Today, Gotland Island sits in the Baltic Sea, a good long day sail from the mainland. We broke the passage with a stop at Byxelkrok on Oland, a quaint ferry town, with cute red huts selling souvenirs and ice cream, and a giant sauna barrel with giant chess.
Gotland’s capital Visby is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a walled city, with cobbled streets and medieval merchant houses. It is well worth a day devoted to being a tourist.
We had lunch in the botanical gardens, and an evening meal on a terraced balcony looking out over red rooftops. 
We just missed 2500 visitors from the Cunard Liner Queen Elizabeth, and found the streets relatively quiet, with exhausted shopkeepers and waiters.
We were berthed next to a Swedish Naval Stealth ship, a corvette, sheathed entirely in fibreglass, with odd angles to confuse radar. The naval seamen were quite proud of it, and allowed us to take a few pictures. I guess it’s not so secret any more.
In the Silurian Era, Gotland was part of a coral reef near the Equator, and is a Mecca for fossil collecting, and jewellery made from interesting fossilised coral. We did not have time to find the fossil beaches, but we did see wonderful fossils in various touristy shops.
It is along way back to the Swedish Coast, and the weather is changing. Time to go.
looks idyllic
like the open-air church – nearer to God?
We’ve been very near a few times already…
Ah looks gorgeous. The photo of you two would make a good caption competition 🙂
Haha. It would!