Page 165 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sweden

SWEDEN AREA B Y AREA  163

GOTLAND

Sweden’s largest island, Gotland is a popular holiday
destination, favoured for its mild climate, sandy beaches,
distinctive landscape and beautiful walled town of Visby. It is
known as the “Pearl of the Baltic”. The island’s strategic position
made it an important trading centre especially in the Middle
Ages. Gotland celebrates its heritage with enthusiasm in the
annual Visby Medieval Week.
In geological terms, Gotland is fairly old. large mammals of the mainland. The
It consists of layers of rocks which were odd fallow deer is probably an escapee
deposited in a tropical sea during the from an enclosure, but there is a herd
Silurian period around 400 million years of russ, Gotland’s little wild ponies, as
ago. Fossils can still be found washed up well as foxes and wild rabbits.
along the shore. At the northern and A wealth of archaeological finds have
southernmost tips of the island, the been uncovered on the island, from the
limestone comes to the surface and plant ship burials of the Bronze Age to the silver
life is sparse. In the centre of the island treasure of the Viking period. More than
forest dominates. The high limestone 90 medieval churches dot the landscape
cliffs with their large bird population and the museums have numerous
are broken by sandy beaches beloved artifacts from the Hanseatic period and
by sun-worshippers, and standing the Danish King Valdemar Atterdag’s
offshore are numerous extraordinary capture of Visby in 1361. Visby itself is
sea stacks, known as raukar. a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The long, warm autumns and mild Gotlanders have their own dialect,
winters allow trees such as walnut and Gutamål, and their own traditions. These
apricot to survive in sheltered spots. No are especially reflected in the games
less than 35 different orchids can be found of the annual Gotland Olympics and
on the island and the flower meadows in the Medieval Week in Visby (see p33), a
which blossom at Midsummer are typical 21st-century re-creation of the Middle Ages
of Gotland. The island’s fauna lacks the with tournaments, jesters and fair maidens.

Hoburgen in southern Gotland, a 35-m (115-ft) high limestone cliff containing red “Hoburg” marble
Almedalen Park and the spires of Domkyrkan Sta Maria, Visby

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