There are a lot of churches on Gotland. According to Lena, in some places you can see three at once, they are so close. She took us for a tour of the small village she lives in and, naturally, we visited the church.
It’s a very white church.
We were visiting Lena and Mårten, who live on Gotland some of the time. Their house is in a tiny village, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else. In fact, I think we met everyone tonight at the pub.
We had just had a delicious dinner, prepared by Mårten, and had popped out for a post meal drink. We left daughter Victoria to her two boys while we enjoyed ourselves.
And we found ourselves the centre of attention. A couple of older chaps sat with us for a while and there was a lot of laughter. One chap, he used to be a teacher, told me about his research into his family history. One of his ancestors was the captain of a light ship. In fact, the one outside the Vasa Museum. I was well impressed.
Our time with Lena and Mårten, was at the other end of a lovely, leisurely day spent wandering around Visby.
And, in keeping with our visiting of the abundance of churches, we popped into the cathedral for a look see. We laughed at the sign on the desk at the entrance which said that weapons had to be left outside. This is, no doubt, because of all the Medieval people wandering around wearing swords and carrying bows and arrows.
Visby Cathedral wasn’t originally built as one. It was originally a church for German traders who visited the city due to their connection with the Hanseatic League. The existing stone building was started in the 13th century.
After the Battle of Visby in 1361, Gotland was Danish and they required only the one church. They picked the German Church and the rest of the churches in Visby were left to rot. Which they did. Which is why there are multiple ruined churches in Visby.
From 1899, our old friend Axel Herman Hägg, renovated the cathedral, having secured a bit of cash from the Swedish government. He didn’t go quite as mad as he did with the Dalhem church.
I guess the Danes could easily have picked another church. St Lawrence, for instance, which we also visited today.
St Lawrence’s is a ruin. It also has some very seriously steep stairs going up and around the nave. I decided to try my feet and walk up and around. I should add that there was no bannister. It tested my mettle but was worth it. Mind you, Mirinda thought I was a bit mad.
The church was also built in the 13th century, like most Visby churches. It was built by local craftsmen. This week it appears that it is being used as a music venue. And we couldn’t get in to look without wearing our special wrist bands.
Our wrist bands also got us into the big medieval market which we briefly visited on our first day. It was bustling, hot and full of people dressed in the medieval style.
I popped my head into a few stalls to price an outfit for me. Just out of interest, you understand. The problem is, though, that it isn’t just the outfit, it’s also the accessories you need to have as well. Anyway, the total cost for me would have been well over what would be worth wearing one week every time we visited during Medieval Week. I decided to buy a t-shirt instead.
Mind you, I did see a man wearing just a sack yesterday. That would have been cheap. Mirinda reckoned it would have been quite itchy. She has a point.
All the church visiting and market trawling eventually took its toll and we headed up to the central square for a light lunch. And a beer, obviously. We met a couple from Perth and had a jolly Aussie chat before they had to leave to catch a plane. He was Finnish and thought it hilarious that we come from a town called Panties. He thought it would be a great jape to say we lived in Knickers.
Following an excellent repast of steak tartare (me) and goats cheese salad bowl (Mirinda) we headed back to the car only to accidentally find a big parade of people dressed in medieval outfits, preparing to march down through the town. Obviously, we stopped and waited for the off.
After watching them troupe by, we drove out to Lena and Mårten. There wasn’t time for our usual mid afternoon break and light snooze.
There was a bit of confusion finding their house – the satnav took us on a merry dance at one stage in an elaborate attempt to avoid performing a U-turn – but eventually we pulled into their drive and had a marvellous time.
I’m going to finish this post with this image.
It is a small carving on the side of the pulpit in Lena’s local church. I have no idea what it symbolises, but I think it’s delightfully fanciful.
