Gotland - Visby

Gotland, the largest island in the Baltic Sea and home to Visby the city of "roses and ruins", was our destination for Canada Day. While there was a lack of partying Canadians, there was no shortage of partying Swedes. Visby is probably the best preserved medieval town in Scandinavia, and a vacation destination for many Swedes during July and August.

Our mini vacation, one night in Visby started on Saturday at 04:30am, good thing the sun was up. We headed to the central station to catch our bus to Nynäshamn where we caught the first departing ferry for Visby. The bus ride was about an hour long, and the ferry three. The weather was crappy, it was overcast and about to rain. Sure enough, it started to rain while we made our crossing. We arrived in Visby, the rain stopped, the clouds break, and the remainder of the weekend was fantastic.

Gamla Wisby, or old Visby has a ringwall built around it that began in the 13th century. It was a flourishing city in that time thanks to to membership in the Hanseatic League between the 13th and 17th century. This town is rich with history, and abandoned churches. We spent a large part of our Saturday strolling along the wall and checking out the churches and other points of interest. We capped the day off with a great dinner at some restaurant with a fantastic view of the sea and the old city streets. This gave us the perfect opportunity to witness all the young (and some not so young) people coming out to party it up in the many bars and restaurants in the city core. Image a pub or club in a building that is perhaps 700 years olds, welcome to Visby.

Day two, Canada Day, we rented a pair of bikes and headed south along the coast to Högklint. We arrived to tremendous views atop of a cliff. We soaked in the views, the sun, and some hairy perches atop of a rock about 150M over the sea. We enjoyed a saffron pancake at a small cafe by the sea before heading back to town. When we return we strolled through town, had a drink and a bite to eat before hopped aboard the last ferry out. Little did we know, pug lady (a woman whose face reminded us of a pug), took the same trip from Stockholm and back. we saw her everywhere in the ferry terminal on the way out, at our hotel, and again on the ferry ride back, and again in Stockholm!

For more crazy and fun pictures check this out