On a quiet field in Sweden, where winter still grips the earth and the first light of spring hesitates on the horizon, a stone once slept beneath the soil. For centuries it lay hidden, pressed down by time, until a plough struck something harder than ground. What emerged was not just rock, but a message. Runes carved deep into granite. Words that had waited a thousand years to be heard again.
And they did not speak of conquest.
Not of gold.
Not of glory.
They spoke of love.
When we think of Vikings, we imagine warriors crossing dark seas, ships cutting through icy waters, axes raised beneath northern skies. We see strength, courage, legend. But the runestones reveal another story. A quieter one. A more human one. They show us that beneath iron and leather beat hearts — hearts that longed, grieved, and loved as deeply as ours do today.
This Valentine’s Day, perhaps the most unexpected love letters in Europe are not written in ink — but carved in stone.
And perhaps the most unexpected Viking love story is not ancient at all — but happening now.
Stones as Letters to the Future
Between the 8th and 11th centuries, thousands of runestones were raised across Scandinavia. They were placed along roads, near farms, at gathering places — where people would pass and read them. They were public declarations, meant to endure.
To raise a runestone required effort, intention, and resources. It was not done lightly. When someone carved words into granite, it meant something was important enough to last beyond their lifetime.
Often, that “something” was love.
A husband honoring his wife. A mother remembering her son. Brothers mourning each other. Families expressing grief, pride, loyalty, and devotion.
Imagine standing before a freshly carved stone a thousand years ago. The runes sharp. The colors vivid. The names alive. The emotion still present in the air.
This is not cold archaeology.
It is a message from one heart to another.
“I Think of You. I Love You.”
Some inscriptions reveal something startling in its simplicity:
“I think of you. I love you.”
No mythic metaphor. No dramatic flourish. Just direct, human emotion.
The Vikings were not strangers to battle or hardship, but they were also not strangers to tenderness. To carve “I love you” into stone is not casual. It is a vow against forgetting.
It is a refusal to let time erase feeling.
And perhaps that is what love truly is — the desire to make something last.
A Viking’s Journey South
For most of my life, I walked northern landscapes. Sweden’s cold mornings. The long horizons. The wind across open water. I understood the Viking spirit — not as a warrior with a sword, but as a traveler. A seeker. Someone who does not stay where life grows silent.
The Vikings sailed east and south, along rivers, across seas, into lands that were unknown to them. They traded. They explored. They built connections.
They did not only conquer.
They connected.
And like them, I left the north.
Not with a longship — but with a quiet restlessness.
Not searching for gold — but searching for meaning.
And somewhere along the journey, in the mountains and cities of Bulgaria, I found something I did not expect.
I found love.
Love in Bulgaria
If the old Vikings carved their love into stone, I carved mine into a new landscape.
Bulgaria was not foreign in the way I imagined. It was ancient. Deep. Layered with history. Mountains that feel older than memory. Cities that carry scars and beauty side by side.
There, in a land once connected to Viking trade routes, I discovered that love does not recognize geography.
It does not care about latitude.
It does not ask where you were born.
It simply arrives.
To love across cultures is not unlike the Viking voyages. You must be brave enough to leave what is familiar. Humble enough to learn new rhythms. Strong enough to stand steady in something new.
And when it happens — when you meet someone whose presence shifts the direction of your life — you understand what those ancient runestones were truly about.
Not territory.
Not power.
But connection.
Love Beyond Borders
The runestones remind us that love was always more powerful than fear.
The Vikings traveled far beyond Scandinavia — into Eastern Europe, through river systems that linked north and south. They stood in lands that are now part of Bulgaria’s extended historical sphere. They were part of a network of movement, trade, and cultural exchange.
And today, centuries later, a man from the north can stand in Bulgaria and feel the same truth those ancient travelers must have felt:
Home is not always where you start.
Sometimes, it is where you love.
Love Stronger Than Time
This Valentine’s Day, I think of the runestones again.
The hands that carved them.
The hearts that inspired them.
The courage it took to say, publicly, “You matter.”
I did not carve my love into granite.
But I crossed borders for it.
I changed landscapes for it.
I allowed it to reshape my future.
The Vikings understood something profound: love is not weakness. It is strength. It is the force that makes memory endure. The force that makes a name worth carving into stone.
Warriors loved.
Travelers loved.
Families loved.
And today, a modern Viking from the north loves — in Bulgaria.
Love is older than history.
Stronger than stone.
And powerful enough to carry us across continents.
Perhaps that is the truest Viking legacy of all.
By Chris...
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