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Saturday, July 18th
Gothenburg
Dan and Julie’s house was an oasis of comfort and gardens. We were given a spare bed in the loft over the garage and we could come and go as we liked. There were two beautiful cats that roamed the property and were friendly to us strangers. Much to my enjoyment there was a thunderstorm overnight with a bit of rain – it seems like ages since I’ve experienced a good rolling thunder!
The plan today was to take the train into Gothenburg and explore the city. We hadn’t done any pre-planning (typical for us and city walks) – whatever we found, it would be a surprise!
Waiting for the train
It was less than a 20 minute train ride and we were in the center of Gothenburg. Ok, now what? We did what we usually do and headed in “a direction” to see what we could see. We ended up doing this for about eight hours – it was a lot of walking and a lot of seeing!
Children’s area inside the main train station
Moody skies
Surprising rock outcroppings throughout the city
Definitely a port city
The stormy weather from last night continued today, with quick changes between cheerful sunshine and torrential downpours. We did our best to be inside a shop when the rains came around, but I admit that I didn’t really care as the rain felt so good.
Lots of nice planters throughout the city
An amazing bookstore!
This guy needs a traffic cone on his head!
The old Market Building (Saluhallen) was, typical for old trading port cities, full of interesting fresh food counters and restaurants. We sat down at Salut for lunch, where I had the legitimately best Swedish meatballs I’ve ever had, and Dan had some excellent fresh mussels.
Photo of the old market it in its trading heyday
And while our meanderings were mostly unstructured, Dan did have an interest in visiting the Maritime Museum (and Aquarium!). It was at the far end of the city, but we eventually made our way there.
More rocks
Note the completely enclosed garden area between the buildings
XXXX I’ll eventually add a link here to the Maritime Museum (and Aquarium!). XXXX
Historic buildings near the museum
Drying off after another rain shower
And then we stumbled upon the Masthugge Kyrka – it was so unique, easily one of the more unusual churches I’ve been inside.
The interior made me feel like I was in a ship
Wanting to take a break from all of our walking, we stopped by the convenient Hops Restaurang & Bar for a drink. Then we meet Benedict. Or, more accurately, we met Benedict’s dog, which lead to us meeting Benedict. He was an older gentleman who lived in the neighborhood and seemed pleased to chat with us for a while. There are no photos of the dog, but she was quite content to relax at Benedict’s feet the entire time.
The Haga neighborhood – very hip! I didn’t take pictures of the hordes of people on the main thoroughfare
Once the beers were done we got up to meander some more. It was getting late in the day – should we eat in town? Or were Dan and Julie waiting for us? Then I realized that we were relatively close to a restaurant that Swedish Dan had recommended to us: Mexikanska Monarkin. I don’t get good Mexican very often, so I was excited to stick around and check it out. I sent a quick message to Dan to let him know that we wouldn’t be back for dinner, just in case there were plans I wasn’t aware of.
The old corset factory across the street from the Mexican restaurant
The meal was good. Not just “good”, but “really good”. It is just a tiny little place and we sat outside to take advantage of the fresh air and clearing skies. Our server was very friendly and chipper, and the food was delicious.
After the meal we meandered in a more orderly manner back towards the train station. When we got there we found that we had just missed a connection, so we killed some time at another marina while we waited for the next train to arrive.
Cutie at the marina
We finally got back on the train and returned to our loft. It was much later than I had anticipated returning but it had been a great day.
Main train station
Oh, and it is Saturday! There is a story that the Swedes love their sweets, but only on Saturdays. They even have a word for it: “lördagsgodis”. But it is a tragic story in how it came to be, based on some immoral experiments done by the government back in the 1950s. Almost every grocery store we visited had at least some sort of candy display, some larger than others. This one was the king of displays.
Candy display for lördagsgodis
