July 10. Visby
Today we spent the day in Visby. It has been around for about 1000 years and, for a time, was one of the most important cities in Europe. Its location on the Baltic made it a major trading center and very rich. The wealth made it desirable by other nations so they put up a wall for protection that still stands today. Much of the city has been preserved so it feels like we were going back in time as we walked the streets. The only buildings that were not preserved were the many churches. The Germans sacked the city in the 16th century and destroyed all the churches except the one the German traders used. The church ruins that remain were quite fascinating to explore.
After breakfast we took a tour of the city led by a Scottish ex-pat who has lived in the city for six years. He showed us all the highlights and gave us the history of the city. After the tour we ate at this great crepe place. They seated us on a terrace that overlooked the city and the Baltic. We continued to tour the town on our own after lunch. We made our way around the city wall to the beach where we relaxed by skipping stones from the stone beach. The whole town reminded us of a bigger, older, Grand Marais, Minnesota. On our way back to our prison we stopped at the botanical garden and got to know a local cat. Dinner was at an Italian place and then we went to bed. We got our steps in today. My phones said I had 24000!