The wall around the medieval city of Visby. This part goes along the seaside and the sea can be seen to the left.
Another part of the city wall along its northern side.
View of Visby from one of its higher poins inside the city wall. One of the many church ruins can be seen beyond the first roof.
The Sta Maria Cathedral of Visby was built at the end of the 12th century as a church for the Hanseatic traders in the Baltic. It was designated a cathedral in 1572.
St Hans church ruins. St Hans was built in the 13th century and before that a pagan temple was probably positioned on the grounds of the church.
View towards the cathedral from Stortorget, the central square in Visby. This photo was ordered by Caspar, Camilla's son, when we were sitting having lunch at the square.
Almedalen (literally: the Elm Valley), the park just outside the city walls. Each summer in beginning July, Almedalen becomes the centre for political debate and presentation, where all the political parties are represented.
A typical medieval Visby townhouse.
Another house not far from the previous one.
Lots of roses and other flowers and greenery cover the walls of the small houses that border the streets
Wood and stone houses in harmony on another street. Notice the lifting arrangement to bring goods into the house, as the house was too narrow to carry it up the stairs.
Another beautiful old house.
The medieval architecture is characterised by the very tall and narrow houses. Again with the mechanism for histing goods to the top floors.
Mikee and I were walking back to our hotel, but we had to stop to take a photo of this typical view.
Now we are at the coast on the east side of the island at Ljugarn. The houses were for storing fishing equipment, but most of them have been converted to holiday homes.
Mikee admiring the view of the little harbour nearby.
The lighthouse at Narsholmen. Notice how flat the landscape is.
Everywhere there are traces of civilasation, of buildings or ruins, where nature is retaking what belongs to it.
A typical countryside church on Gotland. This is at Burs in the southeas part of the island.
The southwest coast of Gotland at Ekstakusten. Outside is the island of Lilla Karlso (Little Charles Island). That island is an important bird sanctuary.
Poppies and "Blaeld" in afield northeast of Visby
The harbour of Lauterhorn on the west coast of Faro
A rauk at the rauk field on the west coast of Faro between Lauterhorn and Digerhuvud.
Rauk field at Digerhuvud.
The fishing hamlet of Helgumannen.
The small boats are winched up on the beach. The same technique is used at Beer, the fishing town not far from where we live in Devon.
Windmill at central Faro
Old barn
Mikee was doing a series of saltomortals on the beach at Sudersand (the South Sand)
Gotland is the largest island in Sweden. It is situated in the middle of the southern part of the Baltic Sea. In medieval times the Baltic was immensely important for its trading routes from the Hanseatic towns of present day Germany to Stockholm and to Finland and Russia. But the trading vessels of the time couldn’t travel that far without replenishing their food and water and Gotland became a trading hub, where goods were sold and bought. The port of Visby harboured a fleet of ships and people of all nations came together in Visby.
Due to its wealth a lot of churches were built all around Gotland but especially in Visby itself. And Visby was fortified by a wall around the city, a wall that exists until today. When ships became sturdier and could travel further Gotland was bypassed by the trading routes and the importance of Visby as a trading hub diminished and with that the wealth disappeared. Many of the churches became ruins. Now only 25,000 persons inhabit the city although the population increases rapidly in the summer.
Visby still has a beautiful cathedral, where Camilla, Eric’s godmother, was to be ordained. Mikee and I went to Visby and Gotland during a week in beginning of June. We travelled around the island and took part in the ordination service and the festivities around it. The ordination itself is described in a Family slide show (Camilla’s Ordination), and here I show a few of the images we captured during a few days in Visby and around Gotland.
Gotland is built of limestone raised up. It is very flat in the inland and has a warm, pleasant climate. Mikee and I travelled to the southeast one day and another day we went up to the separate island of Fårö – Sheep Island. Fårö is famous for its Rauks, tall limestone blocks, where the surrounding loser stone has been eroded over time. The largest collection of such rauks is to be found along the northwest coast of Fårö.
