could not get in. We joked about the house opposite of the museum, imagining a scene where the owner of the house invites friends for a party and tell them on the phone with a proud tone, "It is the house right opposite of the Brännö Museum!" Here is the museum, the red cottage.

We also read that Brännö was mentioned in Icelandic sagas. The Laxdaela saga tells the story that an Irish princess called Merkorka was sold as a thrall to to the Icelandic chieftain, during a fair on Brännö, in the 10th century. 10th century sounds early but it is no surprise because the islands were mentioned as early as the Viking era. The ships waited in the protection of islands like Känsö before starting their voyages. Viking markets in the sheltered sound are also referred to. The first inhabitants, which were around the 16th century were poor fishermen during the reign of King Gustav Vasa. In the 18th century, herring fishing was the main job that provided prosperity for the islands. The other islands kept the fishing tradition whereas Brännö became a farming island. In Brännö there are several sizeable houses specially built for pilotmen. We went to one of these houses which was owned by a pilot, today the house is a restaurant and a venue for events. It is called Brännö Värdshus.

The staff were quite friendly. They have a good selection of booze. We went for whiskey, Jameson - Mad Men style since we both are Mad Men fans. While enjoying our drinks we read about the history of this place. The old part of the house was built in 1900 by the master pilot Otto Granström and his wife Josefina. Otto and Josefina had four children Algot, master pilot, Harald, sailor, Gurli, seamstress and Gustaf, merchant sea captain. There were paintings of these people on the walls. In general the place is very cosy. The candles, paintings on the wall, the old wooden tables and furniture sets the atmosphere. They also serve food and it seemed like they had a good menu. It can be also a good stop for having fika, they had different types of kaffebullar. My friend captured me while I was enjoying my whiskey. You can see the snus lips.

Lasse Dahlquist, the most well known person of Brännö, has a room decorated by the Lasse Dahlquist-society. Pictures on the wall reflect the life and work of Lasse. The musician's most known song is De' ä' dans på Brännö brygga. Spotify it! At the time being we did not know about Dahlquist, we had not listened to any of his songs. But we could guess that it would be folk based. It can be good for a Midsommar playlist. 

The shot above is from my friend's camera. It was around 8 pm when we were leaving the island, it got dark. When we came back to the port, the Mr. Cat companied us again. Now below, I will give some tips for the island trips you can make on your own or friends.

* Summer is the best time to go to the island. In the south of the island, Husvik, there is the renowated Brännö brygga (the place mentioned in the song), the famous venue for dancing on the quayside. The dancing events are on Thursday evenings.

* You can rent a bike and see the whole island. For a fika or meal you can go to the Värdhus.

* Plan your trip wisely. If you are going to spend the evening there, check the last ferry to Saltholmen via Västtrafik's website.

* It is a good idea to bring snacks drinks with you. Or you can have a picnic with your friends, of course again, in summer time!

* Say "Hej!" to people you see on the island. Everyone knows each other there and there is a small village feeling. It is nice to greet the locals also because they expect you to do so. 

* While taking pictures of houses respect the private life of the house owners. It can be awkward for them to see tourists taking picture of their cottages.

* You can use your monthly pass on the ferry, so do not buy a ticket if you have the monthly pass. If you need a ticket you can buy one on the ferry. 

* See the museum. I am very curious what's in it. Write me about it. Thanks.

* If you go there during the winter/autumn time, 

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