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Published: August 9th 2005
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One of the old churches
The city is full of churches... most of them ruins. This was taken on Friday night. My sojourn on the Mediterranean-like Swedish island of Gotland was phenomenal. This past week was my one week of vacation from work, so I spent 4 days in Gotland and then 3 days out in the archipelago on the boat.
I left work early on Friday and took the subway to meet Linn and Sandra at the central station. From there we got on a train (the Pendeltåg) to the ferry landing - about an hour south of Stockholm. The ferry took 3 hours and we arrived a little after 8:00pm. Cia - Linn's roomate in Uppsala - met us when we got off the ferry. We walked to her house from there (about 5 minutes). She lived on the corner overlooking the ocean and two gorgeous old windmills. We immediately got changed and went out to see the medieval town of Visby by night.
The old town is surrounded by a wall (built in the 1200's) that was used to protect this trading center. Visby is one of the Hanseatic cities... In the middle ages, a trading assocation was formed between a bunch of European cities. Visby was the Scandinavian trading point. All the roads are cobblestone and
Me sitting on a 'Gute får'
These cement sheep were all over the city!! (They are road barriers) very narrow. It is known as the city of roses because there are thousands of roses growing all over the city.... in every colour imaginable! About 25,000 people live in Visby, so it's pretty small. There are many different legends told about the city. The one that is especially interesting is about the Danish King Valdemar. He conquered the town sometime in the 14th century (sorry I don't remember the exact date!). He pillaged and burned the town (and you can still see marks on the walls of the churches where gold plates and other precious things used to be!). It is said that he achieved entrance into the city by seducing the mayor's daughter. He promised her a wonderful life back in Denmark... Unfortunately, he did NOT take her back with him, but instead left her pregnant and at the mercy of the survivors. She was taken and buried alive in the top of one of the watchtowers. Apparently her spirit flew out into the ocean and still rises up to this day on the anniversary of her death. Spooky!
Friday night we just wandered around the town... had an ice cream and a drink on a patio.
Linn and Cia
Friday night on a patio. Saturday we went shopping during the morning and early afternoon. We met Cia after work around 2:30 and had lunch in a pub. We then drove out to this observation point that was spectacular and took a lot of pictures. On the way back we stopped at the grocery store to pick up dinner. Saturday night we went out to a club in Visby. The cover was 150 SEK (about $25!!).. so we made sure to get there really early (before 9:30) so we wouldn't have to pay. It was a really nice place with a rooftop patio. We danced solid for a good 2 hours and then left once the place got too packed.
Sunday we again went shopping in the morning until Cia finished work at 2:30... Monika Mårs (related by marriage - she is Kerstin's daughter and Kerstin is now married to Arne) had offered that we could come to her farm to go for a ride (yes horses) so we drove out and went for a nice long ride through the woods. My butt and legs were sore for days after... but it was nice. We had fika at her house afterwards... When we
The wall
A view of the wall...We walked the entire way around it. Interestingly, there was never a moat in the ditch surrounding the wall. got back into town, we packed a picnic dinner and sat on the beach watching the sunset. Again we finished the night with ice cream (they had this really good ice cream place with over 100 flavours...).
Monday we drove out to Fårö... a small island on the north end of Gotland (Cia's boyfriend was nice enough to drive us). The island had incredibly diverse landscapes... white sandy beaches, forests, and large rock formations. We took a lot of pictures. The weather wasn't so great... it rained off and on, but luckily we could take cover in the car. I saw 'Gute får' (a type of sheep that is found on Gotland) and tasted 'saffranspankaka' (a tasty dessert). We spent the night at home (because we were so exhausted) and played cards... I taught them to play Euker...
We were planning to get up on Tuesday and head straight to the beach (there is this famous resort beach called Tofta), but unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, so we spent the day at the museum in Visby. Gotland had a very active viking population... the biggest viking hoard was discovered there a few years ago and they have
many rune stones... It was interesting... After a late lunch we packed up and headed down to the ferry. We caught the ferry back at 7:00 on Tuesday night... and got home to Täby at 12:30 or so...
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Gabe
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Mmmm the beach...
Woah, those are some great pictures Katie. Love that sunset one. There is nothing quite like watching a sunset (or sunrise) at the beach....mmmm.