From Stockholm in Sweden to Turku in Finland, tens of thousands of islands dot the Baltic. In the middle are the six thousand islands of the ?land (pronounced Awe-land) archipelago. They’re closer to Sweden than Finland but while the 28,000 islanders are Swedish-speaking they hold Finnish passports.


“Actually,http://www.culturesclothing.com/forum/activitycheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, we are ?landers,” says my guide,cheap jordan shoes, Gun Styrstr?m. “We have our own flag and stamps, and our own national anthem.” She hums the tune to me shyly.


Soon, on the longest day of the year, they will be raising mastlike midsummer poles, decorated, says Styrstr?m, with “a person,jordan shoes, representing work, the sun, ships and symbols of fortune and love”.


?landers are famed for their seamanship. Gun’s surname, Styrstr?m, means “steer the stream”. Her husband’s ancestors were pilots, she says, leading ships through narrow stream-like passages.


?land once had the world’s largest fleet of cargo-carrying sailing ships. Until the Thirties,cheap retro jordans, when the rest of the world was turning to steam, these then-poor islands had 30 windjammers. One, the four-masted barque, Pommern, built in Glasgow in 1903, transported grain from Australia to England under the command of its ?land captain. Pommern is now moored at the harbour of the only town, Mariehamn, adjacent to an excellent maritime museum.


As you might expect with so many rocky islands,cheap jordans, there are plenty of shipwrecks (no doubt the ships were captained by non-?landers). Two years ago, the islands made headlines when a diver exploring a 170-year-old wreck discovered some old bottles, still with corks in. They turned out to contain the world’s oldest drinkable champagne, 168 bottles in all, two of which were sold last year, fetching ?31,000. The government will be auctioning 11 more next month, on June 9, the day the islands celebrate autonomy from Finland.


The 60ft boat was found off the small island of F?gl?, a 40-minute ferry crossing from the ?land mainland. On my first visit to the islands, before the “champagne wreck” had been investigated, I holidayed in F?gl? with friends and their five children. As an add-on to a city break in Stockholm,http://users.atw.hu/jhc-clan/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=18433cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, we rented a rust-red wooden cottage perched on a smooth granite rock, where the placid sea was reed-edged and elegant swans swam.


It was a week of Blyton-esque adventures – outings in our own little motorboat,cheap retro jordans, horse riding along flowery lanes, playing on a sandy beach, kayaking between low, bare skerries, spotting sea eagles and fishing for pike with a local fisherman. As well as the motorboat, the cottage came with a sauna and a fish-smoker but no tin-opener. It was all a bit down-at-heel but charming. “Make-do-and-mend,” was how my friend, Lucy, described it.


This time around, I was staying in more swish accommodation: one of the new “cliff houses” at a remote hotel on the northernmost coast of the main island. Here,cheap real jordans,cheap air jordans, at HavsVidden, sleek holiday homes on stilts sprout from boulders. Their interiors are like spreads from a Scandinavian style magazine. They would be wonderful places in which to hole up for a week or more, under big skies that, at 60 degrees north, never get dark in midsummer. Sadly I wasn’t staying long.


On a day trip by car, I passed windmills and apple orchards to visit the ruined fortress of Bomarsund,cheap wholesale jordans, the largest building ever built on the ?land Islands. Erected in the 19th century, it was built by the Russians to guard the westernmost point of their empire. All that now remains are sections of its enormous rosy granite walls. The British attacked in 1854 and,Kicksokok.com, so the story goes, the Russian commander welcomed his captors with a cup of tea. Finnish soldiers garrisoned at the fort were transported to England,http://www13.plala.or.jp/white_roots/gwbbs/gwbbs.cgicheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, says Gun.


There are thousands of islands in this archipelago, and, when you start to look beyond their simple beauty,cheap jordans for sale, just as many stories.


Getting there




SAS (0871 226 7760; flysas.com) offers flights to Stockholm from ?158 return. AirAland (airaland.com) flies from Stockholm or Helsinki to the ?land Islands from ?24 one-way.


If you prefer not to fly, DFDS (0871 522 9955; dfds.co.uk) has ferries from Harwich to Esbjerg from where you can travel by train to Stockholm, via Copenhagen and Malm?. Ecker? Linjen (00358 18 28000; eckerolinjen.ax) has two-hour ferry journeys from north of Stockholm to the ?land Islands, from ?11 return, including the two-hour bus transfer from Stockholm.


Viking Line (26211; vikingline.fi) has direct, six-hour ferries from Stockholm harbour from ?8 one-way (cabin extra). The fares are cheap as the islands are duty-free and many Scandinavian passengers travel just to shop on board.


Packages


Guild Travel (020 7388 4158; guildtravel.com) offers a three-night package to ?land Islands from ?799 per person,cheap wholesale jordans, including car hire, b?&?b in a self-catering cottage on a campsite and return flight.


The inside track


?Salt (Sj?kvarteret, Mariehamn; 21505; salt.ax) sells craftwork from six different artists, with an emphasis on textiles.


The Hunting and Fishing museum (Fiskelaget 37,jordans for cheap, Ecker?; 38299; jaktfiskemuseum.ax) has taxidermy specimens, guns, traps,cheap real jordans, nets and photographs of seal hunting and fishing trips in a picturesque setting by an old fishing harbour.


SGU (Lervik harbour, ?land; 14757; sgu.nu) offers expert kayak tuition, guiding overnight expeditions.


?There are many lovely self-catering cottages on the islands. The ferry companies, Ecker? Linjen and Viking Line, have rental cottages (28040; alandsresor.fi),cheap jordans free shipping.


The best hotels


Kvarnbo Gasthem ?
B?&?b in a 19th-century merchant’s house in the centre of the main island. High ceilings and antiques in spacious bedrooms (44015; kvarnbogasthem.com; doubles from ?82/?67 per night).


Brudh,Kicksokok.com?ll Hotel ??
Characterful rust-red wooden hotel by a small harbour on K?kar, one of the outer islands; 21 rooms (55955; brudhall.com; doubles from ?126/?102).


HavsVidden ???
In an isolated spot on the north coast of ?land. The best accommodation is in new, large two- and three-bedroom “cliff houses”. The most private is number 15. In July, one-bedroom “suite houses” will open (49408; havsvidden.com; suite houses from ?390/?317),cheap jordans online.


The best restaurants


Stallhagen ,http://jmxhsz.com/wygkcn_GuestBook.aspcheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg?
This microbrewery offers pairings of beer and food, matching, say, honey beer with local cheese (Getav?gen 196, Godby; 48500; stallhagen.com).


HavsVidden ??
The French chef at this hotel uses ingredients such as elk but with a Gallic twist. There are views over skerries and sea from a large balcony (Havsviddsv?gen 90; Geta; 49408; havsvidden.com),http://mylovesong.me/user/blogs/view/name_shoesking/id_209244/title_cheap-retro-jordans-Online-Store-KicksOkok/cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg,http://users.atw.hu/jhc-clan/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=18432cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg.


Nautical ???
Views of Pommern and the harbour from this fine dining restaurant (Hamngatan 2, Mariehamn; 19931; nautical.ax).



A week after the fall of the deposed Russian-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s parliament late last week declared Russia’s reported seizure of airports in the region as “foremost foreign interference”. Ukraine’s acting president has also accused Russia of using its Black Sea Fleet troops based in Sevastopol without permission from the new Ukrainian authorities in Kiev.
“If there is a stranglehold placed on that region, then it would have a very big impact on the global grains market,” said Ms Haque.
Agricultural production is of vital importance to the Ukraine, accounting for 24pc of the country’s total exports and bringing in more than 5pc of total gross domestic product annually.
Ukraine is expected by Macquarie to produce, in the growing season that will end in 2015, around 44.5m tonnes of grain – mainly corn and wheat – nearly 16pc lower than last year. The Ukrainian ministry of agriculture forecasts the crop at 51.4m tonnes but Macquarie expects corn output to fall, as it is no longer as profitable as in the previous season.
“Prices are rising but maybe a little more than they would normally because of the political risk. There is a premium attached to Ukrainian grain exports right now, which puts the pressure back on the US,” said Ms Haque.
According to Macquarie, the increase in export prices, together with problems in Ukraine’s bank financing of future deals, have weakened the foreign appetite for Ukrainian commodities, especially for corn. This has also contributed to higher than expected export demand for US-origin corn.
Prior to the downfall of Mr Yanukovich, Bloomberg had reported that spot corn prices climbed to about $225 (?134) a tonne in the Ukraine, about $7 higher per tonne than in the first week in February.
Despite concerns over Ukrainian supply and the security of Crimean ports, grain prices are still expected to fall on an expected surge in US output. Recently released official US government estimates have forecast that grains could fall to a 10-year low.
Meanwhile, as the worst floods on record ruin prime farmland across southern England, and Brazil is hit by drought, commodities analysts are revising their forecasts for 2014. Coffee prices have rallied almost 50pc in the past few weeks due to the drought in Brazil, which grows 40pc of the world’s beans.
“Suddenly, out of nowhere we have seen weather risk creep back into the market,” said Ms Haque.
Gas alert If Putin turns off the taps over Crimea, expect fuel costs to rocket
Before US president Barack Obama warned Russia’s Vladimir Putin against a further escalation in Ukraine, his advisers would have been wise to explain just how crucial Russia has become to the global economy through its supply of commodities, especially gas.
From its mines deep in the Urals to oil wells across Siberia, pictured left, Russia now has the ability to choke off international markets from key resources such as oil, gas and minerals. In any confrontation with Europe and the US over Ukraine’s Crimea region, Moscow could simply halt shipments.
In the UK, the immediate effect would be dramatic, probably causing a sudden rise in petrol and gas heating prices. Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia and the US, giving it the power to dramatically influence crude prices.
But it is in gas supply where Russia holds all the cards. The US Energy Information Administration says Moscow dominates Europe’s gas supply market, shipping 76pc of its exports of the heating fuel to the region last year. The UK, Germany, Italy and France were the main recipients of that gas.
In 2009, the last time Russia locked horns with Ukraine and disrupted gas piped to Europe, UK prices jumped by 17pc in just two weeks. Although stockpiles are now higher, the impact of Russia turning off the gas would still result in electricity prices rising overnight.
US oil gains continue
Oil traded in the US completed its second consecutive month of price gains last week amid tighter supplies from the Bakken shale region of North Dakota, where most of the crude is carried by rail freight lines, not pipelines.
Crude in the US ended the week about 1pc higher at $102.59 (?60.90) a barrel.
In Europe, Brent held firm at around $109 a barrel, but analysts at Investec are warning that prices may begin to ease amid signs that a mild winter in northern Europe has led to higher stockpiles.
This week, the market will also be closely monitoring Russia’s dispute with Ukraine for signs of any supply disruption.