Ice skating on Alvaret

The girls learn quickly. The smallest is completely fearless and almost runs across the ice, while the big sister takes it a little more carefully. But you can devote yourself to making snow angels on the ice too, of course.

What else can you do during the winter holiday then? You can go winter swimming! Yes, you read that right. And I've tried!

The photo proof! We went to Borgholm to the bathing area called Sjöstugan where there is a long jetty with a ladder that has been left for all winter bathers. The otherwise so popular cold bath house in Borgholm has been closed for a period like so much else in these times, but at Sjöstugan I was far from the only winter bather there.

To call me a winter swimmer might be to take something into it. This was the first time I went winter swimming, but it's not certain that it was the last! Sure it was incredibly cold, but just like everyone says, it felt very nice afterwards. And it was definitely refreshing!

I had read up before about everything to think about, like wearing a hat, a towel to stand on as soon as you got out of the water, and something hot to drink in a thermos afterwards. I was so proud that I had dipped myself! The girls thought their mother was a bit crazy for swimming in the cold weather, but cheered happily from the top of the jetty.

After the bath we went to café and bistro Sjöstugan which is located just behind the jetty, a very cozy little café with a lot of history. Doesn't the red old 1700s house look nice? It used to be an old courthouse, but was moved here in the early 1900s. In this house, Nils Ferlin has been a guest, and perhaps even sat and wrote poems.

A completely different kind of poem can be read on the receipts taped to one wall. At Café Sjöstugan, you can buy a coffee that a fellow human being can then take part in, and the staff told us that their "Donate a coffee" initiative has become very popular. Should not as many people come and pick up coffee as others have donated, they will instead donate coffee for the amount to Hela människan Ria in Borgholm. We bought our coffee as take away, but if we were extra hungry, they serve lunch on weekends, both on site and as take away, and they also have delivery. Biscotti is the specialty, and we filled the box with a semmel biskvi, a diamond biskvi and a biskvi that tasted like violet. We each bought a coffee to take with us, and an extra coffee for Sjöstugan's donate a coffee initiative.

More tips by Helena Elm can be found here!