On our last full day on Gotland, Flemming and I wanted to visit the southernmost part of the island.
Visit to Roma Abbey wasn’t planned, but we saw a sign on the road, and diverted from our route. A beautiful alley led us to the Abbey:
The front courtyard and the manor, known as Roma Kungsgård. It was built in 1733 for the Crown Estate.
Annexes today are rented out to artisan shops. In one of them, I bought some very nice handled warmers: a pair made of typical Gotland goatskin with fur, and another pair – crochet of a goat wool. Both weren’t expensive, and of a high quality.
The abbey was built in 1164 by monks from France.
During the Reformation (first half of the 16th century), the abbey was disbanded and its lands on Gotland confiscated by the Danish Crown around 1531 (as Gotland at the time belonged to Denmark). The abbey was converted into the seat of the Danish governor, and the buildings that no longer served any direct purpose were left to decay. After the Peace of Brömsebro in 1645, when Gotland became Swedish, it became the property of the Swedish Crown. In practice, the change of ownership meant few tangible changes for the estate. Towards the end of the 17th century, the Swedish Crown had put the land out for rent. In 1728 it befell the governor of Gotland to construct the manor house, where material from the ruined abbey was partially used.
During World War II, a military airfield was established nearby and the manor house together its annexes were used by the military up until the 1990’s. During this time the abbey suffered further neglect and damage.
One of the buildings was dedicated to pilgrimage and recommended to use for meditations:
There was Chapel of Permission (I don’t really know what it means) where visitors could leave a note asking for something. Presumably someone would collect those notes, and read them in a prayer so that it can be heard by God.
I think, many of the visitors misunderstood the meaning with this place, because their wishes were less than serious.
What we really adored there, was this ancient clock:
Unfortunately, no information was provided, but after spending some time around it, our guess was that it could show days, months, and some astronomical events.
After a break in the Abbey’s cafe, we continued south. When we were relatively close to Hoburgsgubben, our destination, a sign on the road recommended to take another road and promised scenic views. When we reached the turn, our jaws dropped – it was the most scenic road we’ve seen on Gotland:
People were driving slowly there; everybody wanted to enjoy the view and take pictures.
We went up and down the cliffs, and couldn’t believe the stunning beauty of that place…
Hoburgsgubben is a famous rauka, located on Hoburgen, as far south as you can get on Gotland. When standing at a certain angle, which is marked with a sign, the rauk resembles a man’s head. We didn’t manage to see it, but after seeing so many raukas, we din’t really care.
Rocks, wing, and sea…
We quickly agreed it was the most beautiful place on Gotland, we’ve seen:
It wasn’t easy to leave it, even after several hours there. On our way back home we made a stop for coffee and ice-cream at a road cafe that looked a bit festive:
At “home”, we delivered our car back. We wanted to get it washed, but realised the closest (and probably the only one on the island) car wash station was in Visby…
Last walk around the airbase… Inger’s Antonov AN-2, she told us so many fun stories about. Like taking it on a camping trip with her husband and 3 small kids, 5 bikes and tents… Inger’s name is on one side of the aircraft, and her husband’s – on the other:
Back to the hangar. The yellow arrow on the photo below points at the yellow entrance door to our 3-room suite, between the Viggen and Lansen wings:
We used our last evening on the island to prepare for departure next morning.