We woke to a beautiful sunny morning. You can see Fiona in this picture, next to the two-masted wooden boat near the bottom right hand corner.



Visby guest harbour is the most expensive one in Sweden and often very crowded during the summer. It has the reputation as a "party place" and we would normally not have chosen to be in the thick of it, but decided that it was safe as it was still early in the season and the girls were very keen to be there. Bruce and Sheila spent their time under the sheltered cockpit tent, enjoying the life and activity around the harbour, while we all studied maps of Visby and planned our day out. They turned a few heads in the guest harbour. People travel with their dogs and occasionally their cats, but not their birds. One of our friends described our boat as Noah’s Ark.



While the girls opted for the beach, for us oldies, it was to be an exploration of the old city, which has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1995. It is a superb Hanseatic town full of Medieval houses and alleys, made all the more interesting because it is still a living, breathing town – not a static museum town. And the Gotlanders seem to know how to combine the two and make it work. We decided to tackle the lower sections of the town today and do the upper sections tomorrow.

It was really fortunate that we came in early summer when the famed roses are out in bloom. Visby is known as the “city of roses and ruins” and within the enclosing walls it has managed to preserve much of its medieval atmosphere. One sad feature is that of its original seventeen churches, only ten survive (nine of them as ruins) and only one (St Mary’s) is still used for worship.

Visby’s most notable feature is the 3.5km long circuit of town walls built of limestone in the latter part of the 13th century and strengthened about 1300. Today, they have survived and even plants grow out of them.



There are still some wonderfully preserved wooden houses, like this one off Donnerplatsen.



The museum of antiquties is housed in a lovely stone 13th century building nearby.



And there are many fine examples of the half-timbered stone buildings that so typify the Hanseatic era.



Looking down each of the narrow cobbled streets is a feast for the eyes – small houses with a profusion of climbing roses:





Behind one of the little gates, we spotted a Cafe sign which led to a secluded little rose covered courtyard.



We stopped for a coffee, served in a cute little copper pot and some home baked cakes while we studied the maps like real tourists! Luckily, as it was an outdoor cafe, Lambi was welcome, too.



Lambi enjoyed walking around the town and took every opportunity to roll in the grass like the grotty little dog she is! I’m amazed that people think she’s some kind of pure, fluffy lap dog, when in fact she likes nothing better than rolling in whatever gross stuff she can find. And the smellier, the better!



The roses are simply everywhere you turn and peeping into people’s gardens you catch a glimpse of a profusion of blooms and a heavenly scent.



Even in the narrow streets, where homes open directly onto the cobblestone pathways, they manage to squeeze in climbing roses that set off the medieval nature of the town. And always in the background the dominating towers of St Mary’s Cathederal (Santa Maria domkyrka)



Even from the main shopping strip around the market square (Stora Torget) you still catch sight of the church.



Later on we made our way to the beautiful Botanical Gardens and took a rest outside of one of the ruined churches – St Olof. This Romanesque church was built in 1200 and destroyed by the Lubeckers in 1525.



Then we made our way back to the harbour via a maze of those wonderful, tight little streets bursting with colour and fragrance. And in case you were wondering, yes, cars and pedestrians share this narrow space. And Gotlanders drive very fast!



While I prepared dinner, Lars-Göran took apart the auto-pilot and discovered that he was able to repair it, so he went along to the local chandler to “get a cheap screw” (his words, not mine!) It was such a relief that for the cost of a tiny screw we could save ourselves several thousand in replacement costs. Thank goodness he’s such a handyman!

After dinner, the girls offered to mind Lambi for an hour so we could walk along the harbour. I laughed when I saw the local youth hostel (Vandrahemmet). This should be a welcoming place, but this one sported razorwire and barred windows! Our best guess was that this was either the former local prison or madhouse that was converted to a hostel.



From the harbour, we made our way along the esplanade area to a beautiful park on the outside of the walls called Almedalen, which was the site of the old harbour in viking times. In the late evening light, the towers of the cathederal still dominate the horizon.



The park has a peaceful, relaxed feel to it as well as a great view of the city inside the walls.



If you look at the next picture, you will see on the right hand side the ruins of St Hans, just in front of the cathederal is the ruins of St Lars with St Nicolai’s ruins to the left. St Nicolai was the largest church in Visby and belonged to the Dominican monastery. It was built in 1230 and unfortunately destroyed in the 1525 invasion.



We then took a beach walk along the outside of the western part of the wall. In the evening, the sun’s dying rays were reflected on the limestone walls.



The tower you can see just beyond the people seated is called the Maiden’s Tower (Jungfruntornet). Legend has it that the daughter of a Visby goldsmith was walled up alive in this tower for betraying the town to the Danes, out of love for the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag. At regular intervals around the walls of Visby are 44 towers, standing between 15m and 20m high.



Quite a full day of walking and enjoying the sights and after the broken sleep of the day before, we were very glad to fall into bed, though the girls went out clubbing until 4am! Oh the resiliance of the young.