Dingtuna chuch - 1st November 2018

Visiting the churches with Albertus Pictor painting is quite complicated because they tend to be closed most of the times. Around Västerås, we realised that most of these churches are no longer holding Sunday mass. They are just used on few occasions for baptism, wedding or funerals. All saints celebration is one of the few period of the year when the churches may be opened to public.

The Dingtuna church is located few kilometres from Västerås (see map here). It is one of the 35 churches painted by Albertus Pictor.

Västerås - 1st November 2018

For All Saints vacation, we went to Västerås, one hundred kilometres from Stockholm, for a relaxing weekend in the countryside. For most of us, Västerås is the Ryanair hub for the UK and Western destinations. 

Gamla Västerås

However, we will soon learn that Västerås was, once upon a time, one of the most important city in Sweden!...

Härkeberga church, Enköping - 28 October 2018

Härkeberga church is probably among the most beautiful churches with middle-ages frescoes in Sweden.

It made our first winter time day as we encountered the first snow on the country roads to get there.

Fjäderholmarna - 20 & 21 October 2018

This is probably one of the last weekend of the 2018 season. Yet, weather is till very nice even though temperatures are getting lower, currently around 0°C during nights. But nothing to stop us from getting around! So this weekend, we were sailing-out to fill the diesel tank before parking to our winter quarters in Wasahamnen. However, when getting to the marine gas station in Fjärholmarna, we got caught by the light and decided to spend the night there... We even had dinner outside until the sunset!

Displaying points on interest in Google earth Pro, 13 October 2018

I have been exploring a bit in recent weeks how to use Google Earth Pro to display points relevant for cruising in the Baltic. I managed to extract my tracks from my Furuno TZT2 chart plotter, in files with a .CSV extension, that can be imported easily in Google Earth. 

Then, I collided several lists of points of relevance for cruising in Sweden: marinas, natural harbours, marine gas stations, Svenska Krysar Klubb buoys, and even churches with fresco, castles or stone ships. Here is what I learned through the process...

From Tromsø to Svolvær, 16 - 22 September 2018

Belisama crew got invited on Cybele 17 for a ten day cruise, from Tromsø to Svolvær. A fantastiskt experience in the late boreal summer. The picture below represents the Fisherman's wife at the entrance of the harbour in Svolvær. A good summary of the ten days: contrasted lights, amazing clouds, impressive landscape and lots of emotions...

Fisherman's wife, Svolvær harbour, Lofoten Islands, Noway.

Smådalarö, 8 & 9 September

Smådalarö Gård is an hotel located at the entrance of the fjord heading towards Saltsjöbaden, in a bay protected from all winds with a very shallow entrance.

Smådalarö Gård. Belisama, fourth from the left.