Gotland – Europe'16

Gotland – a tropical coral reef

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Steven

Okay so, here is a short archeological history of Gotland. Way back in the Silurian period, which by my reckoning is about 400 million year ago, this area was a tropical coral reef, but without Surfers Paradise near by. Then along came a big winter chill called the ice age which depressed whatever land there was and so, just over 10,000 years ago, Gotland didn’t exist – in that it was under water. As the ice melted, the land rose up, in fact it still is at the rate of 1 metre per century, although it’s slowing down.

Anyway, Gotland appeared rising like Venus from the sea. The sea wasn’t too happy at that and eroded a fair bit of land but left sea stacks along the coast and in land.

Remember this castle in Åland?

Well it used to an island surround by water in the 15th century. Not now as the land keeps rising.

Now back to the walled city.

Circling Gotland

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Steven

I’m not one for churches, or temples etc, but Gotland has so many you can’t avoid going into some of them. This was my church of choice, somewhere in the north of the island.

It was the inside rather than the outside that I liked as it had the original , faded, medieval wall decorations.

As ever the wind was hovering around 35 km so I was either gleefully freewheeling or grinding slowly along.

tomorrow evening I’m going back to the mainland as Gotland at the peak of the tourist season is not really my cup of tea.

Keeping the options open

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Steven

With the weather not looking too good. I thought I might catch a train south to Nynashamn for the ferry, and also decided to go early and thus have time to cycle if I changed my mind. It turned out that was just as well.

First up, when I got to the Central Station, I was kindly informed by the first rude Scandinavian (I’d met so far on this trip) that bikes weren’t allowed in the Central Station – her tone and words were slightly different. Oh, and I then discovered that buses had replaced the train for much of the journey.

However in the world of ying and yang, another person saw that I was a somewhat perplexed individual trying to figure my way south out of the city and rode with me for 5k just to see me through the tangle of streets. So I ended up cycling to the coast with only a few showers on the way.

This dog has its own personal chauffeur

Unlike the ferry ride from Åland, the ferry to Gotland had plenty of cyclists, my favourite being the one above.

Visby was quite crowded with holiday makers, yet, for some reason, they all seemed to disappear shortly after 6:30 as if there was a curfew that I didn’t know about.