I wonder of it is because Visby still has much of its old city center intact.
I've since learned that many of the cities I mentioned deliberately rebuilt after World War II in a way that tried to erase the imprints of the German Empire and the Nazis.
For example, the old Gdansk waterfront did not look like it does now before the war. But when they were able to rebuild - because it was completely flattened - they wanted to rebuild it to honor an older point in its hiistory.
Interesting! Visby, on the Swedish island of Gotland, was the center of all Hanseatic trade until about 1400, when the Holy Roman Empire had some kind of quarrel with the Danes and got kicked out. The city looks Medieval, though, and not at all like Amsterdam. I love it there. That was our Covid summer spot.
I wonder of it is because Visby still has much of its old city center intact.
I've since learned that many of the cities I mentioned deliberately rebuilt after World War II in a way that tried to erase the imprints of the German Empire and the Nazis.
For example, the old Gdansk waterfront did not look like it does now before the war. But when they were able to rebuild - because it was completely flattened - they wanted to rebuild it to honor an older point in its hiistory.
Interesting! Visby, on the Swedish island of Gotland, was the center of all Hanseatic trade until about 1400, when the Holy Roman Empire had some kind of quarrel with the Danes and got kicked out. The city looks Medieval, though, and not at all like Amsterdam. I love it there. That was our Covid summer spot.