Visby, Gotland, Sweden
This morning we berthed in the sheltered harbour of Visby, the main town on Gotland. Lying off the east coast of Sweden, this picturesque island consists of light grey-coloured limestone laid down in a tropical sea over 400 million years ago. The rock contains an abundance of fossils including corals, trilobites and brachiopods and is much visited by palaeontologists.
Settlements were established along the west coast by the Vikings from the 8th century onwards and Gotland became the centre of their Baltic trade. Its commercial success and importance increased dramatically when Visby became a Hansa town in the 12th century. Such is the number and condition of its historical buildings and ruins that the town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
The most dramatic structure is the enclosing medieval wall, the construction of which was begun in the 13th century. It was outside this fortification that an estimated 1800 Gotlanders met a violent death on July 27, 1361, when they clashed with a Danish army headed by their king, Waldemar Atterdag. No mercy was shown to the defenders by the invaders. A number of mass graves containing victims of the massacre have been unearthed; some of whose remains are now displayed in the town’s Fornsal Museum. Inside the walls of the town are over 200 erstwhile merchant residences and warehouses dating from the medieval period. A veritable warren of cobbled narrow laneways and streets are lined with attractive timber framed houses.
Morning activities centred on walking tours of the old town, cycling in the immediate environs of Visby or a longer panoramic tour by motorcoach into the surrounding lush countryside. The fertility of the soil on Gotland was readily apparent in the verdant farmland and apple trees laden with fruit. Everywhere there were the first tannin blushes of autumn. Following the excursions we visited the Fornsal Museum, a veritable treasure trove of the island’s natural and cultural heritage. The first people arrived here around 11,000 years ago and as hunter-gatherers exploited its rich food resources. A burial from this period is the starting point for a timeline spanning the prehistoric Stone Age through to Visby’s medieval period.
In the afternoon a number of photo and nature focused walks took place. A special expedition to the Visby micro-brewery was mounted. Here four different beers were quaffed by all present while the finer nuances of each were discussed at length. To cap an excellent day of exploration and engagement with this remarkable island, its heritage, natural history and people, a local folk group plied their consummate skills on traditional instruments in the lounge aboard the National Geographic Explorer.
