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Visby City Walls
After Carcassonne in southwest France, Visby lays claim to the most important and best-preserved medieval city walls in all of Europe. The town’s citizens began building the original six-meter-high (20-foot) fortified walls in the 13th century, and they eventually grew to over 11 meters (36 feet). Today, the wall still stretches for 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles). Walk in its shadow and explore the 36 intact medieval towers as well as numerous gateways. The North Gate offers the most impressive view of the wall, providing a sense of its enormous scale. St. Mary’s Cathedral, a few blocks inland, also dates to the 13th century.
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Gotland Museum
Bronze Age stones and jewelry, Viking artifacts, pre-Viking picture stones and ancient coins are among the fascinating items on display at this excellent museum in Visby. But the highlight is the Spillings Hoard—a collection of Viking treasure discovered on the north of the island in 1999. The largest Viking treasure cache ever found, with 67 kilograms (148 pounds) of silver coins and other items and 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of brass ones, it will take your breath away. After viewing the exhibits, visit the Fornsalen Café, the museum's lunch-only restaurant serving salads, coffee and cake.
Visby
Day Trip to Visby, Gotland
Officially a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, the medieval town of Visby, on the southeastern island of Gotland, is a well-preserved example of a European Hanseatic League trading route from the 12th to the 14th century.
You'll see a great deal of history here, from well-preserved fortresses, defense walls, wooden houses, and medieval church ruins to the Gotland Historical Museum—housing artifacts like engraved steles, axes, daggers, sickles, swords and spears, stones, skeletons, Viking silver, and more, all from the Stone Age, Middle, Bronze, Viking, and Medieval Ages
Today, Visby and the island of Gotland remain a top tourist destination for Swedes.
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