Fårö (Gotland Sweden) is an island on the northern tip of Gotland and is easily reached by ferry. While it is only about 5 minutes by ferry, the island is very different to the rest of Gotland. Faro is the famous home of the late Ingmar Bergman; world famous Swedish movie director, writer and producer of film, stage and television. Fårö is also famous for the Raukar (limestone sea-stacks) that line the north coast that provide an amazing site and are beautifully complimented by the man-made cairns. Gotland is easily reached by plane or there is a car ferry running from mainland Sweden (Nynäshamn or Oskarshamn) to Gotland (Visby)

Gotland is an amazing Swedish island situated in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland with a population of around 60,000. The county Gotlands län is made up of the main island and several smaller ones including Fårön, Gotska Sandön, and Karlsö.  On highlight (of many) is the walled capital of Visby...  truly picture postcard stuff.

Gotland is a very popular summer holiday destination  and if you are interested in history it should be put high on your list of places to visit and if you like churches there are a few you can visit, there are still 90 that can be visited. A must visit place!

Such is Ingmar Bergman’s connection to Faro and his contribution to the performing arts that his legacy is commemorated every year on the island during Bergman Week.

The Raukar have formed of many millennia as a result of the softer sandstone being eroded by the wind, rain and sea while the more resilient limestone remains intact; forming the sea-stacks that are up to 12 metres tall and provide a unique, stack and beautiful landscape, especially at sunset.

Over the years, people have started forming smaller stone cairns that provide a wonderful contrast to the larger limestone formations. One very famous Raukar is the Hoburg Raukar which, if viewed from a certain angle looks like the had or face of an old man.

There are many clichés about Sweden (meatballs, herring, Vikings and Volvos and ABBA) and when one visits Sverige some clichés are so welcoming; the smell of pine forests, picking berries and even Knäckebröd (crisp bread) will others Surströmming (fermented fish) are not so initially enticing to the non-swedish.

The very beautiful Nordic country of Sweden lies to the north of continental Europe on the Scandinavian Peninsular (with Norway and Finland being the other two countries occupying the peninsular. Sweden, a constitutional monarchy, is the 3rd largest country of the EU and with only 9+ million people means it has one of the lowest population densities with about 85% of its population living in urban areas.