A breezy sunny day, high temperature reaching 26C.

We had already berthed by the time we awoke (again), and this morning when we opened our curtains we were confronted with the funnel of Silversea’s Silver Spirit berthed on the opposites side of the quay. This was Queen Victoria’s maiden visit to Visby where the cruise pier had only opened this year.

We had set the alarm in order to go up and have breakfast in the Queens Grill. M succumbed to a full English again whilst J had Blueberry pancakes this morning.

We went ashore after breakfast, and chose to take the shuttle bus into town. They said it would take 15 minutes, but it must have been no more than a mile along the shoreline to where we were dropped.

Rather than wander into the town straight away we walked along a path running by the waters edge to the botanical gardens first. These are an open public space, so not overly spectacular, but pleasant and with an abundance of roses which also appeared often in town later on covering a lot of the old townhouses.

We continued our walk meandering through the cobbled streets of Visby which was all very quaint and pleasant. We found our way to the cathedral, and then onto the hillside behind it for a vista over the town and out over the Baltic.

We continued to wander through the winding streets slowly heading back towards the ship. It was a nice low key city to visit and very picturesque.

We were back onboard in time to have lunch in the Queens Grill. M had Salmon with Wasabi mayonnaise to start (very nice), followed by a Thai Chicken Curry, whilst J started with Minestrone soup, followed by the Salmon.

We spent the early part of the afternoon on the balcony. We were facing north so it wasn’t particularly warm. The Silver Spirit berthed next to us left at about 2.30pm which opened the view up a bit more so we could see the town of Visby, but also a few ferries arriving/departing the busy port of Visby. The island of Gotland is supposedly a major holiday destination for the swedes from the mainland and Germans, so it was perhaps not surprising the number of ferries coming and going through the day.

We went to the gym as Queen Victoria sailed from Visby and burnt off a few calories – feeling a bit more virtuous for having done so, and ready for the next meal!

For dinner this evening M had a Beetroot marinated salmon to start, followed by Lobster Thermidor (which was excellent). J had Duck consomme followed by a vegetarian scotch egg with kale and asparagus. We shared a chocolate volcano cake (very chocolatie) for desert.

We also started our 2nd bottle of port for the trip – this time a 1970 vintage which seemed to be smoother than the first bottle we had on its first day of opening – we will enjoy that over the next few evenings.

We lost an hours Sleep tonight to adjust to Helsinki time, so we did not venture to any of the bars this evening.