Saturday 8 May 2010

Roses. Ruins and History




St. Mary's Cathedral was greeting from a distance at the entrance to the old
Hanseatic-Town of Visby-also known as the "City of Roses and Ruins".
During the summer time the smell of roses wipes through the streets. Today, we can only sense the
Middle Ages,with the gates, towers,churches, warehouses and narrow streets.
It provides an excellent example of a typical North-Hanseatic town.
But the rich merchants in the hanseatic period also had many enemies.
There were the pirates who raided ships and robbed and terrorized Visby.
But the days are gone- now tourists come to spent their summer holidays
and experience the "Pearl of Baltic Sea".
On our trip around the island, we were accompanied by a grey sky and a cold east wind that swept over the trees und our heads. The beauty of the scenery is unique.We passed the picturesque old fishing village, Gnisvärd, dating back to the 1700's. And from the massive cliffs of Högklint, we admired  the stunning view over the coastline of Gotland and Visby. Unfortunately, we are not able to spent a very long on the island as the ship is waiting for us to continue our voyage. 
In the afternoon we enjoyed interesting lectures and especially the famous waffles in our observation lounge.
But last not least, our Captain invites for the great Farewell Dinner and the crew says farewell. Even though it is not our last night on board, we had our farewell dinner tonight as tomorrow in the evening we go through the Kiel Channel! Read about that later!