To Gotland!

It is Sunday and our schedule says “Go to Gotland”. Gotland is an island off the eastern coast of Sweden. It has its own flag and a very “Gotland” flower; “blue fire”.

 

We got there by taking the T-banan to Nynäshamn, where huge ferries take lots of people to and from the city of Visby on Gotland multiple times every day—today, there were some 1400 people on this trip.

These large ferries have to be experienced to appreciate them. Inside, they are part large auditorium, part restaurant, part short-term hotel. The trip takes a bit over 3 hours.

Getting off the ferry is a nice relief from the crowds and leads to some nice exercise when your living quarters are a few hundred meters up cobblestone streets. Pulling suitcases up cobblestone streets really does add to the workout!  Ami spent summers on Gotland as a youngster and knows how to find a nice housekeeping flat with a really nice view of Old Town Visby and the sea. Weather on Gotland is often much nicer than in Stockholm, and this was a really nice sunny, cool day.

Off we went to do our first jaunt around Old Town, with its many narrow cobblestone streets and picturesque old buildings. Visby has been an important town on Gotland for centuries and all of Gotland has been a major trading center in the Baltic since well before Sweden was founded—close to 2000 years.  Visby was one of the northern Hanseatic League cities from 1100 to 1300.

Our apartment is in the gold-colored house in the center of the last photo above.  That’s our balcony!

Visby and Gotland overall have lots of medieval stone churches, numbering over 100. Many of these churches are still in use, others are ruins, such as Saint Karin’s in Old Town Visby.

Lars has a special interest in one of the old church ruins, Saint Lars’ cathedral. More about this in a subsequent posting.

After plenty of walking around, assuring us of a good night’s sleep, we found a nice quiet place to eat. Sheila is really enjoying Visby. Not the least because we will be visiting one of the old stone churches, Källunge Kirka, which contains the oldest evidence (from 1350) of her favorite musical instrument, the nyckleharpa.