Medieval Magic: Gotland Sweden

A couple of weeks ago we visited Gotland, the magical medieval island off the east coast of Sweden. Our main purpose initially was to visit the Lars Jonsson’s museum near Burgsvik on the southern tip of Gotland. He’s an incredible bird painter of international renown who paints birds while looking through a telescope. But we got waylaid in the northern capital of Visby where we were staying as it’s hard to leave. It’s the most magnetic place full of ruins, stunning beaches and medieval buildings. You can see the old Visby wall above. It runs 3.6 km around the oldest parts of town and was built in the 1200's. The original population was Vikings but trade brought many different contacts (Germany, Russia) who would come to Visby to trade. They left their mark mainly through church building most of which are now in ruins

The Port of Visby where all the ferries come and go. Visby has a population of about 22,600. Gotland's (pop 57,600) the largest island in Sweden.

This was a hardware store which we dropped into during a bike ride around Visby. There are the most beautiful wildflowers, and not so wild, everywhere in Sweden during summer.

Visby Botanical Gardens. In 2005 the garden celebrated its 150th anniversary and presented a pink rose 'Wisby' specially cultivated for the occasion.

A wall of one of the old church ruins in old town in Visby. In 1226 the Dominican order came to Visby and St Nicolai, a Gotlander, became the church prior. He is regarded as Sweden's first writer.

On the bicycle ride. There were heaps of bikies in town too all slurping on ice creams in the main street. It's just a beautiful, easy place to ride.

Old town in Visby is only a tiny place and the best way to see it is simply to walk. The medieval alleyways still remain to a great extent under which traces of the Vikings dwellings have been found.

The Cathedral Church of Saint Maria. The only working church in old town. All the others are ruins which are used as backdrops for concerts etc.

The pinnacles of Saint Maria's church which was built in the early 13th century.

The Port of Visby. The freshness of the light and atmosphere was really noticable.

Södertorg (South square) in old town. There were very few people around even though the weather was perfect. People got off the ferry and disappeared. Probably to their country houses perhaps. I don't know but there were few tourist crowds to deal with which was nice.

 

Stora Torget. This is the main restaurant area. The restaurants were good though pretty expensive as is usual in Sweden and really salty which is also typical.

Mute swan in the sea. It was interesting to see so many ducks and swans in the sea. I suppose because the waters so brackish.  

The beaches are absolutely stunning. Crystal clear water though the Baltic's heavily polluted it doesn't look it.

Didn't go for a swim. Too lazy. Just looked instead. And relaxed.

Wall painting in Vamlingbo medieval church.

Lars Jonsson Museum from the garden.

On the ferry. Watch out for those lifeboats.

Lars Jonsson Museum is part of the Vamlingo Vicarage about 7 kilometres south of Burgsvik in Gotland, Sweden. www.vamlingboprastgard.se

Read my other blogpost about Lars Jonsson

Info about travelling within Gotland

To get to Gotland catch Destination Gotland´s daily ferry services from Nynäshamn, south of Stockholm, and from Oskarshamn on the east coast of Sweden. From the ports in southern Sweden and the bridge over the sound in Malmö it takes 5-6 hours by car to get to Oskarshamn. The high-speed ferry brings you from the Swedish mainland to Visby in 3 hours.

What I love about the Melbourne suburbs

I was born and bred in the Melbourne suburbs. Recently I winged my way from to Stockholm to Helsinki to Hong Kong to my home town (praying for a lot of it- gets a bit rocky especially nearing Hong Kong) for a few weeks to visit family and friends. They treated me to some great Melbourne hospitality. It was fantastic. The webber bbq got a good workout as did the umbrella. But in spite of the rain and clouds I managed to get to a few favourite places. Mainly in the inner city, which is a great  place to walk and ponder with it's parks, galleries, cafes and shops. Not that I'm much of a shopper.

Melbourne's all about the suburbs and I have my favourites. Mainly the inner suburbs such as St Kilda, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Williamstown. They have a great mix of people and all the best music and art venues are there. They're also distinctive for having retained their original architecture though it's a constant battle to keep it. (A lot has been torn down since the 1960’s in a mad frenzy of development which doesn’t end. The suburban battle cry ‘Save our Suburbs’ on placards in windows all over town continues.) But there are hundreds of other suburbs to visit and people from around 270 different nationalities in Melbourne all have their favourites. And are very happy living there too.

Down by the beach having a coffee in Acland Street, St Kilda. One of the fantastic Readings Bookstores is located here.

 Melbourne's changed a lot though. When I was growing up in the 70’s I thought it was the most boring place on earth. Ava Gardner, who starred in the Hollywood post-apocalyptic film ‘On the Beach’(1959) - shot on location in Melbourne- was reputed to have said that it was a great place to make a movie about the end of the world. I agreed. There were virtually no cafes, little entertainment of any kind except the local pub on the weekends. I remember me and my friends as teenagers on a perpetual and mostly fruitless search for excitement. Mostly we’d end up at the beach. Still the highlight of Melbourne for me. 

Street performer in St Kilda. Now in Melbourne there’s a large amount of galleries, live shows, events to go to for the 4 million residents. Though sadly the number of live music venues have shrunk thanks to the insane pokies obsession in Australia taking over the pubs. But the fantastic musicians remain. Playing on and creating regardless. You can always hear a few busking around the city at any time.

The energy of an early city evening. 

Tiepolo's fantastic painting 'Banquet of Cleopatra' (1743) at the National Gallery of Victoria. One of the best paintings in Australia I reckon.

The Yarra River divides the north and south on a typical Melbourne grey day.

I managed to get one or two uncloudy autumn days during my visit. I went for a walk through the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens to take advantage. St Patrick's Cathedral is adjacent.

The cosmic stained glass ceiling of the Great Hall at the National Gallery of Victoria. Designed by Roger Kemp.

Followers line up for a celebration of Buddha's birthday at Federation Square, Melbourne. Everyone in town basically meets there.

A mixture of Australian and European trees line St Kilda Road.

Sunset over the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown.

Gorgeous Queen Anne style architecture. I think it's Queen Anne? 

A full moon rising over Carnegie.

The view at Doyle's Bridge Hotel at Mordialloc. Fresh, reasonably priced food and you can relax looking at the boats go by.

Looking up the pillars of the State Library. It's a good place to go and read the latest international magazines, newspapers or access the free WIFI. It also has a number of art galleries so you can peruse them if you feel like it. As well as the thousands of books.

The brilliantly coloured and noisy Rainbow Lorikeets were everywhere feeding and socialising in the trees.

A pensive daughter on Mother's Day at Donovan's Restaurant, St Kilda. It's expensive but with great food and a view. There are many gorgeous paintings done by the 19th Century group of painters known as ‘The Heidelberg School’ who recorded the beaches dazzling light on a summer day.

Brilliant violets and blues light up the sky at dusk.

A contrast of styles. The spire of the Neo-Gothic architecture of St Paul's Cathedral (1891) stands out with it's delicacy.

The storm clouds gather at St Kilda beach. The old Luna Park (1912) amusement park is on the left. It's fun unless you get stuck up on the scenic railway which some people did while we looked on rather smugly. The number 96 tram goes straight there from the city.

 Flinders Street train station is the centre of the city for commuters and teens. I tipped a street musician one day at Flinders St and he said to me in an accent that sometimes sounds like a cockatoo squawking, 'Thaanks maayte'. I never thought I'd be so moved by those words. It does make walking around a real joy. People chat away like you've known them forever.

Pacific Gull in the shallows.

Boatsheds at Aspendale beach.

Walking barefoot on the sand.

Mum and Mand.

The gang.

Thankyou to my incredibly generous mum and Mand and Larne for flying down. Plus Barry and Fay, Libby, Joy, Helen, Laura and Jim and John for some superb Melbourne hospitality. Great souls every one. I miss you.

Top image by Christopher Groenhout. All other photos by Susan Wellington