Goteburg, Sweden

It's been a few days since my return from Sweden. It was a short trip, but a nice one at that. Instead of going to Malmo or Stockholm (like most people might expect), we went to Sweden's second largest city, Goteburg.

On Thursday, a group of five other girls (two from Australia, one from Switzerland, and another from Germany) and I took the train from Copenhagen to Goteburg. We left the Central Station at 2:15pm and arrived at our destination around 6:30pm.

View from the train

The first thing we did when we arrived was attempt to find a hostel. Thinking that it wouldn't be too difficult to find a place to stay for the next few nights, we decided we wouldn't need to book a place ahead of time. We thought wrong. Apparently, there was a jazz festival going on that same weekend, so the first 2 hostels we went to were completely full. We rode the tram and walked along the streets of Goteburg for at least an hour with our bags attempting to find a place to sleep for the weekend (Lonely Planet was a helpful guide when it came to looking for hostels). As we walked, I lagged behind the group a little to take some photos of the city.

Panic was about to set in as we walked into the third hostel with the fear of being told: "Sorry, all our rooms our full". Surprisingly, however, we were informed that they had a room with six beds, which was exactly what we needed. The room ended up being pretty cheap and we could all stay together. Double bonus! The one problem was that we could only stay there for one night, since the next night the hostel was completely booked. We figured that would be fine since we were going to leave Saturday morning anyway. Leaving the night before wouldn't make a difference, except when it came to our wallets.

So after what seemed like a long journey, we brought our things into the room (which had 3 bunk beds, a TV, and a random hairdryer), cleaned up and went out to dinner. By this time it was 8:00pm and we were really hungry. Thankfully, while we waited in line at the hostel, we had time to browse the different menus they had in a binder of some of the restaurants in that vicinity. We knew we wanted Italian food and we found just that right down the street from our accommodation. The restaurant was called Da Vinci's, I believe. We each ordered "individual" pizzas, which were pretty big (the crust was thin though, so I didn't feel bloated after eating the whole thing). One of my friends ordered a pizza that had banana on it, a little odd, but she said it wasn't too bad. I had the vegetarian pizza, pretty satisfying but it definitely didn't compete with pizza from Italy, I can't wait until November!

Vegetarian Pizza (with olives, onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and artichoke)

After dinner, we decided to go back to the hostel. By this time it was 10pm and we were exhausted from our long day of exams, traveling and walking. Our plan was to wake up early the next day to maximize our time in Goteburg and none of us really wanted to have a late night. Instead, we went back to our room, watched a little Swedish television, chatted in bed and then went to sleep.

Me and the ugly duvet cover that none of the other girls wanted. Haha

The next morning, we woke up at 7:30am. After showering and getting breakfast (of yogurt and fruit) at the grocery store near our hostel, we took the tram to a ferry. We were going to see the Southern Archipelago Islands.

Side note: luckily, this entire trip we didn't have to pay multiple times for transportation since the train ticket we bought in Copenhagen was valid for 48 hours and could be used on the train, tram, bus, and ferry.

Anyway, we accidentally ended up going back and forth on the tram and by the time we got to the port, the ferry we were planning to take had left just a minute before. We originally were going to visit the island of Aspero, but instead we went to Vrango. The ferry ride was about 40 minutes long, with several stops to the other islands. It was overcast and windy, but we sat on top of the boat to get a better view of the sites.

At the ferry port

Boarding the boat

Our first glimpse of Vrango

The boat made a few stops at the other islands to let people off. After docking at Vrango, we headed to the little outdoor cafe where the girls bought hot drinks. We wanted to see the nature of the island, and the owner of the cafe told us the route we should take. We would walk along the southern part of the island, sort of near the water. He said it would take about 45 minutes to walk all the way around. My friend, Anna (from Germany) and I were definitely up for it, both of us enjoy being outdoors and doing 'sporty' things, the other girls...not so much. They weren't too prepared for the weather and their choices of footwear may not have been well thought out. But they were troopers.

So we started our walk and it was beautiful. Lots of greenery, colorful trees, spiders hanging from cobwebs (two, in fact), and picturesque views of the water.

Anna and I walked on the rocks in hopes of getting close to the water and a better view. Leaving the other girls behind, we jumped from rock to rock all the way to the shoreline. The water was so calm and clear (we could see tons of jellyfish), The surroundings were pleasant and beautiful...a nice change of pace from the city.

By this time, the weather changed and the sun came out! We continued our walk (got multiple mosquito bites along the way) and at the end of our little 'nature walk' we came across a little residential area. The homes were spread apart and I only saw two people, it was a ghost town.

After completing our loop around the southern part of the island, we headed back to the port to board the next ferry back to Goteburg. This catamaran was more modern and therefore faster than the ferry we took on the way to Vrango. We got back to the mainland in half the time it took us to get to the island. The sun was out, making for a nice trip back.

After the boat docked, we took the tram back to downtown Goteburg where we met two of our other friends who had planned a day trip. They weren't able to join us the day before but it was nice that they woke up early to take the train from Copenhagen to meet up. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to shopping. We split up into two groups since three of the girls were keen on power shopping and buying lots of things, while the rest of us wanted to casually look at the shops and have a bite to eat.

We did a little shopping first. My friend was so excited to buy her winter coat that our meal was delayed for just a bit. Our two friends who had arrived in Goteburg that morning had discovered (thanks to Lonely Planet, again!) a market that had everything from fresh produce and a meat shop to Swedish meatballs and a bakery with delicious loafs of bread (a had a sample of one which had fruit in it). So, we decided to go there and have lunch. It was pleasant indoor market in the middle of crowded shops and restaurants. Inside, however, was a slow-paced, yet friendly environment and everyone seemed to be enjoying the food and the people.

We walked around looking at all of our options and I ended up ordering vegetable stew with vegetarian orzo and a roll of fresh bread from one of the little indoor restaurant/bar. The food was tasty!

After re-fueling our bodies, we got to shopping. We all bought something at one of the many stores we went to. I bought a new pair of black boots, which were 50% off! I'm surprised they fit me because it was the type of sale where there is only one shoe and one size on sale...usually I never find anything that I like, yet alone that fit my tiny feet.

At 5pm, we all congregated in one of the main parks and headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags (which they so kindly locked away for us for the duration of the day). We rushed there so that we could be sure to catch the train back to Copenhagen, since they leave once an hour or so. We grabbed a bite to eat and boarded the train that left Goteburg at 6:42pm. While on the train, we all did a "show-and-tell" of what we bought that day (to entertain us and make time go a little faster), ate, chatted, and napped. We arrived back in Copenhagen at 10:30pm refreshed and ready to go out to the bars with our other friends.

Although the trip was cut short, it was still nice to experience another Scandinavian city. I definitely loved seeing the Southern Archipelago and walking along the streets of Goteburg. I'm itching to go on the next trips that I have lined up!