Gothenburg, Sweden

Have you ever gone to sleep in Oslo, Norway and waked up in Gothenburg, Sweden? Me neither, at least not until last night and this morning.

So we came into port around breakfast time this morning and we've had the entire day to explore and enjoy the city. However, a whole day on foot is a lot for these oldies so we settled for a nice breakfast, then catching the shuttle from the port into the city. We still did a lot of walking - probably 3 miles in all, and needless to say this old gal was pooped by the time we returned to the ship for lunch.

The shuttle let Oceania passengers off at a certain point downtown. That also served as a pickup point and it ran every 30 minutes. Being a Saturday morning, it was a good time to get out because the streets were not crowded. 

The drop off point was a square with the statue of King Gustavus Adolphus who founded Gothenburg in 1621. He was the king once known as "The Lion of the North". There is a lot of history in this area, one building dating back to 1654. The downtown are around the port looked to be quite old and not nearly as clean as every other city we've been in.

 

King Gustavus Adolphus

Gothenburg Museum

one of many pairs of doors on Gothenburg Museum

Looking at the city map, we decided to check out the Fish Church and fish market. As it turned out, the Fish Church and fish market were one and the same. It's a market and eatery that gets its name because of its resemblance to a church. The outside architecture somewhat resembles a church with its arched windows, but I didn't get the impression that it had actually been one.

 

entrance to Fish Church

view from upper level - Fish Church

crayfish & crab claws

baby octopus

Fish Church floating seating area (not open)

 

From there, we made our way to the Haga area which is a quaint pedestrian street with "Governor's houses" dating from the late 19th century. We considered visited the Skansen Kronan, a fortress equipped with 23 (never used) cannons but ruled against it after we saw how much extra walking would be involved.

By this time, the streets were beginning to get more crowded with locals and visitors enjoying bakery goods and coffee at the outdoor cafes (they call this "fika" which simply means having a coffee or tea with a snack.) Like Americans, it seems the Swedes take their coffee seriously. Of course I snapped a lot of pictures and also enjoyed an iced coffee dulce de leche in a tiny Argentine eatery while visiting with the barista about her home country. 

 

cafes spill out of doors

 

Haga area

yum!

 

bakery spills out into the street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

charming cobblestone but watch your step!

everything is more $$ than in U.S.

     
      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

much graffiti, but most is artful (note Swedish wooden horse "dala horse")

 

 I also snapped a few photos of fun things that caught my eye.

cookie cutters galore (so many!)

 

carved designs in rolling pins

 

traditional Swedish wooden clogs

handcrafted wooden clogs made here since 1933

children's sizes

I could have browsed a lot longer but Ronnie can only shop so long. ;) So we headed back to our pick up point where the bus took us and other Oceania passengers back to the port. Supposedly the high was 69 degrees today but I dressed too warmly and managed to work up a sweat by the time we made it back. We had lunch on the ship and then both took a nap!