A Tale of Two Swedish Cities - And Fish Soup!

Buckle up - this is an other long ride!

Tuesday, which marked the 4 week point on this cruise, we were in Karlskrona, Sweden.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage City and we decided to explore it on our own.  We were at anchor, so it was a tender ride into the city.

I had found a walking tour on line and we mostly followed that.  Our initial impression, after seeing some bland apartment buildings, was not great.  Although, Linda did enjoy hopping around.

We arrived at the large central square to find it largely empty!

We visited the 2 churches on the square before moving on through the city.

When we got to the Blekinge County Museum, I took the time to smell the roses.

Then we came upon Stakholmen, a small island with nice views.

We walked along the dockyard walls which had signs indicating no photos.  More on the significance of that later.  Our last stop was at the clock tower (which had the wrong time!).

From there we walked back to the tender port, passing a school and an old water well building.

I think that it is fair to say that we were disappointed in Karlskrona, its lack of activity and its lack of real beauty.  I questioned why it would qualify as a World Heritage City.  I did a little research and found that there are 10 criteria for World Heritage sites one of which must be met to qualify.  Apparently, Karlskrona qualified as "an outstanding example of traditional human settlement . . . or sea-use which is representative of a culture . . .".  Since we didn't visit the Naval Museum and we could only walk outside the dockyard wall, we missed that significant history.  But, we did see one element of current naval activity, this vessel:

A little more research indicated that it is . . . are you ready for this?  It is a Visby class Corvette from the Swedish Navy, a very stealth ship.

Now, have you figured out what the towers are that I showed in my last post?

They are cable manufacturing facilities about 200 meters tall.  The cable insulation system is extruded and the towers are needed for cooling the hanging cable.

Okay, enough geeking.  Wednesday, we were in Visby, Sweden, another World Heritage City with a Hanseatic history.  And this one exceeded our expectations.  We started by taking the shuttle bus which dropped us by a gate to the city.  Visby is still surrounded by a largely intact wall.  I was hoping that we might be able to walk on the wall but that is not possible.

We started walking through the city enjoying the old buildings.

And this time, Linda stopped to smell the roses.

We got to a point where we could overlook the cathedral . . .

. . . and the town.

You might notice some ruins in those photos (not us).  I'll include more close up shots later.  We walked down to visit the cathedral, passing another gate along the way.

Outside, there were old grave stones, including one for a teacher.

And then we went inside.

It was then time for lunch!  I had done some research and found a restaurant that appealed.  It was near the main square so we made our way there.  It was much busier than the square in Karlskrona.

At the Bakfickan Restaurant, I had the fish soup and a beer, while Linda had an unusual burrata salad.  Everything was excellent.  The fish soup was different from Norwegian Fish soup, a little spicier.

In the restaurant, we were seated at a big table with a young couple and their 7-month old daughter.  They own a bakery about 6 miles outside of Visby.  They were delightful and we had a good conversation.  And the baby was all smiles for us!

After lunch, it was time for more exploring.  We passed several of the ruins of former churches.

And, finally, the botanical garden.

From there, we had a choice.  We could walk back up through town to the shuttle bus stop or we could take a longer walk along the waterfront back to the ship.  We opted for the walk.

                                                        

As we sat for a rest, we watched a bird go fishing.

We very much preferred Visby to Karlskrona.  Its World Heritage designation is "due to its preservation of the medieval Hanseatic townscape".  It is just an amazing place to walk around.  Let's just say that we love Visby!

We seem to have gotten into a rut, but it's a good rut.  These outings on our own usually last about 4 hours and we'll usually cover about 4-5 miles of walking.

For this post, I am going to deviate from the usual Rules of Civility.  Instead I am going to include the prose from a sign we saw overlooking the cathedral.

I know that the sign is out of focus, but here is the English translation:

A place for you

In an increasingly stressful everyday life, it is easy to forget about yourself and each other. We all need to be seen and to be cared for, and maybe hear a kind word sometimes.

This place is for stopping for a moment and taking time for each other. Maybe a dear friend, child, parent, animal or why not just someone who happens to be standing next to you.

Take care of yourselves!

Peace and blessing,

Linda and Larry