KALMAR

Their hometown... (by Anna Bielat)

Kalmar (population 59,308) is a Municipality in southeastern Sweden, on the mainland's coast of the Baltic Sea, since the 1970s connected with the large island Öland by the Öland bridge. Kalmar is situated in the province Smalandia and is the capital of Kalmar County.
In the Middle Ages, Kalmar was Sweden's southernmost harbour, since the coasts of today's southern and western Sweden were then part of Denmark. A union treaty between Sweden and Denmark-Norway was signed in Kalmar in 1397, making Queen Margaret I of Denmark the monarch of all Scandinavia, called the Kalmar Union.

Sweden left this union in 1523 and has had its independence since that time. In more recent times, Kalmar has been an industrial city with Kalmar Mekaniska Verkstad making steam engines and large machinery. Today the city has a college and a research facility for Telia Sonera. Kalmar Castle is a powerful "fist of granite" from the 16th century, Scandinavia's most well kept renaissance castle.
There are many beaches around Kalmar, to indulge in the seaside affairs. Besides Kalmar has many theatres, pubs and discos, gardens and parks, where time can be spent during after-hours. Kalmar has many churches for the religious and many sports centres for the adventurous lot. Among the sports centres, Kalmar offers almost everything, from a golf club to an ice skating rink. Bowling, badminton, tennis, squash and billiards are also quite popular here. You can as well indulge in diving, windsurfing, boating, canoeing, fishing and riding.

...and this is what they think about their cities (they sent emails to us)

Kalmar is one of the largest cities in Sweden. In the 1300 Kalmar was one of the central cities of Sweden. Kalmar is very popular for its castle. Kalmar is a summer city because in the summer you can do almost everything you want to do. But in the winter this town is very boring. Just then it’s worth going to the nearby island called Oland. There are also other islands which you can visit if you come to Kalmar such as Gotland and Borgholm.

Borgholm is a Municipality in Kalmar County, in south-eastern Sweden, located on the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea. The municipality covers an area of 674.6 km2. Of the total population of 11,288, 5,584 are male, and 5,704 are female. The population density of the community is 17 inhabitants per km2.