Gothenburg, Sweden

We left Norway behind and headed across the border to neighbouring Sweden which has twice the population of Norway at 10 million and is the largest Scandinavian country. Most the country is covered in lakes and forests that we saw as we went along…

Our first destination was Gothenburg which is the second largest city in Sweden where we stayed in a lovely apartment in a complex that was built in the 1940s and is so well kept. 

Gothenburg is located on the west coast and is Scandinavia’s largest port and gateway to the rest of the world for Sweden’s industry. It is a bit of a gritty feel to it, I think due to its’ industrial nature with one of the largest employers being the Volvo Car Company. However, it was a great city to explore on foot and with its’ excellent tram system…

The city was founded in 1603 by King Charles 1X because of its’ strategic location at the mouth of the Gota River giving access to the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the first settlers were Dutch and the city plan looks a lot like Amsterdam with many canals that exist today…

Statue of the King in one of the main squares…

 Haga is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Gothenburg being settled over 350 years ago. The pedestrian street Haga Nygata is lined with well preserved houses many in the characteristic Gothenburg style called “ “landshovdingehus” with one floor in brick and the rest in wood. Today they house shops and cafes.

Shopping seems to be very popular here and there were many pleasant pedestrian only shopping streets…

Gothenburg has lots of churches so we stopped by to have a look as their architecture is always interesting…

This church is the Haga Church opened in 1859…the wooden ceiling and white walls were quite stunning…

The Masthugg church built in 1914 is the most popular one in the city as it sits high above the city with great views and is built in the Nordic style, it was closed for renovations.

 While we were on the way here we got lost and ended up in another church on another hill, but when we went inside we realized this was no ordinary church…

There were people eating at tables in the back and others sleeping in the pews so we saw a person who looked like a guard and we inquired about it. He told us that the church was no longer feasible so there was a partnership between the congregation and a private company to turn it into a shelter where meals, a place to sleep and support was provided to the people who needed it. We thought what a wonderful use for a church! 

Another day we climbed many steps to reach the Skansen Tower which provides a great view of the city…

Skansen Kronan is a fortress built in 1698 to protect the city from Danish enemies, though it was never attacked and none of the guns fired. 

View from there looking down on the red roofs of the old town into the newer city…

Gothenburg is a very green city as well with lots of parks for people to enjoy. These photos were taken in the King’s Park that runs parallel to one of the long canals in the city centre.

There are also large Botanical Gardens, some of the oldest in Europe…

Some of the streetscapes we saw from the boat when we took a boat tour of the canals and harbour…

 Lots of canals so over 20 bridges, some being very low…

This is the large fish market called the Fish Church because of its’ design…

Some newer buildings on the waterfront… the first one is called the Lipstick House and in front of it is a refurbished ship which is now a hotel…

This one was colourful…

This apartment building looks like a castle and is right in the centre of the city high in a hill, it is quite attractive…

We passed by the ship yards which were once quite large as Gothenburg was known as a shipbuilding Center with up to 200 yards, now there are very few left…

We also passed the Karla tower which when completed will be the tallest building in Scandinavia at 73 stories, it will be a residential and commercial building. 

I always enjoy taking pictures of people doing their everyday things and these two women were enjoying a smoke by the canal as we passed…

Another day we took a few ferries out to the Gothenburg Archipelago which consists of 20 islands. We went to the Southern half which are car free…

Some of the islands we passed along the route…

This person has their own island…

Colourful houses on the rocks…

Many of these houses are summer homes but there are also permanent residents on some of the larger islands like Donsa which was one of our stops…

It has a very busy harbour and rows of fishing sheds behind the boats, all painted red, in fact it seems the sheds on all the islands are the same colour…

As the local residents got off the ferry they started up their golf carts as there are no cars on this island which has about 1500 people…

Donsa is connected to the next island Styso by a bridge so we walked from one town to the other to catch the ferry to the furtherest one…

The lilacs were out in bloom everywhere with this one being such a bright color…

Our last stop was Vrango which was a very beautiful island, very small but so well kept. Here the residents use wheel barrows to carry their things off the ferry…

Some of the houses…

This one is a very typical Swedish house both in architecture and colour…

Here we did a hike over the north section of the island, it was well marked with very few people, since Sweden has so many moose this sign was at the start of the trail, we didn’t see any though…

Lots of signs of new life as with this mother and her ducklings…

And this swan as well…

Lots of coastal views…

Some lunch on a sunny day, we both enjoyed this day out of the city…

We have found Sweden to be more affordable than Norway so we have enjoyed a few drinks in the sun…

This was at an Italian place where the owner found out we were from NL and told us he is waiting to go there. He has seen lots of the commercials and documentaries about the province and being a photographer hopes to get there some day.

Gothenburg also has some great food halls where we enjoyed a meal of Swedish meatballs made with wild deer and served with lingonberry sauce and potatoes…delicious! 

Overall we ended up enjoying Gothenburg more than we thought when we came out of the train station on a gray rainy day.  I had read that it is often seen as the poor cousin from the capital Stockholm but we think it is a city with a lot to offer. Now on to the capital to see how it compares to the other ones we have seen in this trip.