Pupletts in Sweden: Gotland (8-10 Dec)

This was the trip that almost didn't happen. We'd be taking it easy for a few weeks, as I'd ended up in surgery for an infection and then back again for a subsequent one. I was starting to get better and then Kristine came down with a nasty throat infection and cold and was in bed for over a week.

We'd booked the trip a few weeks earlier and had no refunds, but it was touch and go until about an hour before we were to leave. To make matters worse, our landlord wanted to run some people through the house to look at possibly purchasing it, so we needed to make sure it was spotless clean before we left.

We took Friday off and I got the all clear to travel that morning and then Kris and I worked to get the house clean. We also had to stop in at Migrationverket to get our Swedish residency cards extended until the end of March.

In order to get to Gotland we needed to either fly or take a ferry. It was going to cost as much to fly there as it would to fly to the USA, so we decided to drive up and take the ferry. The ferry only traveled twice a day so we needed to make sure we arrived on time so we didn't miss it, or we'd be stuck on the mainland for the night and have to buy a new ticket for the next day. The drive was to be 4.5hrs and the ferry left at 8pm, so we needed to be out by about 2:30pm to make sure that we got there in time.

By 2pm we were still cleaning and debating whether we had the energy to go. Kris was still having coughing fits and not feeling well and I was still a bit sore and weak from the surgeries. Eventually at 2:30 we decided to bite the bullet and make the trip. I ended up doing the driving on the first day, while Kristine slept.

Gotland is an island north of Öland on the west coast of Sweden:

Location of Gotland

We took the ferry from Oskarhamn, which took 3 hours - from 8pm til 11pm. We found a quiet lounge and I laid on the floor and slept, while Kris and the kids slept in the seats. As we went to leave, we realised that it was an 'upgrade' area that we shouldn't have been in without paying extra, but no-one seemed to mind and we got a good rest.

Once we landed on Gotland in Visby harbour, we had a 10min drive to our apartment.

The next morning we planned to be up early to start exploring, but when we woke and checked the clocks it was 10am!

We had breakfast and showers and finally got out of the house just before lunch. The plan was to explore Visby, the main city on Gotland and then to head to a few sights to the south and east. Fortunately Gotland is not too big (176km long and 56km wide), but it did get dark early due to the winter sun in the north.

Gotland has been settled for a long time, with the Gutes living there for at least 5,000 years. It was once a very important island due to its position in the Baltic Sea. The main city, Visby, is a walled city containing the ruins of many old churches.

We started by heading into the edge of Visby to check out the city walls:

Visby City Walls

The walls above are the Walls of King Valdemar. They are slightly different to the other parts of the wall and it's believe it was built in 1361 and the Danish King Valdemar Atterdag attacked. This part of the wall is at the Söderport area - South Port, one of the three main entrances (the others are Norderport- North Port and Österport - East Port).

King Valdemar's Wall

City walls

Walking through Visby

We took a walk through the city. Visby feels quite old with lots of narrow, paved streets and old houses.

The first sight we came across was the ruins of the St Peter and St Hans Church (S:t Per och S:t Hans). The building was originally made up of two churches, forming the biggest church in Visby. St Peters was built in the mid 12th century and increased in size to include St Hans in the 13th century. Runestones and pre-Christian petroglyphs were found at the site, possibly as part of an earlier cult center. They both fell to ruin in the 16th century with the reformation.

Ruins of St Per och St Hans

Floor stone

Runic Stone

While the church may look fairly small from the pictures, this photo with Cameron against one of the pillars may give some idea of scale:

Cameron and the pillar

All the kids

We then continued through the Stor Torget and the tourist bureau, checking out some of the interesting streets and buildings:

Building built into the old city walls

We'd heard there was a Christmas market on and the signs pointed us to the Visby Museum, so we headed there. Unfortunately the market was only a few stalls (we found out later that most of it was on the other side of town):

The market

Then we headed back to the car. We initially tried to drive around a little in Visby but it was crowded for the Christmas markets and the streets were pretty hard to navigate so we headed off to our next stop.

Our first stop was Gnisvärd, 20km south of Visby. It is the site of a Bronze Aged Stone Ship Grave, a grave formed in the shape of a ship using stones. It is 45m long and 7m wide, made of about 100 stones. It dates from the Bronze Age (between 1800-400 BC). When an important person died they were cremated, the remains put in an earthenware urn and buried with some grave goods of bronze or gold. A ship of stones was created around the urn (or sometimes beside it).

Gnisvärd

Runestone at Gnisvärd

Gnisvärd

Another 20km south was another Stone Ship, this one called Gannarve. There were originally two stone graves at this location, but one was destroyed by a plough, the remaining one was almost destroyed but archeologists found the Stern and Bow stones and the markers for the missing stones and were able to recreate it:

Gannarve

Our next stop was the east coast and the Folhammar Sea Stack. This is part of the Ljugarn nature reserve area and is a series of Rauk (Sea Stacks) - erosion-shaped rock formations, where the sea and wind has worn down the softer rock, leaving a hard limestone core. It is a feature that Gotland is famous for, particularly in the north (where we were heading on day 2).

By the time we got there it was starting to get cold and dark, it was about 0.5 degrees C, but the wind chill was pretty harsh. Alana and Tomas waited in the car, while Cam lasted a few minutes out with Kris while she set up her tripod and camera.

We couldn't get too close without walking through the park, but Kris managed to get some photos with her zoom:

Folhammar - Without zoom

The biggest of the Folhammar stones

We also had intended on visiting the nearby lighthouse, but by now it was dark and cold and the kids (and adults) were tired, so we headed back to our house for an early night. I cooked up some nachos for dinner and we played a board game before bed.

On day 2 we had to pack and tidy the place before checking out and heading for Fårö in the north of Gotland. There's an interesting story about the name - in Swedish Ö means island and Får means sheep, so most people assume the island is named as 'Sheep Island', but the name actually is believed to derive from Fara (to travel), i.e 'Traveller's Island'. The Sheep Island name is not correct, because in Gutnish (the dialect for Gotland) the word for sheep is 'lamm', which means lamb elsewhere in Sweden.

We were a bit cautious of time as there was only two ferries off the island, one early in the morning and our one at 4:20pm. If we missed the ferry we would be stuck on Gotland for the night.

To get to Fårö we drove to the northmost part of Gotland and took a quick roll-on/roll-off (runs every 30min and is free) across to the island.

Fårö has an area of only 111.35 square km and is famous for its Rauk. Until 1990 Fårö was a military site and entry was prohibited. This was due to the close proximity to Russia during the Cold War.

Our first stop was Digerhuvud, the biggest Rauk field in Sweden - stretching over a 3.5km region.

Digerhuvud Rauk

Also in Digerhuvud was a fiskeläge (fishing location) a series of small fishing huts:

Fiskeläge

Next we headed to Langehammars, the most famous Rauk on Fårö:

Langehammars, with Kris standing by the stone for scale

Langehammars

Kris by the biggest rauk

From the Langhammers we considered heading to the Fårö lighthouse, but it was going to be an hour round trip and we wanted to get back to Visby before our ferry so we skipped it (we were now 0 for 2 for visiting lighthouses).

We took the ferry back across to Visby. It rapidly changed from quite sunny to snowing heavily:

Compare this photo to the weather above - taken only 45min apart

The snow starts:

and gets heavier:

and heavier:

The snow stopped when we arrived at Visby, but picked up again on our drive home.

Once in Visby we drove to Piratkullen (Pirate Hill), part of the northern city walls. From there we walked to the snäckgärdsporten tower:

Visby city walls by Piratkullen

Huddling together for warmth

Looking down the wall towards Snäckgärdporten

Riding the Visby Ram

Interior of one of the towers

Burning off some energy - it's not chasey, it's "Touch something red!"

Got it!

Model of this part of the walls

Looking south along the city walls

Looking out over Visby from the tower

Looking east towards Piratkullen from the tower

After leaving the tower we headed to the ruin of S:t Clemens (St Clement's Church). The first church on the site was built in the 12th century and replaced with the current church in the 13th century. It is named after Pope Clement I, who was martyred by being thrown into the sea with an anchor tied around his neck. He is the patron saint of seafarers. The church was abandoned after the Reformation.

St Clemens

Inside

Next we came across the Drottens Ruin (meaning Lord or King). The church is built next to St Lars Church, with an old rumor saying that a rich merchant had two daughters who didnt get along so he built them a church each. Drotten was constructed in the 12th or 13th century.

Drotten

Snow inside Drotten

We stopped briefly in the old chapter house across the road, where the rest of the Christmas market was just finishing up:

Our final stop on the way back to the car was the ruin of Saint Nicolaus, a Dominican Abbey founded before 1230. It was destroyed by troops from Lubeck in 1525.

You may have noticed that there are a lot of church ruins in Visby, in fact there are 19 ruined medieval churches on Gotland, twelve of which are in Visby and ten within the city walls. The churches were built after the 11th century, when Gotland switched from Norse religion to Christianity. The island dropped in population and wealth after the Black Plague and an invasion by Denmark in 1361 (by Valdemar, who the first walls we saw were named after). During this time many churches were abandoned or damaged, and in the 16th century the Protestant Reformation (led by Gustav Vasa in 1523 to separate from the Pope) led to most of the churches being abandoned.