Midsommarafton in Gotland's capital Visby

Long ago, the Visby defensive walls encircled a city full of merchants and workers, even pirates and enemy soldiers some decades.

But these (summer) days, rosebushes instead encircle you, as does their alluring scent of quiet, gentle romance. Obviously, love is in the Midsommarafton air.

Many thoughts arose, mostly about flowers

SWEDISH LESSON

Midsommarafton

mid (trad.) = middle

sommar = summer

afton = eve

Make sure you stay an inordinate amount of time on the “ms” of sommar, like you’re stuck on a thought right in the middle of your word.

MIDSOMMARAFTON

This mid-summer eve is a Swedish celebration that takes place on the Friday evening closest to the shortest night of the year. That’s tonight!

And so the sun is shining longer on the flower-strewn fields, all gently swaying in a cooling June breeze.

Det går en vind över vindens ängar - Here travels a wind over the wind’s meadow

According to the legends, the magic of this short night helps unmarried girls picture their future husbands in their dreams. First however, they must collect seven different flowers at dusk in complete silence. These wild flowers are then put under their pillows and the girls are off into their motion-picture dreamland.

A bouquet for the van works also, but don’t sleep at the wheel!

Every swede picks flowers on Midsommarafton. The day’s magic is felt in many ways, some very simple, likes spending time in nature and enjoying the almost never ending evening. That of course, brings out the poet and singer out of many sensitive souls:

Och jag ska skriva en sommarvisa - And I will write a summer ballad 

Med sol och blomdoft i melodin - With sun and the scent of flowers in its melody

And is there a better setting for such a song than the Visby botanical gardens ?

Jag ville sjunga om Katarina - I wanted to sing about Katarina

Till träklangsflöjter och alcymbal - To the tune of wooden flutes and copper cymbals

This song “Visa vid vindens ängar” was written in 1966 by Swede Mats Paulsson, born in Linköping, just accross the water from Gotland. A great Swedish songwriter who lived to enjoy mid-summer eves all the way until his last in 2021.

Med åren blev hon en dröm en saga - But with the years she became a dream, a fairytale

En ensam vandrares sympati - A lonely wanderer’s comfort

As the poet puts it, ‘tis a bittersweet feeling every year that replaces the Midsommarafton cheer, as once it is passed, the days will get shorter and shorter. Which in Sweden is quite the challenge let me tell you.

Not for children though, they always find creative ways to entertain themselves.

By the way, would any eagle-eyed readers be able to figure out why the song footage is so non-sensical and shaky ?

Classic case of Paulsson being misheard as “pull some!”

Visby, Gotland - It's what they did, they were the HANSAAA

Songs about breakups are a blast. Thanks Miley Swift and co.

However the palpitating story of Visby, the capital of Gotland is just as compelling. And much like Miley Swift’s breakup songs, it’s a lot about money. Step back in time a millennium and learn more:

 

VISBY TRADING HUB

As you can see on the map, the island of Gotland is perfectly placed to be a North-European trade hub. And that’s just what it became around a thousand years ago, trading with German guilds or “hansas” and setting up a trading posts all the way to what is now Novgorod, a Kievan Rus’ principality.

From the East we've got timber

From the East we’ve got fur,

From the West we've got English cloth

Would you are for a cup of hot water?

Tea hadn’t been brought home by the Brits yet you see.

Started out in German Towns

Zusammen klappt es richtig gut

Partnerships in trade all round

Silver coins and fancy suits

Food and drink are as worthy trade ventures as fine clothes and bear skins:

We've got the very best Herring

What is that you can't hear? (best herring, not the best hearing)

We've got the very best Swedish Herring

Wash it out with this beer!

THE HANSA

THE Hansa is no ordinary hansa. It’s the big one, lobbying for free trade for its members all over the Baltic and North Seas. Visby is no longer in the driving seat and the unofficial capital of this union of cities is now Lübeck, in Germany. Visby’s era as main star is over, she’s now one of many:

Can you spot Visby ? hint: it’s an island

Gotland here was Batlic hub

but Lübeck is now Hansa Queen

And now for a part of the song actually about a breakup.

THE 1%

Something very odd happens when you have lots of money: you want more. I mean, back in those days anyway.

So the rich merchants, nobles and clergy in the capital were happy to see privileges afforded to the island’s peasants reduced over time. Their goods gradually became more taxed to be allowed to be traded with the rest of the Hansa.

Hard to imagine right ? RIGHT? (Anybody reading this from an office in the Cayman Islands?)

Of course this can lead to tensions. But what’s better that negotiations and sharing ? A WALL of course !

And so the great big Visby city walls were further developed over time, to protect themselves from the islanders!

Do you like specific dates ? I read in the local museum that: “The Hanseatic League underwent changes in the 1280s, when membership was restricted to towns only. This posed a problem for Gotland, since many farmers also took an active part in trading.”

“By decree of a Hanseatic convention in 1287, farmers were forced to travel to Visby to conduct trade. This later led to civil war on Gotland.”

Visby rallies to the club

The Gotland folk won't be so keen

When the Hansa taxes grows

On the goods brought from without

1288 it comes to blows (or Civil War as one might put it)

Build a wall to keep 'em out

But walled nit be nice to be together ?

THE DANES ARE HERE…

… to paint it red ! Let the peasants die instead !

When the feared Danish King Valdemar invaded in 1361, the city folk promptly closed the gates. Outside the walls, 1800 Gutes (inhabitants of Gotland) battled on and were slaughtered by the Danes. Then the gates were just as promptly opened to let the conquerors in.

Valdemar was a bit annoyed at this whole Hansa business you see, monopolies are no fun when you’re not playing.

Anyway, once in possession, he set up three huge beer barrels and informed the city fathers that if the barrels weren't filled with silver and gold within three days, he would turn his men loose to pillage and burn the town. To Valdemar's surprise, the barrels were filled before nightfall that very evening! They were really loaded you see.

To this day, every little Swede knows this story and the term Brandskattning.

Brand = fire

Skattning = taxing

Valdemar no mercy holds

Fill his barrels with churches' GOLD!

Where the gold at ?

Better prepare some coins to enter the city, trading your goods doesn’t come sheep!

PIRATES OF THE BALTIC SEA

The last verse is a word of warning to all planning a visit of the island’s capital during the late 14th century:

Russians, Germans & Gutes

Swedes and Danes in the City

Fear for your life and your goods

Pirates here have no mercy

Victual Brothers attack

Our ships disrupt our affairs

In 1394 no luck

The entire Island is theirs!

The victual brothers ! Originally a band of sailors and nobles who provided food and goods to blockaded regions, these pirates are now at the gates! And though the Hansa will go on for another couple of hundred years, it’s all downhill from there for Visby, once a thriving independent Baltic trading hub.

Basically the rest of its history goes: Teutonic knights fight off the pirates then sell the island to Valdemar’s daughter, queen Maggie I. It later becomes so run down its Hansa status is revoked, only to be later burned down by folks from Lübeck, oh the irony! All for a Danish throne dispute. What a shame. At least there’s parts of it left over still to sing around and visit.

But the Hansa will fight back

Changing sides as time goes by

Our cities have each other's back

Kind’a

Sort’a

Trade's our nack…

Seen better days, but St. Karin’s Cathedral on the town square’s still standing

Fårö - Bergman's Island

Fårö - pronouced ‘for return’ - without the turn. British pronunciation

 

Talking of turns, sometimes it’s nice to follow your instincts and take the ones that feel nice.

If you were to take a Swedish ferry to the island of Gotland,

and then immediately take a left turn,

you would after a bit of driving, arrive at a smaller ferry.

The shores of Fårö from the main island

Following your whims still, hopping on this småller ferry, you would then, miraculously and without even knowing it, as it turns out, arrive, as the sun sets, on the småll island… of Fårö.

Now before I share more pictures and such, I must point out it’s a strange place.

Strange in the loveliest of ways. Eery, quiet, soothing.

It’s no wonder Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman filmed, lived and died here. It’s a place for lovers of quaint light, quiet lulls, and quite long beaches with nothing to disturb you from your walks and thoughts.

Please enjoy this complimentary attempt at illustrating just that.

What was particularly nice about that moment was the ukulele singing in the wind. All the long high pitched notes you hear are the harmonics produced by the strings, vibrating in the strong Fårö gusts. It’s a natural whistling of sorts and everything you hear was filmed and recorded there and then. I hid the camera’s microphone in a scarf to protect it from the wind and put it at the base of the blue soprano, singing in the bicycle basket.

Now, having read an article about how to engage readers on a travel blog, please enjoy therefore my top 5 things to do on Fårö.

TOP 5 THINGS TO DO ON Fårö

1. rent some bikes

Yeah, rent some bikes. It’s a nice place to do so.

Get by by bike !

2. Take small paths

And somehow end up on what might be, in hindsight, some sort of reserve (WOOPS).

On Fårö for a while

3. Upset some birds

Because probably that’s their breeding ground, so turn around while shielding your family with a blue ukulele (sorry about that Fårö), but at the same time also notice a huge weird structure in the distance that even the locals know nothing about.

Walk by the conspira-sea

4. Instagram a uke in a boat

Take a picture of said ukulele in an old fisherman’s barge because that’ll look fire on social I suppose. Then forget to post it.

A ship off the old block

5. Reward yourself

Drive to a café and have FIKA.

Between the windmills and stoned walls

The light and hum of Gotland calls

Unless you’re hungry, famished I’d say

Then grab the motor, off to a café

All this adventuring won’t make you meeker

You just need to keep well fed

That’s why the Swedes have ‘FIKA’

“It’s our tea time” ‘s what they said

Have a cardamom bun

Wash it down with some coffee

Enjoy the low sun

Getting lower to be

Back up in the morn

For another fine day

For now it’s a yawn

And a rest come our way

BONUS Thing to do: Film some sheep

They were very cute.

Thanks for following the adventure, if you like it do share it. It really does make a difference in my life, for the project, if you do. Thanks.