colesjoholm
- Jun 29, 2023
- 2 min read

Visby, Sweden - a 2nd homecoming

Updated: Sep 1, 2023

Stepping foot on countries of your heritage is special. My Norwegian and Swedish blood feels right at home. Although I've avoided the DNA tests...I believe Brit, Swedish, Norwegian roots is the core of my lineage.

Visby, Sweden is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site. I don't know exactly how many I'll visit on this trip, but it's been more than I anticipated.

The city of Visby, on the island of Gotland has a population of ~25,000 residents. The wall that circles the city was likely built in the 12th and 13th Centuries.

Our visit stopped during Almedalen Week, which "With speeches, seminars and other political activities, it is considered to be the most important forum in Swedish politics. During the week, representatives from the major political parties in Sweden take turns to make speeches in Almedalen.".

It's was bustling and an interesting experience. I definitely tucked the 200-600mm lense away during the walk nearest the event. I didn't want ANY trouble of questioning what I was doing, so I played tourist with my normal tourist lense, and the photos turned out so well in my opinion.

There was also a Pride Parade, but lunch of a Limoncello Spritz and an amazing Summer salad and the shade got the best of me, so I didn't capture any of the parade this time.

Tomorrow is Tallinn, Estonia. I've never been so close to war. Bordering Russia and Latvia, it should be an interesting day. But for tonight, enjoy the roses like the Visby locals... there's always time to stop and smell the roses, right?

-Cole from Colorado

Wandering, but not lost.