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Champagne Wreck of Åland, Finland

This will take you straight into the Viking world. When you visit the Viking market in Kvarnbo on 26-28 July, you meet bearded Vikings, serfs in rags and women with jewelry and beautiful costumes.

Give the heavy backpack a miss and leave the camping stove at home. These days many people opt to live in a hotel and eat at restaurants during their cycling holidays. “Nowadays people like to go on slightly more luxurious cycling holidays,” explains Johan Sjölund, who is involved with arranging cycling trips at the WellComing travel company.

The world’s oldest, still drinkable and most exclusive champagne on the market can be bought at an annual auction held in Mariehamn. This year’s auction and champagne event takes place on 8 June at Alandica Culture & Congress Centre in Mariehamn.

Gun Ejervik won first prize in Visit Åland's trade fair competition on a theme of champagne in 2011. The prize was a fishing weekend for four people. Let's hear Gun herself tell the story:

In summer 2010, a two-hundred-year-old ship was found at the bottom of the Sea of Åland. The wreck turned out to be a treasure trove. Its cargo included 160 bottles of champagne that were almost two centuries old. Some of the bottles were from the Veuve Clicquot champagne house. That’s how Fabienne Moreau first discovered Åland.

Smakbyn is a “Taste Village” taking shape just a stone’s throw from Kastelholm Castle. The first building is being built next to the restaurant Jan Karlsgårdens Värdshus, and is due to be completed by the summer.

Enjoy the local food during your holiday and, before you go, buy a little Åland cuisine to take home with you. You can buy some items on the ferries to Åland, but it's preferable to visit a proper food shop in Åland. The very best thing to do, of course, is to go out to where the food is actually produced, buy delicacies from a farm and go to a food tasting.

This is a suggested cycle ride if you prefer to take it easy along the way. You'll get not just exercise out of it, but also the best of Åland food and drink. You can try out wonderful Åland oddities like bicycle ferries and Ålvados. Reckon on a total of three days and 80 agreeable kilometres.