It was an early start on Monday to catch the 09:05 flight to rainy Gothenburg. Henning couldn’t believe his luck, he was headed back to Scandinavia! We knew the rain wouldn’t dampen our spirits, though the forecast was showing almost constant rain while we were here.
For the trip we have bought new backpacks, which are matching (not embarrassing or predictable at all) and enormous. They are pretty heavy but very sturdy - my back doesn’t seem to mind it too much!
After a bus ride and a few tram stops (the trams are incredibly easy to navigate and use), we made it to the centre of Gothenburg.
It was lunchtime by now, so time to find sustenance. Barry’s spreadsheet told us to go to a cafe in the middle of the city called Ahlströms. We felt a bit out of place with our rucksacks but found somewhere to hide them and had the loveliest lunch to start the trip. Two smørrebrøds and two cardamom buns later and we were off to find our hotel.
We found that the tram we needed, which stops outside our hotel is actually not running due to roadworks, so we had to walk to a different stop with the rucksacks - my back now complained just a bit. I was stoic about it of course… afterwards we found out there is a tram replacement bus service running which is very reliable, so lesson learned!
We had made it to the Spar Hotel and our room was lovely and cosy. Perfect for a couple of nights. We soon headed back out though (sans rucksacks) to explore further.
We wandered through the famous shopping district of Haga, which is full of cute little antique shops and fancy clothes, then on to Skansen Kronan, which is basically a big battlement on top of a rare Swedish hill. It was a bit of a tough climb, as hills are my enemy, but the view from the top was lovely, you could almost see the whole city. Henning loved it but nearly blew away in the wind!
We then went on a big walk around the town, past a cathedral, along a pretty river and through the botanical gardens, where we missed getting to go inside the palm houses by 1 minute!
It was dinner time now, and next on the spreadsheet was Brisket & Friends, an American style barbecue place back in central Gothenburg. We chose this because we went somewhere similar in Copenhagen and we still talk about it now!
The food was great and I had the tastiest cocktail ever. My eyes were a bit too big for my belly and I couldn’t finish the mountain of potato salad I had ordered.
The day had come to an end and we were a very tired Barry and Ellie. The sun, however, wouldn’t fully set for another few hours. We tucked ourselves up in bed, looking forward to a theme park day at tomorrow. Our favourite!
Fun fact - Did you know that Gothenburg is currently celebrating it's 400th birthday?
Have you ever been to Gothenburg?
0%Yes!
0%Not yet!
I hope sweet Henning is enjoying his trip back home(ish)!