The legend says that when God was well near done with creating Scandinavia, he was left with a bit of superfluous material from the creation: a little water, earth, rifts, dales, fine-grained sand, and not least cliffs and large rocks. He threw it all into the heart of the Baltic Sea. Today, this little Danish island is known as Bornholm – our next destination.

We were down to the harbor before 8:00am to check-in for the Leonora Christina – a fast passenger-car ferry operated by BornholmerFærgen, which was to take us from Ystad to Rønne. By half eight, all those who had to be on-boarded were on-boarded, and the great beast moved slowly to the flat, calm sea. Typically, the first few minutes after departure are our favorite time. Exploring decks, learning our surroundings, getting accustomed to the persistent and loud cacophony of engines, are one of the greatest pleasures of our travels.

The journey due south was a distance of around 75 kilometres and it took 80 minutes to cross to Rønne on the south-western side of Bornholm. With its thirteen thousand souls, it’s the largest town on the island, and one of the most visited cruise-liner destinations in Northern Europe.