I never thought that I would ever willingly visit the Småland coastal township of Mönsterås.



The first view of the town from out on the water is of an apparently nasty, horrible place. We passed here on our way home from Göteborg when we bought the boat four years ago and all you could see from Kalmarsund that cold, clear November afternoon was a massive paper pulp mill spewing smoke out from four huge chimneys. It literally stood out like the proverbial dog's balls above the horizon and one would certainly hesitate to head anywhere near the town.

Two years ago we stayed for a few days at Sandvik, directly across the water on the island of Öland. Each day we glanced westwards to the mainland with distaste at the scene and when we saw on our sea charts that the town was called Mönsterås, we quickly christened it Monstrous and vowed that we would never go there.



What changed my mind was the positive write-up in our newly purchased guide book Landsort-Skanör, which painted a picture of a lovely town. This was reinforced by a leaflet that we picked up at Timmernabben that showed a photograph of the main street that looked very similar to the amazing old town at Visby which we visited and enjoyed so much last year. We simply had to go there! And then when we read that the guest harbour closed last weekend, it was a done deal.

The horrid factory is in reality several kilometres north of the actual township, which itself lies at the end of a ten kilometre long, narrow channel. We had very good winds, so we were able to sail a good portion of the way and after looking at the location of the three guest harbours, we chose to stay at the main harbour right in the heart of the town.



Isn't it a great view of the church high on the hill and the narrow cobblestone streets that wind their way up through the settlement. We had read that there were 5,000 inhabitants in the town, but we were surprised that it was so well serviced with three large supermarkets, dozens and dozens of small boutiques selling anything and everything one would need and all in an idyllic, medieval setting.



This is the main street (Storgatan), which was packed with shops. And I don't mean the seasonal touristy places, but genuine, all year shops with a great range of clothing, household goods, books, pet shop, cafes, toys, electronic goods, sporting goods, tools..... the list goes on. We even found a couple of second-hand shops and made a beeline for their book section and for the princely sum of 25kr ($5) we purchased eleven books to swell our onboard library. What a bargain (which Lars-Göran celebrated with several purchases of icecream during our stay). The books will help us pass the time nicely in the evenings while onboard. We are both voracious readers, so we can never have too many books around us.

The town itself dates from the 1100's and by the fourteenth century it was already well-known as an important trading harbour and market place, with importers and exporter's sheds lining the shore. There are still some of the very old shops in the main drag.



Even by the 1300's the houses were tightly packed together, especially around the main square and the hill leading up to the church. People still live in these houses today in such a lovely setting. Highest up on the ridge in the centre of town taking pride of place is the church.



Around the church and torget, the old wooden homes are built close together and almost seem to encroach on each other.



I did wonder about privacy and how noisy it could be during the hectic summer months when markets are held in the square every weekend and the cafes are full of tourists. The other parts of town were less crowded and there was plenty of green open spaces, parks and very pretty gardens.

One park that was especially peaceful and green with its elm lined pathways was the one pictured here. The red building you can see is the local library - and it was a very well stocked one set on two floors.



The town is surprisingly quiet at nights and every evening we wind our way through the streets and savour the peace. We met a dog owner one evening who introduced herself and said she had been looking out for us after her daughter mentioned there was a new toy poodle in town! Imagine a place so small that they even notice new people and their puppies - and they make an effort to be friendly. I asked Lars-Göran how soon we can pack up and move here!

Very, very tempting...... but then we do like Nynäshamn and the access to the archipelago, so I guess we will just dream about moving here.