Gothenburg and Orebro, Sweden

For the next two days we worked our way north to Gothenburg.  We used the coastal route and on the first day we spent time in the Varberg area.  The town was heaving, so we didn't end up stopping there, as we couldn't find a park.  We continued on to a headland called Gretterons.  Adjacent there was a wetland nature reserve where Dale looked at waders.  Then I wanted to go to the UNESCO site in Grimeton, where they first transmitted a wireless signal across the Atlantic, morse code to New York.  We arrived on closing time, but would have opted for a free walk around the grounds anyway and did so.  The site was built in the 1920s and the primary array consists of 6 large (127 metres high) towers.

The following day we started with a visit to a Nuclear power plant at Ringhals.  It is always nice to see different attractions whilst away, so we were interested to go as we have never been to one before.  This one is run by Vattenfall, and is 1 of 3 in Sweden.  It has 4 reactors built in the 70's and early 80's.  There is a free information centre there with a film and interactive exhibition.  The visit also consisted of a ride in the land train around parts of the plant.  They take security very seriously- ID is required to go on the tour and there are to be no cameras or phones also.  There was plenty of English and information about energy as a whole.  Still not a fan of Nuclear, but good to at least be more informed about it.  From the information presented it seems that Sweden has a comparatively good balance of coal, nuclear, wind farms, biofuel etc. for electricity in terms of economics, availability to consumers and impact on the environment (in comparasion to the global averages, which are really bad by the way).

Grimeton UNESCO site

Vattenfall Nuclear plant

We had a quick swim and some lunch before stopping in Kungsbacka, a market town.  We were lucky as we arrived on their once a month market day.  We tried to find the visitor centre, but after half an hour of walking in loops following ambiguous signs we gave that away.  We then drove the 20km to Aby Travet racecourse on the outskirts of Gothenburg.  The harness racing started at 6.30pm.  The track and facilities were very good and reminded us of Addington Raceway.  We were able to see from the 1st floor, through glass, into the horse stalls below.  Before one race we watched a female driver head out to the track with the horse.  She won, so we watched her collect the ribbon trackside and then back to the stalls where her fellow competitors were congratulating her. There were 10 races in all, finishing about 10pm.

The following morning was a trip into Gothenburg.  We had looked in the brochures and found nothing stood out that we wanted to see, so we parked for 3 hours and walked around the city, the marina and along the canal.  Between the Marina and Opera house are 3 small trampolines built into pits so they are at ground level, which amused us for a good 10 minutes (see photos) and there was a small climbing wall.  We walked through the Botanic gardens and the glasshouse and had a picnic in a park.  Overall a nice city, but didn't have any wow factor for us.  Like everywhere in Scandinavia we have seen so far it seems  a perfectly pleasant place to live.

It is Friday afternoon by this stage and we are visiting my cousin Rebecca and her family in Stockholm on Monday, so we sketched out a plan of where we would go over the next two days on the way there.  We had asked at the visitor centre in Gothenburg, and they were able to provide some brochures.  The lack of a large area map meant we were unable to get the attendant to exactly understand the 2 routes we were trying to choose from.  So after about half an hours reading we realised only one brochure would be relevant and it was in Swedish.  At least she tried, and the Swedish tourist centres are well equipped with regional information.  We haven't had much luck when enquiring about other parts of countries before.  Like in Plzen, Czech Republic we saw a map on the wall of West Bohemia (which we ended up buying) we asked 'is there was anything in the surrounding areas similar to the types of things marked in the wall chart (churches, monasteries, castles, manor houses, etc).  We got a funny look and were advised, 'we are info centre for Plzen'.  Bit like being Christchurch tourist info and not being able to advise about Akaora or that Kaikoura is worth a stop if heading to Blenheim, or Arthurs Pass when going to the West Coast, or don't stop in Ashburton :-) when heading south.

That evening about 100km from Orebro, we did visit Sjotorp and the Gota canal and saw two locks where it begins by the lake (which I admit we did have a brochure for!)  The areas along the canal were very popular with motorhomes and we passed several overnight areas with services, all for a substantial cost though.

We started the morning with a visit to Hova visitor information, which is housed in a purpose built castle for their medieval festival each year.  We were pointed in the direction of an area for swimming at lake Vanern.  The area was enclosed by a campsite and a beautiful spot.  We suspected any of the caravan sites about 10 metres from the waterfront would be booked solid every summer.  The water was really refreshing and we sunbathed on the sandy lake front.  After lunch we headed to Orebro.  We arrived late afternoon and commenced a walk around the city to see the castle, church and open air museum.  There were several, very interesting works of modern art located around the city and the castle and nearby bridge were very picturesque.  The city appeared to have a lot going on, there were many bars and restaurants gearing up for a busy Saturday night ahead in the heat (30 degrees when we were walking around).  On the way back to the van we walked through the open air museum called Wadkoping- a collection of buildings from the 17th, 18th and early 19th century.  There is a cafe, craft shops and a museum among other things located in these buildings.  Hitting the road again tonight to get a bit closer to Stockholm.

Gothenburg

The Gota canal

Orebro Castle

Orebro Open air museum