Highlights of the Viking Homelands

This morning we drive to Jelling, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites in Denmark. The visible monuments lie in the centre of the village but continuing archaeological work has revealed that they lay within a much larger enclosure. We will see Gorm’s Stone and Harald’s Stone, both decorated and inscribed with runes and with two substantial burial mounds with a church between them. The north mound was found to contain a wooden burial chamber when excavated and may have been the grave of King Gorm the Old. The Kongernes Jelling Visitor Centre provides a splendid view of the whole monument complex from its roof terrace.

We travel west to visit the famous Ladby ship burial which has been preserved in situ beneath a reconstructed mound. Nothing of the timber has survived, but like Sutton Hoo, the clenching rivets remained in place, with an impression in the earth of the planking. The burial had been plundered but the skeletons of eleven horses, three or four dogs and many other grave goods escaped the robbers. It is thought to have been a rowing boat for 32 oarsmen, and dates to about 850-950 AD. We conclude our visit with the Ladby Museum before we cross the Great Belt Bridge to Zeeland and our site visit at Trelleborg. Here we see the ring fortress, one of a number of extraordinary, well-planned circular forts built at the time of King Harald Bluetooth in the 10^th Century. We end the day in Copenhagen.

This morning we visit Gammel Lejre, the site of a prosperous manor owned by the Danish crown in the Middle Ages. Its association with important literary material, including Beowulf, shows us that this was a particularly important Iron-age and Viking-period royal centre. We continue to Roskilde where the Viking Ship Museum displays one of the best-preserved groups of Viking period ships from the Scandinavian world. They were excavated from Roskilde fjord, and they survived because they were deliberately sunk to block access, presumably to the harbour here. There will be an opportunity to sail in a replica Viking ship. We also visit the cathedral, burial place of Danish royalty.

On our last morning in Denmark, we will visit the excellent National Museum in Copenhagen with prehistoric and Viking artefacts including the Gundestrup caludron, the Trundholm chariot, an amazing series of Bronze Age coffined burials and a magnificent Bronze Age lur (a long natural blowing horn). In the afternoon we take the ferry to Norway. Sailing out of Copenhagen we watch the beautiful scenery slip by before dinner and overnight on board.

We arrive in Oslo and after breakfast disembark and drive south to Tønsberg at the head of the Tønsbergfjorden. One of the oldest towns in Norway, it was founded c 871 AD and became an important trading centre. We will visit the Slottsfjellsmuseet, a small museum dedicated to the history of the area and includes the Klastad ship, which when excavated was found to be carrying a cargo of sharpening stones from Telemark, a Norwegian export for more than a thousand years. We continue to the Borre Burial Mounds and the Midgard Vikingsenter before returning to Oslo.

This morning we visit the Medieval Archaeological Park in Gamle Oslo. Recent excavations in this area have yielded a lot of new information about key architectural and societal developments between 1050 and 1537 AD. After lunch we return to the centre of Oslo to explore the History Museum which houses amid its Viking and early medieval wing, several magnificent Stave Church portals decorated with fantastical dragons and beasts. The rest of the day is yours to spend at leisure.

Leaving Norway this morning, we take the high-speed train east to Stockholm. This afternoon, we will take a walk around Gamle Stan, the Old Town which occupies the island of Stadsholmen. It is not a Viking Age town, since it dates from the 13^th century, but it retains its medieval street pattern with numerous narrow alleyways and staiths leading to the commercial waterfront.

Venturing out of the capital city we head to Anundshög, the largest royal burial mound in Sweden where standing stones are arranged to represent two ships and a rune stone. Next, we move to Gamla Uppsala to view three huge royal burial mounds that legend attributes to kings Aun, Egil and Adlis. The beautiful Gamla Uppsala kyrka (church) stands over the site of a great temple, where it is believed that sacrifices to the Norse gods Thor, Frey, and Odin took place. Legend and history intertwine as we visit tinghög (parliament hill) and the Gamla Uppsala Historical Centre, which displays the artifacts from the excavated mounds.

We take a boat to the island of Björkö (meaning ‘Birch Island’) to explore the UNESCO-listed Viking town of Birka. Founded in the year 750, it benefited from its strategic location and became an important Viking trading centre until 975, when Gotland and Sigtuna took over the Russia-Byzantine trade. A silver ring from a Viking-era grave in Birka is the first with Arabic inscription from that era to be found in Scandinavia’s centre. 700 people lived at Birka when it was at its largest, and 3,000 graves have been found.

Flight time permitting, we will visit the amazingly complex Vasa warship before we head to the airport for our flight home.