Well!! I have just discovered one of my favourite places I’ve traveled to (ever) – the island of Gotland located off the south east coast of Sweden’s mainland. I went there for a week with my Sverige baby, her fiancé and two of their friends. And what a week! It was everything a summer holiday should be.
Firstly, we got up super early the night after the summer party at the beach house (that was a bit painful, a sleep in would have been good) and drove to Oskarshamn to get the ferry to Gotland’s capital Visby. We were taking the car, so once we parked it in the parking level we went to the private berth we had booked which meant we had our own room to spend the 3 hour ferry ride. It had a TV, ensuite bathroom and plenty of room to spread out. It’s not that exciting (except if you’re me and love the being-in-transit side of things).
Once we arrived in Visby we went to our cosy holiday apartment which was in perfect walking distance to the old part of Visby – which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I have so many photos to share of this gorgeous town. Cobblestone roads narrow and wide, sweet little boutiques, churches, buildings, flowers, gardens and so many alfresco dining options. Being a popular summer holiday destination with Swedes, there was such a carefree holiday vibe in the air, it was so much fun.
The town itself is an impressively preserved medieval trading town surrounded by a beautiful stone wall built in the 13th century. Formerly a Viking site, there are still more than 200 buildings, gates, ramparts and roads which lead from the fortification to the surrounding cliffs.
First some photos of our wandering around Visby:
A common scene: mmm where shall we eat?
Donnerska Huset = Donna’s House. Yes please, I’ll take it!
Visby Marina:
The city wall runs for 3.5km and is 11m high – along the way there is 36 towers and the three main gates.
There are quite a number of ruins in the town – many are churches that fell in to ruin for reasons such as fire or desertion.
The Visby Botanic Gardens are beautiful – a lush green park with flowers galore. The gardens were started in 1855. Seriously, dates like this are kinda crazy to an Australian. The history in countries elsewhere in the world is truly astounding.
The castle is lovely to walk around the wall is magic at sunset. We took some beers down there and enjoyed them from a park bench as the sky changed from dusk to night. Even though its summer I must say, it gets pretty cold.
We ate so many yummy dinners this week – I can’t stop eating all the many variations on a standard Swedish creamy shrimp salad dish – I would not have expected to like it but it is so delicious!! We also made lots of summer picnic lunches for our daily excursions including fika such as flask of coffee and fruit or biscuits. Picnicking is my favourite summer activity, mostly because I love to eat and tend to make it the centrepiece of everything I do, plus picnicking fits into every fun summer activity like going to the beach, the park, a bike ride, a bush walk etc All of which we did on this holiday, yay! More to come, of course!
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