another beautiful sunny morning.........................

There wasn't much to do in town, so we waited for the ferry at the harbor. The wind was really picking up which made Mom real nervous about the ferry ride.

The ferry arrived at midnight so we stopped at first available parking and went to sleep. As usual Mom is up early, made breakfast and than we explored Visby.

It's a former Viking site on the island of Gotland, Visby was the main center of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic from the 12th to the 14th century. Its 13th-century ramparts and more than 200 warehouses and wealthy merchants' dwellings from the same period make it the best-preserved fortified commercial city in northern Europe.

The Gotland island is famous for 2 things, roses and most sunny days. We’re to early for the roses, but we awoke to clear blue sky and sun.................yaaay

By virtue of its position, Gotland has played a dominant role in Baltic trade for many centuries between Western Europe and Russia. Excavations have indicated that there was a trading settlement in the early Viking Age on the site of Visby. These trading settlements banded together for the protection of their chains of trading posts and to assert their interests by the rulers of the territories through which they passed (and also against their rivals)  By the 12th century Visby dominated this trade: all the commercial routes of the Baltic were channeled through the town. German merchants began to expand their sphere of interest into the Baltic and to settle in Visby. The Germans were followed by Russian and Danish traders, guild houses and churches were built in the town, and stone warehouses were constructed along the harbor.

The area is enclosed by the medieval City Wall built in the 13th century and substantially modified in the 14th century. From the town gates in the north, east, and south roads (prehistoric in origin) lead from the cliff to the harbor, giving Visby its characteristic townscape. Dating in its present form mainly from the 13th century, the streets are irregularly laid out, suddenly becoming broad or narrow in places. A similar street pattern existed in the heart of the later city in Viking times and can still be traced from the plan.

Medieval Visby had more churches than any other town in Sweden - fifteen within the walls and two outside, which served various functions: parish churches, guild churches, monastic churches, and hospital church.

The 14th century saw Visby losing its leading position following a series of disasters. The Black Death struck in 1350, when over 8000 people died in the town. The island was occupied by the Danish army in 1361, to be followed by the pirates known as the Vitalian Brothers in 1396; they were driven out two years later by the Order of Teutonic Knights, who occupied the island in their turn. The incessant warfare and piracy of the 15th century severely affected trade in the Baltic and the economy of Visby deteriorated. The 15th century saw further misfortunes for Visby, when it was the center of prolonged battles between the Danes and the deposed Swedish king, Erik of Pomerania, who made it the headquarters for his attempts to win back his kingdom. The end of Visby's greatness came in 1525, when it was stormed by an army from Lübeck which torched the nortern part of town.

In the 18th century, a hundred years after Gotland returned to Swedish rule, Visby experienced a revival Of trade and industry. New buildings were added, both on the ruins of earlier ones and in new areas on the cliff and around castle. The Swedish law of 1757 that exempted those who built in stone from taxes, in order to conserve timber, was of crucial importance for Visby, which continued to grow and prosper.

We walked around for 3 hours, and I didn't complain once, since I was so busy taking in all the new scents of town. The cobblestone streets where very narrow in places and sometimes you had to press yourself against a wall when trucks passed. 

It's early morning and a lot of people are biking on their way to work. They must have strong legs because Visby has a lot of very steep hills. 

 

 

 Mom will buy a bird book since there's a lot of birds she can't remember seeing before.  Arond the wall a lot of svallows were showing off their amazing flying skills.

 

 

 

on our walk we met the most amazingly gorgeous cat I’ve ever seen ( sorry Lilly) she was walking on a lead, and seemed very friendly at first.

 

   

 

she even gave me a quick kiss ............

 

 

The're so much history in this town, so if interested to read more, here's a link 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visby_city_wall

after lunch we continued North and made a stop at Lummelunda caves. At this place I had to stay and watch Lucy again, but I didn’t mind at all since a good long nap wouldn’t hurt after walking around the city for 4 hours straight...................Napping ?? Mom says, what about watching and protecting Lucy ?  My response is...............where can I find a sign like this ?

As we’re continuing north we came to an old village where we stopped and this time I came along to explore the grounds. 

           

   

here's a sundial

and a grind stone.......

and a funny looking kayak

 

we’re continuing north, and another ferry (that was free ?) took us to the very north Island called Fårö.

I'm in full control..............

Here we stopped for the night at a campsite on the ocean. Mom filled water, emptied the toilet and added fresh water,charged all batteries to the cameras and PC, so now we’re good to go for a few days. Not sure where we’ll go today, but I’ll keep you updated................later alligator

 Just one more thing about this island, length 176 km =109.4 miles width 52 km =32.3 miles, and their coat of arms is a ram, which is pictured on their flag

Yesterday afternoon, we left Lottas house and continued south, driving for about an hour we stopped at a real nice campsite by the Baltic sea....................(maybe we'll see a Russian submarine  ;-) )

So it’s Wednesday morning, and Mom still awakes at 4 AM and can’t go back to sleep. It can’t possible be jetlag because if that was the case she should be ready for bed since it’s 10PM in US ..........oh well, whatever the reason I sure hope it’ll change soon, because I’m still very sleepy. This morning she let me stay in bed as she went for a walk to take pictures of the sunrise............

after breakfast 2 hours later I happily went along to explore the cliffs. There’s signs all over the place about dogs HAS to be on a lead, but nobody is awake yet, and we all know how ornery Mom can be about rules, which is just fine with me.

It looks like it’ll be a wonderful day except it’s windy as hell, and Mom has decided to take the ferry to Gotland, which is Sweden's largest island located in the Baltic Sea.