Visiting the City Center of Gothenburg [Part 1]

It seems like the north of Europe won't let me go. After a recent travel to Iceland, which was extensively documented in our 11-part travel series, the end of the year had me traveling to another northern country I hadn't visited previously: Sweden. It was actually one of those destinations that was easily obtainable from Bosnia and Herzegovina, with regular flights to Gothenburg departing from the city Tuzla. But it was only now that I booked that flight and started exploring Scandinavia. Though I did venture out to Norway, many years ago, this was my first time in Scandinavia in recent years.

In this travel series I will try to bring closer to you the two major cities of Sweden: Gothenburg, on the west side, and the capital city Stockholm, located in the east on the Baltic Sea. It's quite interesting to compare these two cities, since they have so many things in common, but are also very different from each other, both in terms of architecture and style as well as people and customs.

My best friend Selma and I made the trip in early December and while we visited Gothenburg together, venturing out to Stockholm was a solo trip for me (the first one since my little summer solo trip to Primosten). Of course this was very different then a few days spent on the Adriatic Sea.

This is only a part of our Sweden travel series

For the other parts click here

The first morning in Gothenburg had Selma and I exploring the city center of Gothenburg. After a quick glance at the Gothenburg Central Station (from which I would be departing to Stockholm just four days later), we ventured out to the square south on Drottningtorget street, where the beautiful Post Hotel is located (pictures above and two below). It was a former post office, but was transformed beautifully into a modern and stylish hotel. Inside you can see a old postal car, torn apart and displayed on the walls, as well as a vividly red post box.

Back outside we went to Brunnsparken square, where many bridges cross the canals of the Gothia river. Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At a key strategic location at the mouth of the Gothia river, where Scandinavia's largest drainage basin enters the sea, the Port of Gothenburg is now the largest port in the Nordic countries. In 2009, the city council launched a new logotype for Gothenburg. Since the name "G�teborg" contains the Swedish letter "�" the idea was to make the name more international and up to date by "turning" the "�" sideways. As of 2015, the name is spelled "Go:teborg" on a large number of signs in the city.

We visited on a relatively low key Friday morning. People were still at work mostly, which gave Selma and I enough opportunity to discover the city center. The modern center of Gothenburg is marked by two huge shopping malls: Nordstan in the north and Arkaden Galleria in the south. They form a modern gateway to the many pedestrian walking street named Kungsgatan.

At the biggest indoor market in town, Saluhallen, you find spices, coffee, cheese, fruit and other delicacies from all over the world. The Market Hall (Saluhallen) is home to around forty shops and places to eat. You will find lots of delicious produce here which will undoubtedly waken your hunger.

Next up in the city center is the Gothenburg Cathedral. It is the seat of the bishop of the diocese of Gothenburg in the Church of Sweden. As we were approaching it a nativity play was being held outisde, complete with donkey and camel. The church itself was inaugurated in 1633, replacing an older temporary church on the same location. The inside is very modest, the windows are not painted. There are mostly white and gold elements to be seen. Indeed, the Swedes are not pompous about religion. It's very low key and finding Christmas markets around town is a challenge.

Leaving the strict modern city center of Gothenburg we walked further southeast to the Gothia Towers, where we met up with Selmas cousin Zerina. She invited us in her home for these few days and also wanted to take us out for coffee and cake. The Gothia Towers are impressive and easily the only skyscrapers in the city. I will show them in another post better (and at night when the light up). Here you can see the view from the towers themselves. Far to the north in the next image, you can see the place we came from. It was quite the walk.

From up here you can see the remains of 19th Century architecture, the two city stadions, as well as Liseberg, a famous amusement park which we would visit at night. The food the the heaven23 is really great. We had apple pie with apple sorbet. The views of course are equally fascinating.