Page 14 - The Islander - February '21

Page 14, The Islander

travel

Visby, Gotland: Starting Its Fifth Millennium

By Don Kiselewski, MCC, D.S., Palm Beach Gardens Travel Leaders

Perhaps you watched the limestone coastline of Gotland,
TV, as I did, 20 years ago while the interior of the island has
on New Year ’s Eve, when numerous clay-covered bogs. The
we celebrated the end of western side has steep cliffs and is
the second millennium covered by conifers, while most of
and beginning of the third. the island is used for farming.
As the world turned, the Examples of the Bronze Age
television presentations were found in coinage discovered
from each of the most on the island. Gotland’s inhabitants
prestigious cities in each traded during this period with
time zone created an image peoples on the eastern and southern
of the occasion that excited shores of the Baltic. Later evidence
the imagination. It was communications and technology pointed toward the ties the island
at its best and it rightly should be given credit for the had with Rome and the Islamic Red-tiled roof buildings in Visby, built outside the great wall, now fill the land from
spectacular event that we witnessed. But, it was the beauty and Byzantine empires. The the city to the harbor.
of the cities themselves that left the lasting impression 12 century brought Gotland
th
of entering into the new millennium. Man has truly built into prominence. Its traders –
wonders on our earth. representing the peasant society
As I watched, it became apparent that the majority on the island – had trading houses
of the cities highlighted during the presentation weren’t to Novgorod and dominated the
there a half millennium ago. And then, there are cities routes between Western Europe
like Visby, Gotland that preceded Christ by 2,000 years. and Russia. The German trading
Names like Sydney, Paris, Washington, and New York class was quickly drawn to Gotland
automatically paint pictures in our mind – but Visby? activities and as a result, Visby
I tried a little experiment last week and asked a few was invited to join the Hanseatic
people whether they had ever heard of Gotland or Visby. League. Trade flourished until the
As one might expect, the replies were about the same as mid-14 century, with most of the
th
Jay Leno gets when he conducts his “person on the street” Novgorod (northwestern Russia)
interviews – lots of positive answers, but none were right. trade passing through the island.
Visby, Gotland got the same results. The prosperity of the time was Visby’s brightly painted buildings line the cobblestone streets, reflecting a period
The first thing you should know is that Gotland is reflected in the many fine churches locked in time.
an island. It’s actually the biggest island in the Baltic and cathedrals built during this
Sea, some 75 miles long by 35 miles wide. The island period (97 in the countryside and
is located about 55 miles off the west coast of Sweden, 17 in Visby).
with Latvia as its closest neighbor. Several bays interrupt Gotland became part of
Sweden around 900 A.D., paying
its taxes and looking only for
protection. Otherwise Gotland
wished to remain an independent,
passive community. It remained
fairly peaceful until 1361, when
Danish King Valdemar IV Atterdag
conquered Gotland in a battle just
outside the wall at Visby. The next
300 years brought shifts to the trade

Visby, Gotland on page 15 Multicolored fishing boats dot the small harbor in Gotland.

reModeling renovations new construction

There are gates peppered along the two-mile wall that circles
Visby. This one has a large opening for carriages and a
smaller one for pedestrians.

CDC COVID-19 Travel

Recommendations
By Country

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/
map-and-travel-notices.html

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