The Åland Islands or Åland (pronounced "Oh-lahnd") are a group of small islands officially belonging to Finland in the Baltic Sea, consisting a surrounding archipelago. It is autonomous, demilitarised and is the only monolingually Swedish-speaking region in Finland. Åland's original name was in the Proto-Norse language - Ahvaland which means "Land of Water". In Swedish, this first developed into Áland and eventually into Åland, literally "river land"—even though rivers are not a prominent feature of Åland's geography. The Finnish and Estonian names of the island, Ahvenanmaa and Ahvenamaa ("perch land"), are seen to preserve another form of the old name.
We just returned from our honeymoon on Bora Bora and Moorea. Everything was planned out perfectly. Over-water bungalow on Bora Bora was something else. There were rays, fishes, and occasional black tip shark around our bungalow all the time. Great suggestions for accommodations and activities from trip designs. Maruru
