We are on Gotland, the large Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. We are staying in Klintehamn on the west coast, half an hour south of Visby. I picked the west coast to get beautiful sunsets over the sea. It was a good choice.
High ceilings
Yesterday I sent my oldest on a boat trip to Stora Karlsö, an island a few kilometres off the coast of Gotland. Since more than 100 years, a nature reserve, the island rises steeply from the sea to 61 metres as a horse shoe and is home to thousands of nesting birds and has stunning flora and geology. Dogs not allowed (for obvious reasons) so I stayed in land with my youngest while my wife went with my son. They returned with happy faces.
While my wife and son were away, my daughter and I bought a kite and discovered Kovik, a landing site for fishing boats for centuries. It offers an open air museum of fishing huts from all over Gotland and stunning views of the sea and sky. The sky cleared up just as we arrived so I got some truly magnificent shots. We returned after dinner for the sunset and the evening light. For a truly magic moment as the sun went down in the northwest and the moon rose in the southwest.
The church race
One aspect of Gotland that fascinates me and inspired me to create Gotlandia, my boardgame about Gotland, is the magnificent churches dotted around the landscape. Like a race to show off your wealth to your neighbours, every few kilometres you will find oversized stone churches richly decorated with stone ornaments, baptismal fonts, wall paintings, stained glass windows, and wooden figurines and cabinets.
The churches were raised, expanded and rebuilt over generations with a golden age from 1100-1400 after which the most ambitious projects were abandoned. After the Black Plague, Gotland lost its near independence and became a subject to first the Danish king and later the Swedish king.
I wanted to capture a shot of a church illustrating this ambition and compromise for my game. Fröjel Church is being redecorated at the moment, but Lye Church offered itself for the task.
Next
Gotland is bigger than we can explore in one visit. Last year we visited Visby. This year we came back bringing the car. Next year perhaps our destination will be Fårö, the larger island north of Gotland. Or maybe we will return to the captivating landscape around Klintehamn.
We still have a few days left before returning home so let’s see what we will find more on this magic island.