Öland and Kalmar - Part 8 - Ottenby

Our next stop was through the Alvar and down to the southern tip of Öland, a place called Otterby.  Formerly used as a reserve for the King's deer, it is now a bird sanctuary and bird watching area as well as housing the Långe Jan lighthouse.

(well our next stop was a lake in the middle of the Alvar but was crowded and we didn't see much, so we then tried a seal sanctuary but besides a swan there wasn't much there, so we had lunch and moved on to Otterby.)

Our first sight in Ottenby was swimming cows.. There was a fence to keep the cows out of the bird sanctuary, but the cows were wading out into the water and around the fence. (I say swim but they ended up with water just past the tops of their legs so they were still wading)

Making the swim

Coming back in

Welcome to Ottenby

Map of Ottenby

Långe Jan Lighthouse

Långe Jan

Bird Sanctuary

We considered climbing the lighthouse, but a school group had arrived and it was packed, so instead we went into one of the bird hides to watch the birds:

We were treated to some nice displays. I think they were Swallows

Even the kids liked watching the birds come up close

We then headed out and around the deer wall.  There was actually a deer wall that ran the whole way across the island, from the time when it was used as a wildlife park.

Deer and the deer wall

Model of Saint Johannes Kapell

Stone Cross

The stone cross and model mark the former site of Saint Johannes Chapel. It was built by merchants in the 13th century and abandoned in the Reformation in the 16th century. Parts of the chapel were used to build the Långe Jan Lighthouse in 1780.