Another guest blog by Pat. Catherine and I just returned from the most incredible overnight trip to the island of Gotland (Sweden’s biggest) and the city of Visby, which according to Wikipedia is the best-preserved Medieval city in Scandinavia. If you were to ask me, I’d simply say it was the most beautiful.
It is surrounded by a ring wall of stones that was built in the 12th century, built to its current height in the 13th century and acquired towers in both the 13th and 15th century – guess they were lazy in the 14th century?!? 
Gotland is the Island of a hundred churches and if you looked to almost any horizon in Visby you see remarkable ruins of stone churches.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary is an active, beautiful Church with modern stained glass, a baptismal font from the 13th century and, currently, a very interesting display of anti-bullying posters based on the Stations of the Cross.
It seemed there was a new ruin of a Church around every corner. I remain fascinated by the nonchalant use of ancient things for modern purposes. One Church ruin was being used for an exhibit of modern art which included a man counting in an angry voice projected on a stone wall – or there was the backyard that used the ring wall as a place to hang a hammock.
If the wall and the Churches weren’t enough to completely fascinate us, there was the most glorious garden ever. Imagine – walk along a beach and turn inland to a peaceful, beautiful collection of flowers and vines. Enjoy the photos!
And, all that being said – the very best part was sharing 2 days with my daughter. We had a marvelous time! Our hotel was built into the wall and just charming. Certainly, there are memories for a lifetime in these two days….
No comments:
Post a Comment