Marstrand

The Norwegian king Harald Gille founded a monastery on Marstrandsön in the 12th century, and the town itself was established by Håkon Håkonsson in the 13th; it has held town privileges since around 1200, and its name, recorded from 1293, refers to the great sandbank by the island. In 1449 the Danish king Christian I was elected king of Norway here. Marstrand was attacked in war several times under Danish-Norwegian and Swedish rule, and its fortunes rose and fell with the herring, which came and went in periods lasting decades.

Bohuslän passed to Sweden under the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, and work began the same year on the fortress that became Carlsten, which also served as a state prison until 1855. In 1775 Gustav III declared Marstrand a free port on the Italian porto franco model, with religious freedom and a haven even for criminals who reported their crimes. Its population tripled, and Jews, barred from settling in most of Sweden, established a congregation with one of Scandinavia's first synagogues in 1780. The privileges were withdrawn in 1794, the herring period ended in 1808, and Marstrand became a poor small town again.

The 19th century turned it into one of Sweden's earliest and most popular bathing resorts, with a first bathhouse in 1822, cold bathhouses at the northern harbour entrance and the society house of 1886; Oscar II's annual summer visits gave it extra status. Marstrand remained a municipality of its own until 1971, when it was merged into Kungälv.

Sailing defines the town's identity, and Marstrand is known as Sweden's sailing metropolis: it is the starting point each year for the Marstrand Regatta, and since 1994 Match Cup Sweden has brought international match-racing crews, racing boats two at a time and drawing large crowds of spectators. In summer the harbour fills with yachts, and the town is known as a playground for celebrities and wealthy Swedes who come for the sea, the shops and the nightlife.

History is part of the townscape. The fortress dominates every view, and its best-known prisoner, the thief Lars Larsson Molin, known as Lasse-Maja, was held there from 1813 until the late 1830s. The listed town hall, society house and harbour buildings recall the free-port years and the resort era, and the memory of the 18th-century Jewish community is a notable chapter in the history of the Jews in Sweden. In 1969 about 200 stateless Polish Jews also arrived here.

The town's early fame as a resort still colours its image: in the late 19th century the society house, the bathhouses and the king's yearly visits made a summer in Marstrand a mark of status, and the summer season remains the centre of its social calendar.

Marstrand had about 1,300 inhabitants in 2010. The built-up area covers two islands, Marstrandsön with the old wooden-house town and Koön across the sound; Instön to the east and Klåverön to the south are the other large islands of the Marstrand archipelago, much of which is protected as nature reserve. Shipping, trade and fishing were once the town's livelihoods, and fishing rose and fell with the herring; today a considerable number of residents commute to work in Gothenburg, while tourism, sailing and summer residents carry the local economy.

The sound shapes everyday life. Marstrandsön has no private cars, and the short passenger ferry from Arvidsvik is the link between the old town and the road network; Koön itself has had a fixed connection to the mainland since the Instö bridge was completed in 1991. A naval ship's boys' corps, the Skeppsgossekåren, has been based on the island since 1907.

The year has two rhythms. In summer the wooden-house town is a major tourist destination and the harbour fills for regattas; for the rest of the year Marstrand is a small island community within Kungälv Municipality.

Herring built Marstrand. The fishing periods of past centuries brought prosperity; when the herring period ended in 1808 the town grew poor again, and its first bathhouse followed in 1822. Pickled, sweetened herring, inlagd sill, remains a traditional Swedish starter, and at midsummer new potatoes are served with pickled herring, chives and sour cream.

The Bohuslän coast is known for seafood: shrimp and lobster are specialities of the Skagerrak coast, and in late summer crayfish are boiled in salted water with dill and eaten in large quantities at the August crayfish party, the kräftskiva. Salmon in its many forms, from cured gravlax to poached or fried, appears on everyday Swedish menus as well. From the islands just to the south comes hönökaka, a soft, pricked white flatbread first baked by the fishing and farming families of Hönö, made to keep well on long fishing trips.

Eating out in Marstrand centres on the harbour front and is very much a summer affair, tied to the sailing season and the visitors it brings.