Kökar

Kökar is the outermost inhabited island group of Åland's southern archipelago, a cluster of bare granite islets two and a half hours by ferry from Långnäs. The islands are almost treeless, polished smooth by the ice and cut by narrow sounds, and the few hundred islanders live from fishing and summer guests. On Hamnö stand the ruins of a Franciscan monastery, and the island church was built on its site. A local history museum keeps the old farming and seal-hunting life. Trails lead over the rocks to the open sea, and most visitors come to walk, cycle and sleep in the silence.