Another glorious sunny day, made all the more funny because friends rang us and said it was raining quite heavily in Stockholm. We tried not to sound too smug. Today the girls rented bikes and rode 13km north to see the famous limestone caves at Lummelunda and to lie on the beach and work on their suntans. We decided to stroll to the higher part of Visby and set off in the late morning. One of the first things I saw was that the guest harbour had raised an Australian flag! A lovely welcome sight so far from home.



I’d like to think it was in my honour, but Lars-Göran merely laughed at that, though he failed to come up with a better explanation.

We made our way up to Söderport and to the main tourist and commercial strip of Adelsgatan. What a contrast to the lower section we were in yesterday!



The shops were really interesting and there were a lot of beautifully made hand crafts, cafes and a lot of people out enjoying the summer weather. One shop that caught my eye had some little porcelain cows based on the Cow Parade. I immediately thought of my friend Sandy Van Veen who adores cows! She would love this shop.



From this height, you got a perfect view across the tiled rooftops of Visby down to the Baltic Sea and even one of the Gotland Ferries from Nynäshamn on its way into harbour.



It is quite a steep city and an interesting mixture of roof styles, materials and greenery, with that lovely backdrop provided by the glittering sea.



One “touristy� thing I had to do was to try the local icecream – hand made from fresh Gotland cream. I chose one with a topping of hjortron (cloudberry). It is hard to describe the heavenly taste of this berry, but delicious hardly covers it.



Walking along the inside of the north part of the walls, we caught sight of the ruins of St Lars and you could see why those towers also were used as part of the city’s defences with a commanding view like this:



From here, it is a short walk to the only one of Visby’s old churches which is still in use – St Maria. It was built by wealthy German merchants and consecrated in 1225, though much altered in the following centuries.



While it is fun for us to walk around, poor little Lambi can find the going tough with her short, 11 year old legs, so we have recently purchased a specially made rucksack to carry her around in. It is very roomy, has wonderful ventilation and a peeping hole for her to check out the surroundings. We have received a lot of comments from people passing by about how sweet she looks.



From this area you can look down to the Baltic across the tiled rooves and ruins. With the greenery, it makes the city much softer than a plain stone city and the presence of modern touches like cars does not seem to distract from the beauty.



You can look down almost vertcally into the lives of people who live here. I wonder what they make of being part of the living exhibit that is Visby.



And all of this within the towered walls of limestone.



It will be sad to leave here tomorrow, but I'm sure this won't be the last time we are going to be here.