scandinavia’s saga isles
august 2027
dr mindy macleod
*** Preliminary Itinerary ***
Discover the picturesque islands of Scandinavia, from the legendary sinking island of Gotland to Viking villages and the imposing fortress castles of the Vasa Kingdom
OVERVIEW
Discover the Age of the Vikings, a time when Norse peoples populated the islands of modern-day Sweden and Denmark, engaging in conquests, colonisation and trade throughout much of Europe. On this tour, we explore four islands, each unique in character yet united by history and culture, forming a constellation of story and survival written in stone and saga. Journey from Bronze Age cairns to the Viking trading island of Birka, and enjoy the modern architecture, culinary delights and vibrant cultural life that characterise Bornholm, Öland and Gotland today.
The tour begins in Stockholm, where Viking treasures are displayed in the Swedish History Museum, and from where we cross to explore Sweden's first town on UNESCO-listed Birka. We board a ferry to Gotland and the medieval walled city of Visby to explore Bronze Age stone ship burial grounds, carved picture stones and ruined monasteries. We then travel to Kalmar to learn of the history of the Kalmar Union, which united three kingdoms under a single monarch. On Öland, a long-favoured summer destination of the Swedish royals, we uncover the island’s history with visits to Bronze and Iron Age forts, a preserved farming village, the remarkable Karlevi Runestone and the ruins of Borgholm Castle.
On the way to our overnight stay in Ystad, our tour leader introduces us to the inscriptions on the Björketorp Runestone, before we cross into the Danish island of Bornholm by ferry and arrive in the market town of Rønne. Here we visit the Bornholm Museum and travel to Hammerhus Castle, stronghold of the island's rulers for five hundred years, to discover the runestones scattered across the island.
After a farewell lunch in the pretty town of Svaneke, we board an evening ferry to Ystad for an overnight stay. The tour concludes at Copenhagen Airport.
TOUR LEADER
Dr Mindy MacLeod is an academic lecturer, author, translator and editor whose work centres on the languages, literatures and inscriptions of the Scandinavian world.
Mindy completed her PhD at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, where her prize-winning dissertation explored the conventions of runic writing across Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Mindy has studied in Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland and has worked at Uppsala University and Linnaeus University in Sweden. She has also lectured in Swedish, Old Norse, runology and linguistics at The University of Melbourne, Deakin University, and the University of Queensland.
Highlights
Follow Viking maritime routes, travelling by ferry between four unique islands steeped in Viking culture: Bornholm, Gotland and Oland
Visit the legendary Viking marketplace of Birka, a meeting of myth, art and archaeology
Get to know Gotland, the pearl of the Baltic Sea, rich in picture stones, runic inscriptions, prehistoric graves and medieval church murals
Enjoy a stay in Visby, a picturesque medieval town on the sea, still enclosed by its defensive walls
Experience Öland, the ‘Sunshine Island’, with its stone settings, windswept cliffs and windmills
Walk Bornholm’s rugged cliffs and explore its round churches, runic stones and ruined castles
Questions?
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