Stora Karlso and Visby, Gotland, Sweden
A stunning panorama greeted us as we arrived just off shore of Stora Karlso, a small island composed of 400 million year old Silurian limestone. Sandwiched between an azure blue sky and sea with a thin vegetation cover clinging to rock strewn slopes it exuded a primeval air, and hopes were high that we would see a variety of bird and plant life. We bordered Zodiacs and once ashore we divided into groups and in the company of our proficient guides headed off up a gentle slope to explore the cliff tops. The island was established as a nature reserve in 1880 as a culmination of the efforts of Willy Wohler, an inhabitant of Gotland. A museum details the flora, fauna, geology and archaeology of the island. The profusion of wildflowers created the impression of a veritable rock garden. On the cliffs we observed a wide selection of sea birds including oystercatchers, razorbills, guillemots and redshanks. Visitors from much warmer climes, swifts, screeched as they whirled above. The limestone is in effect a fossilized ancient coral reef and weathering of the rock has exposed countless crinoids and mollusks. Of great interest also is a small cave known as Stora Forvar which means ‘Big Store.’ It had deposits of archaeological material up to four and a half meters in thickness, which was excavated at the end of the nineteenth century. The layers produced vast quantities of butchered animal bones, pottery shards, bone fish hooks and spears which were dated between 7,000 and 500 BC. The island was also inhabited during the Viking period. We left the reserve late morning and our archaeologist Vincent Butler gave a slide-illustrated overview of the Vikings prior to lunch.
The afternoon was spent exploring the charming and extremely interesting town of Visby on the island of Gotland. In the past this was an extremely important commercial base with a wide flung trading network which connected it to Atlantic Europe, the Mediterranean, Russia and the Near East. Its strategic geographical position also commanded attention through the centuries. By 1,000 AD the Gotlanders were expanding their trade and commerce through the auspices of the Hanseatic League. To walk the narrow cobbled streets of Visby is to walk in the footsteps of its Medieval inhabitants. A connection to the past is apparent. Everywhere are masonry reminders of its often tragic history. In the late thirteenth century the inhabitants of the town decided to distance themselves from their country peasant contemporaries and constructed a tall stone wall around their settlement which had ten gates and twenty nine towers. The most violent event occurred on July 27th, 1361when the Danish king, Waldemar Atterdag with his army slaughtered 1800 peasant Gotlanders outside the gates of the town. The inhabitants had refused to help them and callously left them to their fate. Many of them were young boys and elderly men. The bodies were plundered and cast into mass graves in the cemetery of a local nunnery. Archaeological excavations in the early part of the last century revealed the gruesome deaths of many of these unfortunate defenders of Gotland. The towns inhabitants bought their lives by handing over all of their valuables to Waldemar but he was never to benefit from this as the ship that was carrying the spoils back to Denmark sank in a storm.
A stunning panorama greeted us as we arrived just off shore of Stora Karlso, a small island composed of 400 million year old Silurian limestone. Sandwiched between an azure blue sky and sea with a thin vegetation cover clinging to rock strewn slopes it exuded a primeval air, and hopes were high that we would see a variety of bird and plant life. We bordered Zodiacs and once ashore we divided into groups and in the company of our proficient guides headed off up a gentle slope to explore the cliff tops. The island was established as a nature reserve in 1880 as a culmination of the efforts of Willy Wohler, an inhabitant of Gotland. A museum details the flora, fauna, geology and archaeology of the island. The profusion of wildflowers created the impression of a veritable rock garden. On the cliffs we observed a wide selection of sea birds including oystercatchers, razorbills, guillemots and redshanks. Visitors from much warmer climes, swifts, screeched as they whirled above. The limestone is in effect a fossilized ancient coral reef and weathering of the rock has exposed countless crinoids and mollusks. Of great interest also is a small cave known as Stora Forvar which means ‘Big Store.’ It had deposits of archaeological material up to four and a half meters in thickness, which was excavated at the end of the nineteenth century. The layers produced vast quantities of butchered animal bones, pottery shards, bone fish hooks and spears which were dated between 7,000 and 500 BC. The island was also inhabited during the Viking period. We left the reserve late morning and our archaeologist Vincent Butler gave a slide-illustrated overview of the Vikings prior to lunch.
The afternoon was spent exploring the charming and extremely interesting town of Visby on the island of Gotland. In the past this was an extremely important commercial base with a wide flung trading network which connected it to Atlantic Europe, the Mediterranean, Russia and the Near East. Its strategic geographical position also commanded attention through the centuries. By 1,000 AD the Gotlanders were expanding their trade and commerce through the auspices of the Hanseatic League. To walk the narrow cobbled streets of Visby is to walk in the footsteps of its Medieval inhabitants. A connection to the past is apparent. Everywhere are masonry reminders of its often tragic history. In the late thirteenth century the inhabitants of the town decided to distance themselves from their country peasant contemporaries and constructed a tall stone wall around their settlement which had ten gates and twenty nine towers. The most violent event occurred on July 27th, 1361when the Danish king, Waldemar Atterdag with his army slaughtered 1800 peasant Gotlanders outside the gates of the town. The inhabitants had refused to help them and callously left them to their fate. Many of them were young boys and elderly men. The bodies were plundered and cast into mass graves in the cemetery of a local nunnery. Archaeological excavations in the early part of the last century revealed the gruesome deaths of many of these unfortunate defenders of Gotland. The towns inhabitants bought their lives by handing over all of their valuables to Waldemar but he was never to benefit from this as the ship that was carrying the spoils back to Denmark sank in a storm.
