East Coast of Sweden

the winding road passing Sundre Church

Most people visiting the island go the the historical town of Visby and explore its surrounding area, and many also make a trip to Farö. But as we have a full week on the island, we have some more time to explore, so we decided today to go to the southern part of the island; to the southernmost tip of the island to be exact.

We didn't bring any bicycles of our own with us on our trip to Gotland though, so we searched a place where we could rent a bike, which to our surprise was not that easy! We googled and phoned around, and in the end found a place that was open this time of year (at the end of August, which is after the main tourist season). A store called "Bertil Norrby AB" in the center of Burgsvik is renting out bicycles, and to make sure they were open we phoned them the day before. "No problem", they said, "come by tomorrow, we are open and have bicycles available for you".

The bicycle trip we took is about 45 kilometers long, and this is roughly The route we took.

And today it is the perfect day for a bicycle tour: The sun is shining brightly with beautiful blue skies with hardly any wind. So in a very cheerful mood and big smiles on our faces we get on our way. After about 4 kilometers we arrive at our first stop, in an area called "Hundlausar"; a lonely and barren area between Öja and Vamlingbo.

Windmills are not that common in most parts of Sweden, so it was fun to come accross them here on the island of Gotland! At Hundlauser you can see three old windmills standing relatively close to each other in the middle of a field. I was quite surprised to learn that windmills actually have a long history on Gotland, and they can mainly be found on the southern part of the island. Some of the earliest documents that specifically mention windmills are in connection with taxations in 1653, but windmills have probably been used on the island much longer than that.

A wooden stile helps us to easily cross the fence at the Hundlausar windmills

We park our bicycles at the edge of the field and admire the windmills from a distance. But of course that is not enough for me; I have to see them up close! A wooden stile helps us to easily to cross the fence at the Hundlausar windmills and we walk to the nearest one of them one.

There are age-old laws and regulations that whoever owns livestock must also fence them in. But as you fence in the animals, you also make it more difficult for people to pass the enclosures. Therefore, over time, rules have also been added that state that you must make it easier for people to pass. In order to avoid making gates that people might forget to close, and thereby accidentally let the animals out, the 'stile' was invented in various parts of the world. That's why stiles also look different in different places. This type of stile is called a ladder stile; we saw several of these on Gotland.

Windmill at Hundlausar

As you can imagine this is a very windy area, as it is located on the very southern tip of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea, surrounded by baren landscape. And this also one of the explanations why this area is called "Hundlausar". The name comes from the fact that it is usually so windy in this particular area that you don't dare let "hund lauser" (that is, don't let a dog loose) because then it might blow away! I am not sure if this is the real cause, but it does make for a cool story ;-)

The area has been pasture for a long time, but as the number of animals has decreased, pine forests have grown up in the area instead. The mills were in use until the 1950s and were owned by the farms in 'Norrbyn', south of the mills. Now the mills are managed by 'Gotlands hembygdsförbund', which has restored them.

horses at the windmill

During our visit there were no humans in sight at all, but a couple of horses do call these pastures their home. They were standing close to the windmills, a bit shy of us, although not afraid at all of us walking around.

Of course one cannot go anywhere without bringing our travel mascot, called Nalle, along

After having spend some time around the windmills we climb on our bikes again and continue our route. And on our route we pass the farm museum "Bottarve Museigård", where you can visit a 19th century large farm typical for southern Gotland of that time. The museum was closed when we visited however, so we enjoyed the buildings from the outside instead.

The large barn at Bottarve Museigård

The main buildings are a bit hidden, but the large barn is located directly at the roadside, so hard to miss. And I just love this type of roof! The steep roofs of this large barn, which dates from the middle of the 19th century, are covered in the traditional way. The roof consists of tightly packed Cladium mariscus (a type of sedge), which is laid in a thick layer starting at the eaves so that rain and meltwater run off the roof without penetrating.

And after another 3 kilometers on our bike we get to another interesting stop: the church of Vamlingbo. The church is one of the largest churches on Gotland, which is probably because the large parish was at the time one of the richest on Gotland.

Did you know that no part of Sweden has as many medieval churches as Gotland? There are no less than 92 churches on the island that were built before 1350.

It is always an experience for me to step over the threshold into a church and transport myself back in time to the Middle Ages. And this church didn't disappoint. I just loved the decorations on the vaults of this church, each and every one of them are different.

six meter high mural depicting Saint Christopher

waves, fish and a mermaid

There is quite a bit to see in this church, but the weirdest ones is this mural on the north wall (photos above). Here you can find a six meter high mural depicting Saint Christopher, who carries the baby Jesus across a river. The mural is from the early 14th century. It is said of Saint Christopher that he was a very large man, and the artist here seems to be have taken that very literally! The waves, the fish and the mermaid at the bottom of the mural look a bit primitive and weird, but did make me smile.

The most important feature in this church however is located on the northern wall, with a set of medieval murals, depicting a scene in which the Archangel Michael is weighing the soul of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor. (photos below)

Archangel Michael is weighing the soul of Emperor Henry II

This mural dates from the middle of the 13th century and is considered to be one of the largest and most unusual murals on Gotland. The central part of the painting depicts Emperor Henry soul weighing. In one weighing bowl is the now-deceased emperor, in the second bowl all his sins are collected. The devils point with delight to these.

There is so much to look at in this murual! For example the devil riding on a monster. Or the devil on the far left with a diabolical extra face, placed on the stomach, adding to the eeriness. Also you can see two devils keep watch under the scales with the emperor in it, to prevent it from weighing the heaviest.

It is time to go outside and enjoy some more of the wonderful sunshine and blue skies. We hadn't planned our route in detail beforehand, so we figure out where to go to next along the way. So Åke is studying the map in detail to figure out the next part of our trip.

We are aiming to go to Hoburgen next and we need to keep a lookout for a little road sign saying "Vacker väg mot Hoburgen", which means "Beautiful road to Hoburgen". Just the name alone of this road promises a wonderful next leg of our biking tour! This route will lead us through the nature reserve of 'Husrygg' towards Hoburgen.

And the route does not disappoint! The road is beautiful and winding and leads us through some wonderful landscapes. It also leads us to the coast where we get the first views today over the calm blue water of the Baltic Sea.

stenmuseet Kettelvik

We continue biking along the coast, taking in the wonderful fresh sea air. And somewhere in the distance we suddenly see some structures sticking up. It looks quite fascinating, but we have no clue what it could be. They seem rusty and some type of machines or working gear. We are getting very curious, what could this be so far away from all and hidden along this stretch of coast? This turns out to be the Kettelvik Stone Museum. I had no idea it was here, but such wonderful surprise. No need to say we made a stop here to take a closer look at it.

stenmuseet Kettelvik

The Kettelviks Stone museum is located in an old quarry of the former stonemason John Larsson. From the early 1930s until the 1980s, sandstone was quarried and processed in this quarry. The museum is actually a small open-air museum consisting of two buildings and various historical machines. The buildings were closed during our visit, but it was free to walk around the area and see the historical machines up close.

And I am always fascinated by historical rusty machines, so this was just my kind of place to be and explore. The company Gotlandsbrynet started to build up the museum in 1987 in order to preserve the historical equipment and objects.

Hoburgsgubben

We continue along the coast and get to one of Gotlands famous rauks, called Hoburgsgubben. We have cycled around 18 kilometers to get here, a trip worth every kilometer to make as there has been so much to see along route so far. Far more than I had expected!

The word "Gubben" means "Old man". And when standing at a certain angle, the rauk resembles a man's head; hence the name. Hmmm, I have to admit that I didn't do that, so I miss the "Old Man" effect in the photos ;-)

Hoburgsgubben is located on Hoburgen, as far south as you can get on Gotland. The 'old man' himself is made up of reef limestone that belongs to the Sund Reformation. The Sund Reformation was deposited during the late Ludlow and belongs to the very youngest bedrock on Gotland. The size of this rauk is quite impressive. If you look close at the photo above you can see a person sitting on the beach and she is totally dwarfed by the size of the rauk. The total structure is 35 meters in height.

Hoburgsgubben

Sundre church

We pass the medieval Sundre church, which has its own defence tower from the 12th century. The Romanesque church in Sundre was built from the beginning of the 13th century, following an older wooden church from the 12th century that had stood on the site until then. The first parts were the nave and the choir. The steeple was built around 1250 and it was not until 1870 that the sacristy was added.

Comfort system....?

Well it should be according to the text on the saddle, but....

Auch auch auch.... my bum hurts soooo much!!
Not that much comfort in my opinion ;-)

From the Hoburgsgubben we are going in an easterly direction to follow the coast on other side of the island. We passed Sundre church and Holmhäller Nature reserve. Small gravelroads lead us along another beautiful stretch of coastline.

But unfortunately the day is progressing quickly, and we need to set aim back to Burgsvik to return our bicycles. But the road back north to Burgsvik is equally enjoyable, leading us through more of the picturesque landscape of Gotland.

It has been such a wonderful relaxing day. Oh yes, my bum does hurt after bicycling roughly 45 kilometers, but that does only proof that I should bicycle a bit more often than I am doing nowadays. Next time around we probably take our own bicycles with us to Gotland, as that gives much more freedom which route to take. And there are so many possibilities on the island to explore by bike! And that there will be a "next time" is quite certain, Gotland is a wonderful island; it has stolen my heart! And I will absolutely return here for another wonderful relaxing week.