FÃ¥rö – Gotland’s ‘sheep island’

FÃ¥rö literally means ‘sheep island’, and that is apt. It is a small island up on the north tip of Gotland, connected by a cute and free Albion-style ferry. Gotland is chill, but this is a place where island time is ADVANCED. It is famous as film director Ingmar Bergman’s favourite place, and there is a little museum about him there. There are gravel roads, farm paths, and cattle guards that don’t really seem to serve much purpose since sheep are running all over everywhere, including the beaches and parks. It is also home to ‘rauk’ or sea stacks, which are tall rocks along the seashore of geological interest, and artistic interest to Bergman.

FÃ¥rö is hard to say for anglophones who don’t know the Swedish vowels – but if you say it like ‘Fah-Row’ no one will know what you are talking about. It sounds more like ‘Fohr-euhhhhh’. We spent zero time in formal museums, instead taking in the chill back roads, charming farm houses and windmills, and one very quirky roadside diner that was like a trapped-in-time bizzaro-world 1950s roackabilly clubhouse. The cars were not trapped-in-time, they felt all the weather of the interceding years. Still, this spot had some of the nicest galettes de sarassin (buckwheat crêpes, as seen in the Gotland food post) that I have had (looks like a trip to Normandy is in order).