July 24, 2023 Gothenburg, Sweden

Sweden turned 500 years old in March 2023

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm and fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Volvo Cars was founded in Gothenburg in 1927 and is now manufacturing only electric vehicles. Other key companies are Ericsson (telecommunications), SKF (ball bearings manufacturer) and AstraZeneca (who we all know is a pharmaceutical company that helped with vaccines and COVID).

We learned that: The city hosts the Gothia Cup, the world's largest youth football tournament, and the Göteborg Basketball Festival, Europe's largest youth basketball tournament, alongside some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia. The Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival, with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a wide variety of music festivals are held in the city, including the popular Way Out West Festival.

Ullevi Stadium: One of the much used soccer (football) stadiums. Holds over 70,000 people!

We did a Oceania scheduled tour of the city but encountered a lot of rain making it difficult to see out the bus windows and walk around without getting quite drenched.  My pink raincoat did a great job of keeping me dry.

Because a lot of my pictures were blurred with rain I did use some photos from the internet to help with our memories:

Dala Horse

The image of the horse goes back thousands of years. The magic and mystique surrounding the horse inspired people to recreate their image in cave and rock paintings. Horses were highly valued and became a symbol of strength and courage. They arrived in Sweden 4000 years ago and were tamed and domesticated around that time.

In the 17th century little wooden horses were sold at markets in small towns and villages in Dalarna, in central Sweden. A hundred years later wooden horses were carved by men working in the forests during long winter evenings and brought back to the village for the children to play with. This is how the little wooden horse from Dalarna became a treasured object. These simple wooden horses were later painted in bright colours and became the symbol of Sweden.

Gothenberg Museum of Art (2023 is the 100 Anniversary of the Museum)

Temporary "art" at the National Art Museum court yard

Poseidon - A famous landmark in Gothenburg.  The statue is surrounded by beautiful buildings on three sides: the Concert hall, the City Theatre and Gothenburg Museum of Art.

Church with ceiling that resembles an inverted wooden ship

Raised wooden Pews, kneelers and floors

One of a series of art sculptures, but I thought this one was fun with the men all sitting in a row on a bench at the beach - chatting.  I particularly like the caption that went with the art

Haga is a picturesque shopping district with a "main drag" several blocks long. Many shops are bakeries/cafes or confectioners,

Ancient architecture and modern eatery together

Artistic play structures for the kids

Soggy, soggy day on a beautiful cobblestone steet in the Haga

Guide talked about the these favorite treat for all the locals and tourists - extra large cinnamon buns 

Other notable architecture

"Lipstick" building with offices

Karlatornet is a skyscraper under construction by Serneke in Lindholmen in Gothenburg, Sweden. When finished, it will be 246 meters high, with 74 floors above ground. Karlatornet viewed in June 2023 during construction.