Våra få dagar i Göteborg

Let me start this post by giving a bit of background as to why I chose Gothenburg.

Back in 2003 I was living and working in London and had a job that paid pretty well and well enough that I could pay my bills and have money left over.

I decided that I wanted to go on my first ever holiday and for some reason Gothenburg stuck out as somewhere to go. I think it may have been because I knew some people who were Swedish and talked about it.

I looked into it and looked at getting around and how close the aiport was to the city and what there was to do.

I was ready to book it and somehow my trip to the USA took its place instead.

Gothenburg has always been on my bucket list from this time and I was going to go in 2018 but illness forced me to cancel that trip and I couldn\’t go.

Fast forward to June 2019 and I finally had the chance to go and I took the young un along with me.

It felt so good to finally be able to tick it off my list after 16 years.

We headed to the airport after Jason was done with work as our flight was at 20:15 and we wanted to make sure we were there in plenty of time to have something to eat too.

We got there and as we were walking through to departures I noticed something about our flight. I stopped and noticed that it had been delayed by about 90 minutes. There was nothing we could do so we went and had some BK (as is customary at the aiport you see) and then after that I looked into the bus transfer times and also looked into letting the hotel know we were going to be late as reception would have been closed.

We finally landed at 01:00 on the Saturday morning and had to get some cash out and get a taxi into the city centre. Thankfully they had a fixed price of 400SEK (about £34). We got the taxi and got to the hotel around 02:00 and it was straight to sleep as it had been a long day for both of us.

We didn\’t really have any plans of what we wanted to do whilst we were there other than the sightseeing bus and the paddan tour.

Map

Lorensbergsgatan 6, 411 36 Göteborg, Sweden
Saturday

Once we had slept enough we got up and went out exploring the city to see what was there. We went to the tram and then headed down to where we saw a church and then got off and had a wander around.
We went into the church and I wasn\’t sure what to expect. The church was not like any others I have seen and it wasn\’t in any way ostentatious and was fairly reserved.
Once we were done there, we had a wander around the side streets and a look in some of the shops and then headed to find some food as we were both hungry.
Once we had our food, we went to look for a church I had found on Instagram that looked like it would be worth a visit. Turns out I was wrong and it was closed for renovation. At least I got my steps in for the day! I then took the young un back to the hotel (as he is shamefully bad at directions) and dropped him off whilst I went out on the tram to find somewhere to wander whilst he made some calls and had some kip.
I managed to find a cemetery and had a wander round there for about an hour before heading back to the hotel to see if sleeping beauty was awake or not – I think he was but he was on the phone so I went out to have a bit more of a wander until he was done so we could figure out what time we were going to get the bus and boat tour on the Sunday.
Below are some of the pictures from today.
Sunday

Before we went out to Gothenburg, we decided that on the Sunday we would do some sightseeing on the bus and the boat as we knew we would be too tired on the Saturday (excluding any delays) to do anything but slowly wander around.
We got up and had some breakfast before heading out to the place that the sightseeing bus picked up. We got on the bus and were on it for about 60-90 minutes and both decided that there wasn\’t really anywhere that we wanted to go back to again so decided that we would find some food and drink and then head to a park so Jason could do some sun bathing and try to get a tan (because he couldn\’t let me be the one with a better tan now could he!).
He had described where he wanted and I kind of had an idea of where the park was (truth be told, I pretty much knew as I had scouted out a church nearby the day before when I went tram surfing). I took us there (minus getting on the wrong tram and going round in a circle – but that\’s for another day) and he said it was the park he was thinking about (like I didn\’t know this – my geography is a million times better than his so I don\’t know why he had the cheek to doubt me) and he took us on a trek and a hike until he found somewhere he could sunbathe. I let him be and I went and sat on a bench as there was no way I was going to be lying on the ground.
After about an hour he decided he had done enough and wanted a drink and was hungry so we went and found something quick to eat and drink before we headed for the boat tour.
Once we were back in the city centre I decided to ask when the last tour was and it was a good job I did as it was just about half an hour before it left. We then wandered around and got on the boat and had an 80 minute jaunt around the river and out into the sea. There were some pretty low bridges and at one point we practically had to sit on the bottom of the paddan to get under the bridge.
We both decided that the highlight of that day was the paddan trip and that the sightseeing bus wasn\’t worth it. We did it because it was included in the cost of the Gothenburg Card.
As per, I took him back to the hotel and left him whilst I went and did some more wandering around. I got on a tram and found somewhere to call Jamie and see how she was. I went back to the hotel to pick up his royal highness and we went and had a McDonald\’s and then I decided I wanted to see some of the places further up so I made him walk up with me and we were there for about half an hour before we headed back to the hotel to sleep for the night.
Below are some pictures from today.
Monday

Today was our last day here and we had breakfast and left our bags in the hotel and had a wander into the city centre just to kill some time.
I was desperate for the loo so was walking fast and I think the young un had a hard time keeping up with me. I walked and walked until I was at an end and had to turn around.
I then sat down for a bit as the urge to use the loo had passed but my heel was killing. Once I was sufficiently recovered, we went to where there was a toilet to use. The funniest (for me but not Jason) thing happened on our way there. Jason is not a fan of tramlines to the point of giving him anxiety. He decided to cross once a tram was at the stop and he thought there was enough room in the middle to wait for the other tram to pass. He realised there wasn\’t and quickly ran back to the side I was on after suffering a near coronary. I called his name before he crossed but he didn\’t hear me as he was in anxiety mode.
I couldn\’t help but laugh at him (he had ticked me off so I thought it served him right. Haha) for getting himself to that point. Once he had calmed down, we went for some ice cream and sat by the river before heading back to the hotel to pick up our cases for the transfer bus to the airport.
Once at the airport, I found somewhere to sit where I could sit and watch out on the apron and taxiway and quite enjoyed it. I left him to his own devices. Not sure what he did – probably sleep knowing him.
We got back to Stansted and picked up the car and had some BK and then he dropped me at mine before heading back home himself.