DAY 4
Back to Sweden and the town of Visby on the
island of Gotland. The weather was appalling
and we spent the entire day in rain jackets.
Visby is a UNESCO world heritage site and has a very intact medieval
wall that we spent a couple of hours wandering around. It also has lots of
well-preserved heritage houses.
Fortunately the rain didn’t diminish the views. 
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| These cute Rams which are Visby's mascot adorn the city at each gate |
The shopping was also fantastic. There were more shops with quality local artefacts
than anywhere else we had been up to that point. Ducking into shops became a great excuse for
getting out of the rain.
We also visited the local museum which I think provided a
great history of Gotland. There are a
large number of very old rune stones on the island which provide information
about the pre-Christian inhabitants, and many are in the museum. There were also Viking skeletons and a good
explanation about the social development of the island including the rise of
Christianity and Visby joining the Hanseatic League.
Other than the rain the only bad thing that happened in
Visby is that I tripped and twisted my ankle.
I recovered quickly but I’m convinced this little trip came back to
haunt me while hiking in the European Alps.
The weather didn’t improve while we were in port. In fact it got worse and resulted in our
sailing being delayed by 4 hours because Captain Klaus didn’t want to us to be
dashed on rocks as we attempted to leave the port.
When we did leave the sea was much rougher than anything we had
experienced up until that time. We all
suddenly had to develop sea legs and deal with sea sickness.
DAY 5
As a result of the late departure from Visby we didn’t
arrive in Karlskrona until 3pm.
Karlskrona was developed in the 18th century as the main port
for the Swedish navy. It is also a
UNESCO world heritage site.
Somehow the clouds always seem more dramatic in Europe
We spent several enjoyable hours following the town’s
recommended walk, which led us past many grand navy buildings including the
dock yards. There were quite a few
operational sites that had menacing signs forbidding photography. Regrettably we tended to only notice the
signs after the photographs had been taken.
Perhaps we will need to join Edward Snowdon in Russia - another Baltic paradise.
The historic centre of town has a magnificent plaza dominated
by a cathedral but the whole effect was somewhat undermined by the carnival and
rock festival that had taken over.
As we arrived in port so late most of the shops had shut so
there weren’t any shopping opportunities.
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| The timber houses provide lovely colour and texture |
DAY 6
From Karlskrona we headed to the islands of Christiansoe and
Bjornholm in Denmark.
This was everyone’s favourite day. We started by visiting tiny Christiansoe,
which is very close to the much larger Bornholm. Christiansoe has an absolutely beautiful
harbour and at some point was turned into a fortress island by the Danish.
In order to get on shore at both islands we had to take a
boat (they call it a ‘tender’ – where does this come from?). This was the first time that we had
experienced this and the short trip to Christiansoe was quite rough but we all
felt very adventurous being first world travellers.
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| The 'harbour' was a little canal between the 2 tiny islands that make up Christiansoe |
We wandered around what remains of the fortress walls taking photos of the rocky beaches, harbours and cliffs. As we were in Scandinavia in summer there was of course some family nude bathing – well mum and dad anyway.
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| Tracy, Debbie, John and David |
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| Thick walls |
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| Go away please |
Christiansoe is still inhabited so there are many beautiful
old houses. There was also one café/bar
where we were able to stop and have a rest while admiring the natural beauty
all around us. We got talking to a German
couple from the cruise over coffee, who we hadn’t met before then, and they
were most entertaining. The woman was a large, blonde former Lufthansa
stewardess who dressed very colourfully and managed to look fantastic while
being very funny. She spoke very fondly
of Melbourne on the basis of a somewhat unusual experience. While she was working for Lufthansa she
contracted malaria in Africa and spent 6 weeks being treated and then
convalescing in Melbourne.
In the afternoon we went to the town of Gudhjem on the large
island of Bjornholm. Apparently
Bjornholm is a very popular summer holiday destination for the Danes.
Dale and I decided that we would like to hire a bike and the
very helpful lady at the information centre convinced us that we should ride 16
kms (each way) to the next town called Svaneke.
John wisely decided that he would give the bike ride a miss and instead
take the opportunity to walk around Gudhjem and then go back to the boat in
order to go on a tour of the engine room.
We were convinced to ride to Svaneke by the lure of
wonderful artisanal shopping. And it was
wonderful but the bike ride was HELL! It
was our equivalent of completing the Tour de France. There were actually hills – plural – that we
had to ride up both ways, and whilst there were 7 gears, I think they get 21 in
Le Tour and there was no graphite or carbon fibre to be seen on our beasties.
Ugh bikes! Will we never learn?
When we arrived in Svaneke we consoled ourselves with ice
cream and quite a lot of shopping. Let’s
just say that the cuff link collection is expanding at a rather rapid rate.
We finally got back on to the boat at 8pm, ate dinner, drank
the customary couple of glasses of wine, and collapsed into bed.
John - and others – gave the engine room tour a rave
review. It is staffed 24 hours a day in
3 shifts. There are back-up generators
to ensure that the boat is never without power and it even has its own water
desalination and treatment plants.
Next time: End of the cruise
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