Swedish crayfish party today

Tonight we will be having a traditional Swedish crayfish party - with decorations and drinking songs - should be fun.

First we have to go to the museum. Gotland has a history of violence, poverty, prosperity and political fighting.

Gotland is a 3,140 km2 island in the Baltic sea, about 90 km from the Swedish coast and 130 km from the Estonian coast. It currently has about 58,003 inhabitants (20,000 in the main city, Visby). Gotland is a beautiful island and it receives about 500,000 visitors each year. Farming is also prevalent on the island. There are many small businesses; in fact, 99% of the businesses on Gotland employ fewer than 20 people.

It has been inhabited by people for somewhere between 8000 and 6000 years (depending on the source). Farming was the first business to develop and, by the Viking Age, Gotland was a major trade center in Northern Europe. About half of the 20,000 Viking Age silver coins found in Sweden were discovered on Gotland.

Gotland, initially an independent sovereign entity, fell under German rule in 1398, Danish rule in 1408, Swedish rule in 1645, Danish rule again in 1676, and ended up as part of Sweden in 1679, with a brief 23-day occupation by the Russians in 1808.

Interestingly, when Gotland fell under Swedish rule, it did so as the result of peace treaties, whereas other countries' means of obtaining it were generally not peaceful.

For dinner, Grace prepared a traditional Crayfish meal - with Crayfish [of course], pickled herring,salads, breads, cheeses, potato, cheese tart, the list goes on. We were joined by Grace's Australian friend, Sheona Urquhart [ex Neighbours star] and her family - Victorians, but they were okay still, [they were great fun really!].

Tomorrow we go to church in the morning then pack in the afternoon - ready to fly home on Monday.

Cheers,Read more