Rute Stenugnsbageri

The New York Times recently featured a travel article about Gotland.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/travel/25Next.html

One of the places mentioned was the Stenugnsbageri (Stone Oven Bakery) in Rute. Chuck and I had lunch there with Ingvor and Christer. It was a very warm day, but we enjoyed our sandwich and rhubarb dessert at a nice table in a shady spot.

This labyrinth was in front of the bakery.

Rauks, Caves and Cliffs - Ancient Coral Reefs

After the weight of the ice age glaciers receded, Gotland has raised up from the sea. The limestone that makes up the island has eroded at different rates. Coral reef limestone was the hardest, so remnants of those Baltic reefs remain as rauks, cliffs and caves. This rauk was near Lickershamn, north of Visby. Ingvor noted that it has the typical Swedish potato nose. After that we could see profiles in many of the rauks.

This is Chuck in front of Jungfru rauk at Lickershamn. It is about 12 meters high, and 20 meters above Baltic sea level. Translated from the website link: The "Maiden" rauk has gotten its name after the tragic story about the Maiden Öllegard and her beloved Helge, which ended with them throwing themselves into the sea. (Which reminds me of a pun: She threatened to jump off the cliff, but it was only a bluff.)
In June, Andrea, Haylie and I toured Lummelunda cave. This is the photo of the original cave opening, which only skinny kids could crawl into. Since then, they have built an opening for tourists (and grandmothers), and an interpretive center. They showed this video before we went into the cave, about the three boys who discovered it.

We took a nice hike at Högklint, just south of Visby, where Haylie and I explored a shallow cave.

Burgsvik Limestone

Sundre, in southern Gotland, is the location of a limestone quarry, rich in fossils. It is used for floors, window sills, table tops, sculptures, counter tops, patios. The limestone and sandstones come from the Burgsvik beds, located near the town of Burgsvik. Here is a palm sized chunk of limestone that shows some of the fossils: coral, sea lilies, sponges, shells. Some of the layers have a pink color to them.

The quarry at Sundre.The blocks of limestone are sawed into slices with diamond tipped sawblades, lots of water, and very slow progress. Some of the limestone after slicing, but before polishing or cutting to size.

Fika - Swedish noun and verb meaning coffee break

l-r: Stefan, Andrea, Haylie, Göran, Anita, Taryn

Morning and afternoon coffee breaks (fika) in Sweden are an important part of daily life. Gotland in summer has so many wonderful outdoor settings to fika. We stopped at the parish farm at Vamlingbo in southern Gotland, which now features a museum about Gotland nature, an exhibition about the Baltic Sea, an art gallery of Lars Jonsson, and a cafe.

The church is from the 1200's, the parish manor house is from the 1700's. The red arrow indicates Vamlingbo parish.

The website for Vamlingbo Prästgården (parish farm) is found here:

http://www.vamlingboprastgard.se/

The painter Lars Jonsson has exhibited his paintings at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.

Haylie gungar. (Haylie swings.)

Haylie was out swinging on her new swing last weekend at their building lot. Grandpa wishes he was there giving her an underdog push. Andrea tells us the shed in the background will be Grandma and Grandpa's future "in-laws" cabin, with bunk beds in it - bunkbeds being a long running joke from a trip we took with them through southern Sweden, to Berlin, Germany for a wedding. Chuck and I ended up sleeping in bunkbeds at a couple different places on our trip.

Salmbär, Blue raspberries

Salmbärssylt (jam) is the authentic topping for the Gotland Pancake. It's also called blåhallon (blue raspberry) and they grow like wild raspberries do, on the island of Gotland. Latin name: Rubus caesius.

No wonder Donovan was mad about Saffron!

Gotland has a special dessert called a Saffron Pancake. We've eaten it several times when we've been there. I'd never used saffron, and was shocked when .06 of an ounce cost about $16 at the store. I looked at the little informational label under the saffron on the spice shelf there. It showed that it works out to over $200 a pound. Uff-da! Other requirements are rice pudding, whip cream (of course!) and salmbärssylt - a special berry that grows on Gotland on bushes. I received a jar of that for Christmas, so at least I had that.

Saffron is the dried stigma (receives pollen) of a crocus flower. The saffron I bought is called Spanish saffron. I only had to use about $5 worth of saffron for the recipe, which makes enough dessert for 10 people.