Obscure Place of the Month: Vibble & Visby, Sweden

Spunky, vivacious, clever, gravity-defying braids - what's not to love about Pippi Longstocking? The stories of her adventures have delighted children for generations. Created by author Astrid Lindgren in the early 1940s, the books have been adapted many times for film and television.

Fans of Pippi will remember that she lives with her monkey and horse in Villa Villekulla. The brightly colored house used for Villa Villekulla in the Swedish TV adaptation is still standing in Vibble, a small town on the Swedish island of Gotland. The house is the main source of tourism for the town.

Photo by Christian Koehn on Wikimedia Commons

The house originally stood in Visby, a large town a few kilometers north of Vibble, but was relocated in the 70s. The garden area where filming took place in Visby can also be visited.

Visby is somewhat of a tourist attraction itself as it is a UNESCO Heritage site with one of the best preserved medieval cities in Scandinavia. Every summer the town hosts a medieval festival with jousts, music and pagentry. The proximity to the coast also attracts a lot of summer tourists to Visby and Vibble.

 

A street in Visby - Photo by vauvau on Flickr

For more information, you can check on the official Gotland Tourism site here.