Gøteborg, known as Gothenburg  in English, is a Swedish town/city situated on the west coast of Sweden. The town is split in half, north and south, by a canal feeding inland from the North Sea.

My little and I visited this industrial-esque town from the 4th of February to the 6th of February. A weekend in Sweden, what a jettsetter lifestyle!

Jokes aside, this was a lovely visit. Our train left Oslo Central Station at 7AM. Seeing as all public transport was shut off for the night and wouldn’t start up until 6:30 in the morning, we opted to take a Taxi that just happened upon us by pure luck. With shoddy internet service, not a soul in sight, and a train to catch, Tom and I were a bit harried when we realized that the metro wasn’t operational at 6 in the morning! Fortune smiled upon us that morning and a Taxi appeared before, it was as if the Taxi driver just knew there were desperate souls wandering about in search of a ride to the city center. Luckily. we made it to the station 20 minutes before departure and were able to comfortably board the train considerably less stressed.

The journey south was 3 hours and 40 minutes with us arriving in Gothenburg at 10:40AM. Our check in at the Backpackers Gøteborg Hostel was not until 1400 so we just wandered around a bit.

Our first foray into the city was the Trädsgårdsföreningen, which was a 19th century park with a rose garden, woodland, sculptures, and a greenhouse with exotic palms/plants.

By this time we were able to get to our hostel and check in, promptly after which we went in search of sustenance as we were both starving.

Following the consumption of good handcrafted pizza (wink-wink), we went out for exploration. Our brief walk up the street found us at the foot of a steep climb to the Natural History Museum. Luck found us again because everyone under the age of 26 were allowed free entry to the museum! Score! This museum contained a large collection of preserved animals, insects and reptiles, as well as a geology exhibit.

After visiting the museum, we played at a nearby park for a bit, awesome play/exercise equipment. We also happened upon an observatory/tower/stronghold of some sort before heading back to the city center where I discovered a shop that sold milk tea, whereupon I was seen feasting my heart out on my beloved boba. Shortly after, we boarded a tram to get back to our hostel for some shut-eye, but alas ended up on the wrong tram and ended up in a sketchy area across the river/tributary-thing, from which we promptly got off the tram and boarded one that was heading back to the city center. From there, we finally got on the right train to get back to our hostel.

That night we played many games of cribbage, and even befriended a Spaniard at the hostel.

The next day, Sunday, we went to the Gothenburg Southern Archipelago by catching the ferry. This was a brisk type of day, most likely because the wind coming in from the ocean was a bit cold, seeing as the inland air was nicer. But the ferry was phenomenal, one of the ferries having a cafe on board!

We got off on the island of Donsö, walked around for a bit, did some boulder climbing, crossed the bridge onto Styrsö, caught the ferry to ride down to Vrångö, and rode back to the mainland, all within 3 hours! A fun excursion it was!

Once back on the large land mass, we went to Skansen Kronan, which is a hillside fortress and conference center with a panoramic view of the city. This fortress was located on a very, very steep hill, and thoroughly gave my leg muscles a workout. What joy! (insert sarcastic voice and eye-roll) Also, public restrooms were free! (unlike in Oslo, ugh)

We then did some more city exploration, much of which had a very industrial, grimy, colorless, and Scandinavian atmosphere. I imagine the emotionless feel of the city can be attributed to it being a sort of port-city, where shipments are bound to be a regular occurrence and efforts to vitalize the cityscape was not a priority. But what do I know, with my less than 48 hours of experience in Sweden.

We visited the very nice Taco Bar for dinner, where I had nachos and Tom had a burrito, ironically enough. That night we played more games of cribbage and befriended an American who was studying in Madrid, Spain, but was visiting Sweden for an indeterminate amount of time.

Monday morning saw us saying our goodbyes to Gothenburg and boarding our train back to Oslo!

I most definitely enjoyed my time in Sweden and would love to visit Stockholm at some point!