Gothenburg, Sweden - Proud Home of VolvoSep 1, 2014
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The beautiful Masthuggs Church
A close-up
overlooking Gothenburg
On the west coast, this is Sweden's second largest city and proud home to Volvo. It was founded by King Gustavus Adolphus in 1621 and is situated at the mouth of the Gota River. It is the largest port in Scandinavia and we were anchored at what appeared to be a very large cargo area.
Since our time in port was relatively short, we opted for a leisurely tour. There's a lot of Old World charm here and our first stop was at the Masthuggs Church. Perched high on a hill and built in 1914, there's a glorious view of Gothenburg. To get even a marginal picture of the 203-foot tower, we had to crawl over a rocky surface suitable only for mountain goats. The church dominates the skyline of the city and the interior was very beautiful as well.
Next up was a ride down the main boulevard flanked by boutiques, shops, and restaurants to Gotaplatsen Square, home to the Poseidon Fountain, the bronze sculpture of the sea god that rises from the center.
The city is interlaced by many canals and we wanted to see Gothenburg from a different perspective, the water. So, we took a seat on a paddan boat for a float past a 17th century moat that was once part of the city's fortress. The bridges were so low we had to crouch forward in the boat to avoid a headache. Comically, one of the bridges is named the “hairdresser”. A beautiful site was the Feskekyrkan known as the 'fish church' but not really a church at all but a 140-year old structure housing an indoor fish market.
We had a relaxing afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The show featured Sweet Soul Music and it was really quite good.
Tonight we sailed south to the next port of Warnemunde and our fourth country so far in the Baltic.
