castle to castle, central Öland

midlands forest

Welcome to one of Europe's largest contiguous deciduous forest areas, which offers a variety of fine hiking trails and very high natural values. The area consists of deciduous forest, grazed grassland, fields and wetlands. The noble-leaved forest makes up almost half of Midland and mainly consists of hazel-rich oak forest, hornbeam forest, as well as ash and elm. the area is a large mosaic landscape with cultural and natural values and is unparalleled in Europe.

Here are thousands of remains from Iron Age farmers. House foundations that form entire farms and loosely grouped villages, kilometer-long enclosure systems, fairways, wells and tombs. Midland also has a very rich animal and plant life with 100s of red-listed species. Particularly noteworthy is the mushroom flora, which is of international importance and includes a fifth of all the country's red-listed mushrooms. enjoy all the treasures of the midlands along winding footpaths surrounded by old oaks, lush hazel bushes and ruins that bear witness to the past. Stop and fantasize about what life once looked like here several hundred years ago.

Ismantorp's ancient castle

Ismantorp's castle is the best-preserved ancient castle on Öland with its 95 house grounds. The castle has a diameter of 127 meters and a height of 2,5 meters. The castle has nine gates, which from a defense point of view must have been a disadvantage as gates are the weakest points. Explanations have instead been sought within Old Norse mythology, where the number nine plays a large role. During excavations, few finds have been made, which indicates that the castle was never permanently inhabited and perhaps it was never a defensive castle either.

Öland's Museum, Himmelsberga

Himmelsberga village is a double row village with built-up farms on both sides of the street. The farms bordering the village street are surrounded by barns where the dwelling house is located in a sheltered position at the far end of the courtyard. In 1957, the Öland Hembygdsförbund bought two of the farms with a preserved ancient character in Himmelsberga, in order to save a row village for posterity and create the open-air museum Öland's Museum Himmelsberga. The museum has since developed with several farms, an art gallery, gallery, coffee house and shop.

gray castle

Gråborg is Öland's largest ancient castle and also one of Sweden's largest facilities of its kind, with an area of 210x160 meters and a wall height of 4-7 meters. The castle was built during the Iron Age and was used as a defense facility until 1677 in the war against the Danes.

holy knot chapel

St. Knut's chapel, 200 meters north of Gråborg, indicates that the castle had great importance during the Middle Ages. The chapel was built in the 1100th century but was already abandoned in the 1500th century. Today, only the western gable and the triumphal arch remain.