mellow & vivid visby

You walk in through a large opening in the nearly 1000-year-old wall. There’s a square, but that’s the only other thing than the colourful, homely-looking houses that seem to completely fill the place. Between the houses there are small alleys, and sometimes a narrow street. At most one car could fit on those streets, which is fine, because there aren’t that many of them anyway. It’s possibly the best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia, and it’s calm and quiet. Well, at least in early June – later in the summer, it’s run over by tourists from all over Sweden. This UNESCO World Heritage site is Visby, the only city on the large Swedish island, Gotland.

I’ve never considered myself a city person, which is why I was quite critical about spending half a day in Visby – especially since it was the first time I visited Gotland, an island I had dreamed about visiting for years! It’s an incredible island in many ways: there are incredible geological formations and several species unique to the island. I wrote about that earlier. My companions insisted, though, so I gave in. Now I’m glad I got to see Visby, too – it added even more diversity and personality to the island.