Gotland and Fårö

If you ever end up in Stockholm with a few days to spare and preferably a car, then I recommend you grab a ferry ticket and head over to Gotland. 

Visby - the walled medieval city on Gotland

There’s a medieval, stone-walled city, hidden bays, secluded, sandy beaches, artwork, wild animals, and a few sheep. We took 5 days to explore the island and even got in a dive one afternoon.

The car ferry that gets you from Nyäshamn to Visby and back

Out in the archipelago near Nyäshamn

Some of the artwork in the city

Stone sheep are used to keep cars off the footpaths

Sheep are a common tourist trap...

(While I recommend taking a car, you can still enjoy Gotland - especially Visby, without one. It just means you won’t be able to travel around the island so much as public transport is pretty limited).

Walking around the wall

Outside the wall - beautiful on a sunny day

Gotland is the largest island ‘owned’ by Sweden. You might remember in my last blog, I told you a local myth about how Gotland came to be. Basically, a chunk of land was carved out of Sweden creating Lake Vänern (Sweden’s largest lake), and then dumped in the Baltic Sea creating the island of Gotland. I still haven’t found out who the amazing mythical creature or person was who did this but they must have been big!

Sunsets are magical here

Visby is a photographers dream and a driver’s nightmare. Narrow, one-way cobbled streets weave randomly between the buildings. Stone pillars sit on the corner of streets protecting homes from cars that venture too close. Footpaths are virtually non-existent with people’s front doors opening straight onto the streets. Large, healthy rose bushes poke out of the cobblestones, their scent becoming quite powerful in the early evening. While post boxes are garishly decorated with pictures of nearby homes and buildings.

One of the main squares in central Visby

More sheep

The roses are so healthy

Typical post box

The remnants of a moat are visible around the walled city and bridges are still used to cross it. Archways in the wall, some complete with portcullis grates, are the only way in. You can climb up on the wall in places and get treated to a fabulous birds eye view of the city. I really did feel like I’d stepped back into medieval times climbing the rickety wooden stairs, peering through arched windows in the stone and pretending to fire flaming arrows down on unsuspecting passers-by. There’s even a site (outside the city walls) where they used to hang criminals. That was a little creepy despite the magnificent sunset!

The main cathedral in central Visby

Looking through gaps in the wall

The portcullis grill and bridge to enter the city

One of the many wall towers

View from the top of the wall

The gallows outside the city walls

Modernly decorated homes stand next to the ruins of cathedrals creating vivid contrasts between the old and the new. Ivy creeps up the crumbling stone facades gradually taking over. I could only imagine the imposing rooms that must have been contained inside the walls and the grand events that were held in them. 

Modern homes

Crumbling stone facade gradually being eaten away by time

The roof is no longer there, but the stone archways are

Hanging out inside one of the old churches

We stayed with Mark - a friend we made while diving in Thailand. He has lived on Gotland for years and was a great tour guide. We quickly realised that Gotland’s highlights are not only contained inside the thick stone walls.

Simple fishing huts were neatly lined up in one bay, their windows too grimy to be able to see what treasures might be hidden inside. Sticks to hang fishing nets out to dry on are still standing - although more of a tourist attraction now than any practical use. 

Old fishing huts with new life rings

Sticks to hang the nets on

We wandered through the bush enjoying the shade from the relentless summer sun. Wild flowers grow everywhere. Tranquil streams gurgle and bubble beside the path. We even found some damp caves to poke our heads into.

So much cooler in the shade

Ruined fishing boats left to rot

Pretty as a postcard!

Relaxing after a tough walk...

Fårö Island (also known as 'Sheep' or 'Travellers' Island) is a 10 minute ferry ride from the northern tip of Gotland. There are only a couple of roads on the island so it’s almost impossible to get lost. There’s only a handful of sheep too - the only ones we came across were trying to escape from their paddock but decided against it as I snapped their photos.

On the car ferry to Fårö

The sheep that tried to escape

Inside Fårö church, 2 paintings dating back to 1618 and 1767 tell a story of a group of local seal hunters who went out hunting one winter. Their boat sunk and the men drifted around on icebergs for several weeks. Amazingly, they survived and made it safely back to land several weeks later.

Fårö church

The painting from 1618

Some people with a rather unique sense of humour and a love of shoes have created an interactive shoe-art exhibition on one of the rocky beaches. Hundreds of shoes face into the centre of an ever expanding circle, appearing to be worship a croc (or perhaps hoping to lynch it!) A stiletto has been embellished to look like a parrot and put in a cage. You can even try your hand at mini golf using a shoe club.

The ring of shoes

All facing in towards the croc

None worth taking though...

The stiletto parrot

Mini golf competition...

Air shot!

Funny artwork

The beaches are incredibly desolate on Fårö yet have a portentous appeal to them, and I was quite happy to wander slowly along taking in the atmosphere. 

Desolate rocky beaches

Further along the coast, rauks (enormous stones) rise out of the sea. It was a bit like looking for cloud-creatures. We debated whether they were a dog, or a camel, a person with his nose in the air or a couple of monkey’s watching every sunset.

The camel-dog rauk

The largest rauks

Kristian next to it...just for an idea of scale

Man with nose in the air...

Make your own cloud picture out of this one...

Right at the northern tip of Fårö is a lighthouse - and an armada of ducks. We had been informed that this was a really cool place to visit and the highlight of the island so we had high expectations. Turned out it was just a tall, white lighthouse and another rocky beach. It was nice to see and play in the maze next to it, but not really a highlight of the day. 

The lighthouse...

...the armada of ducks

...and the maze...

Kristian and I headed back to Fårö one afternoon and we can now cross the Baltic Sea off our list of places to dive. It certainly wasn’t colourful and teaming with life like the tropics but it was still interesting. Lots of different eels, flounders and scorpion-looking fish darted around and hid under the algae. Limestone rocks formed stairs gradually getting deeper. Algae hung in curtains from each step and fish used the algae curtains to hide from us when we got too close.

Gearing up

Our dive site near an old fishing village

My pick for the best named village in the world is found on Gotland. ‘Bro’. It reminded me of home (New Zealand) so couldn’t resist getting a couple of silly pics.

Best little town...

Gotland and Fårö really are picturesque and delightful places to visit. We found it so relaxing (except when we were trying to drive through the centre of Visby). The old ruins and castles are intriguing. The little villages charming. The locals super-friendly. And the ferry ride across very comfortable. I’d recommend heading over for a visit next time you’re in the area.

Quite a few old windmills are around the island

Love the wild flowers that are everywhere

Spring really was in the air