Gothenburg is even nicer when the sun comes out.
The text I was looking for about Gothenburg says that Sweden’s second-largest city has always been in the shadow of its bigger brother: “While Stockholm is a posh man sipping champagne for everyone to see at a ritzy bar, Gothenburg is a wild rebel child heading out to underground raves in a pair of jeans and some converse sneakers.”
My stay here is a little more perfunctory than I’d perhaps like as it’s really just a stop-over with somewhere to work for a day. My day was mostly full so I spent it in my little hotel room (without windows this time) but had a couple of opportunities to go outside and look at things.
My teeny-tiny hostel is just a short walk from the Haga district, Gothenburg’s first suburb and a colourful area made up of traditional wood buildings and cobbled streets and home to the Skansen Kronan. The weather was really kind and I was really happy to be out and about under blue skies and sunshine under which I found a new haven of tat emporia that I hadn’t come across last time I was here. I decided against getting any more because I’m not entirely sure that I need another Gothenburg fridge magnet, even if I have managed to crack the plastic on the last one by dropping it.
After a gentle stroll past the colourful buildings and comfy-looking café terraces, I looked around the Hagakyrkan, perhaps more quickly than it deserved. It was a peaceful contrast to the bustling outside world around it, and the chancel is another colourful magnificence, much like the paris around it. The church opened in 1859 and is the church for — continuing a theme — Sweden’s smallest parish.
I consumed the remains of yesterday’s pasta salad at a picnic table on the summit next to the Skansen Kronan and enjoyed the view, even if the breeze was quite bracing. I deserved a sit down because the walk up to the tower from the church was more vigorous than I’d expected as time was marching on and I needed to be back for my afternoon lessons.
By the time I emerged from my windowless abode a second time, there was a snow storm, so my evening plans to wander round the port were hastily abandoned, although I managed a quick Stig Sout in The Old Beefeater Inn where they are a most friendly lot.
