Three days in Gothenburg is a way too short time but it’s a start. The second biggest city in Sweden offers so much to see and to do. We were a little tired after the canal trip so we took easy and enjoyed the city’s feeling.
Lilla Bommens guest harbour is located in the middle of Gothenburg’s centre. Next to the marina are the Gothenburg’s opera house and huge shopping centre called Nordstan. A few minutes walk away are the Nils Erikson bus station and the Gothenburg’s railway station.
Even the city is quite big there is still somehow a small city feeling. All intersections did not even have traffic lights. Both cars and pedestrians moved seamlessly and both gave way as needed. Trams were going in all directions and there are 13 tramlines in Gothenburg city. We also saw a very rare intersection with four pairs of rails. Maybe the clanking from trams is something that gives an idyllic flavour to Gothenburg. At the same time Älvsnabben ferries are transporting tourists around the city.
The harbour Lilla Bommens is nice and well functioning. It really is a guest harbour because the local yacht clubs are located at the lower Göta river more close to the sea. Gothenburg is located about 5 miles upriver therefore the location of Lilla Bommens in the middle of Gothenburg is just perfect for a city visitor.
For a once docks had enough electrical outlets. Special thing was that the electricity is turned on remotely from harbour office. The harbourmaster only asked for the number of the outlet we connected Suwena’s shorepower to. “Var så god” and we had power.
The docks in Lilla bommens are equipped with med mooring ropes. As the marina was not full yet they let longer boats to lay alongside. This way there are more room for manoeuvring between the pontoons. On Tuesday as we had a breakfast a bunch of guy’s came to the dock pulling each mooring line at a time. After wondering for some time Andrus went to talk with them and heard that they will check and replace the mooring lines. Soon a diver emerged with various equipment and boss of the team grinned, “No toilet flushing today, please”. Of course he asked not to use engines as well while the diver is in the water. A signal flag A was raised to the end of the dock as well. This caused to slow down for the moment even tourist sightseeing ships leaving from the harbour. Except they were not careful for a very long, soon their speed was again 10 knots according to AIS even if the speed limit on the river is five knots.
In Gothenburg there are no need to be hungry or thirsty because there are many restaurants, cafes and of course bars. For city of this size the number of restaurants is huge. The Avenue is full of more expensive restaurants and close to the Saluhallen and in old town the price level is little bit lower. This is really the place for a gourmet trip.
Being a boaters we went eagerly to explore the maritime adventure centre called Maritiman that is located next to Lilla Bommens. There are 20 different museum ships from which the most interesting was of course the Draken class submarine Nordkaparen from the year 1961. It felt wild to climb down from the submarine’s hatch by using steep ladder into the inside of the ship. Many levers, valves and knobs were throughout the ship’s 69 metre length from bow to stern. The sub hosted 40 sailors and they all shared 20 bunks in two shifts. The bunks were fixed straight to the steel hull of the submarine. Off-duty sailors climbed into the bunk and tied themselves with three straps into the substitute of the bed. The torpedoes were stored in the middle of bunks so between half of crew and torpedoes the dreams could be really interesting.
After the canal days and relaxed visit to the city it was time to prepare Suwena for the sea. All our stuff were laying around the boat. Tablecloths and decoration items on the tables on the sea is a big no-no. Therefore our Midsummer celebration preparation included also making her seaworthy in addition to the bunkering. We selected Marstrand island as a place to celebrate the Midsummer. Marstrand is located about 20 miles north from Gothenburg. The locals warned that the island is a popular Midsummer place. We decided to go already on Thursday so we can secure a good berth for Suwena for Midsummer.