Our final day on this circumnavigation of the Baltic Sea was a mostly relaxed day to reflect on our many adventures. Starting two weeks ago in Amsterdam and visiting an incredible number of beautiful destinations, this truly has been a wonderful trip of discovery of this historic region. Today, we had a few presentations to bring it all together, but we did have one final trick up our sleeves. An afternoon landing at a small port in southern Sweden gave us access to an incredible spot called Als Stene, or Ale’s Stones.
Ale’s Stones is an early Viking-era monument built of standing stones in the shape of a stone ship. There is a lot of debate on the age of a location such as this, but it was probably constructed between 500-1000 AD. Consisting of approximately 60 standing stones, with the tallest about ten feet in height, it really is an impressive site. Add to this the location, on a promontory looking out over the Baltic Sea, and it was a glorious afternoon.
But this is not the end of the story for this spot. The alignment is perfect for sunrise and sunset on the solstices, showing an incredible connection to the natural world. Some of these stones show earlier working as well, probably transported to the site in the late Stone Age, maybe as far back as 4000 BC! For most of us, coming from North America, ages such as this our nearly unfathomable. It was magical to spend time in such ancient and powerful site.
Late afternoon found us underway and heading towards our final stop at Copenhagen. We gathered in the lounge with our group slideshow, reflecting on our incredible journey through the Baltic.
