Gothenburg, aka "Yo-Te-Borey"

I had IPM two out of the three times we sailed to Gothenburg, which meant that I had to take full advantage of the one time that I was able to explore the city. That morning, George and I rose early, ate breakfast, and opted to walk into town instead of waiting for the shuttle bus. It was a beautiful day, and we figured that by the time the shuttle arrived, we would have made it by foot and figured out what we wanted to do.

The view on our walk marked the transition from the industrial port area into the well-developed, “pretty” part of town. Upon arriving at the main square, blossoming trees gave the impression that spring had finally come! The buildings were grandly built and spread out, with many benches and overhead lights hanging above plazas and sidewalks; I imagine the summers in Gothenburg are akin to warm evenings in Washington Square Park.

At least, this is what I thought. At this time, the streets were deserted because it was the week of Easter. George and I had gotten off so early that hardly anything was open, especially taking into consideration altered shop hours. We eventually found a pleasant coffee shop that did not consider Easter Week an excuse to deny people caffeine. There, we enjoyed some tea and coffee, used the toilet, and decided a nature excursion would be the best use of our time.

Gothenburg was gorgeous! The word “grand” kept coming to mind. There were beautiful lakes and parks everywhere, connected by wide, ornate bridges that had room for every kind of transportation. As the morning went on, I noticed the ratio of buses and bicycles was about equal to the number of cars on the road. Yay for alternative modes of transport!

I saw a small castle-type building on a hill and wanted to go to it, so up we went. It was a five minute climb with a beautiful, European, red-roofed panoramic view at the top. The masonry of the fort (I think it was a fort?) was super cool; it reminded me of a tiger.

From the hill, we continued on our way to the Botanical Gardens, by way of Residential Gothenburg. Some residential areas are not-so-nice in comparison to the touristy, civic areas of a town. My most recent example would be in Oslo, where I got a bit lost and ended up in an area mostly made up of run down apartment buildings. As far as I could tell, the quality of life in Gothenburg remains consistent all over the city. It was clean and quiet, with extremely organized city landscaping. I’m a fan.

We made it to the botanical gardens! What a lovely place! I’m adding it to my list of Optimal Northern European Date Locations, which will eventually be a blog post. Walking trails wiggled across sprawling lawns with many different types of trees and up into the hills of the gardens, leading to wherever. George and I took a trail into the “woodlands," a sun-dappled section of the park that had me thinking of all my favorite fairytales. Mid-conversation, George said, “It looks interesting that way we are going that way.” He led us up a rock stairway and to a vista point. Good shout, George!

Afterwards, we picked out way down and found ourselves walking in a dry, forest-y area with lots of low shrubbery and a few tall, skinny trees. At this point, we saw a snake! How cool is that? A Swedish snake sighting.

We then walked into a swampy landscape dotted with shades of new-growth green and some waxy-looking flowers. It was at this point that George and I began to think about getting back to the ship. We ended up exploring even more of Gothenburg, taking a park-filled route. The play structures in Sweden are crazy! So interactive, and risk-filled. If there were play structures like this in the US, there would be waivers for parents to sign before entering the enclosure. I saw a slide that was about 25 feet tall, a high-speed straight shot of pure fun. I really wanted to give it a whirl, but there were children in the way.

Thank you Gothenburg, for a lovely day!

SIDENOTE: Gothenburg in Swedish is completely different to how it is said in English, hence the title of this blog post.