The country-side peasants kept in close contact with the town. Of course, this depended on how far away they lived. The closer they lived to town, the more frequent the contact. The peasants would load a horse or a cart and come to town with their goods. If they lived in, say, Gullabo or Boda, they had to be on their way very early in the morning. The peasants sold their produce in town. From a distance they would see the tall spires of the huge church. The town could be entered by one of the town gates: Västerport, Norreport or Söderport. If the peasants came by boat, they moored it at the harbour and made their way into town by the town gate called "Stadsbroporten". Many farmers brought iron; the merchants paid well for this. They also sold farm-produce, such as grain, flour, meat and cheese as well as fire-wood, timber and fur. The goods would be sold at the market, which was held weekly. Towards the end of August, the largest fair of the year was held – St. Bartholomew ´s. Then lots of people from near and far would gather in Kalmar.
It is not hard to imagine how impressed the peasants must have been by the town. What a lot of people in such a small space! And all the large buildings – a huge church, a convent, a school and lots of exciting inns. One could also hear foreign languages, for example German. There would be so much to tell, when one came back from town. Interesting goods could be bought. The peasants could return with the all-important salt as well as exotic and expensive spices such as pepper, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and saffron. They could buy Flemish cloth at "Panneryng", the cloth-house near the harbour. They could buy wine from France or the Rhine from the wine-merchant. German beer was also for sale. On the return to their farms, perhaps the peasants had a feast.