My train back to Stockholm was at 12 and I’d promised a friend I’d take a photo of the Hasselblad HQ for him, so I got up really early to catch the ferry there and took a quick walk around Haga on my way.

  

The sunrise was epic, and I had an amazing view of it from my room.

  

I was outside at around 8:30am and everything was dead. Later on my way back there was a huge market in Haga and I found the late start surprising, but only because things open sooner at home. All the shops were closed and there were very few other people around.

  

  

  

  

  

Out by the water it was even quieter, I loved the feeling of aloneness.

  

  

  

  

  

  

I was quite early so waited inside the station, which was warm and had the only open shops I’d seen. As I’d done in Stockholm, I’d bought a travel card for 24hrs for Gothenburg on arrival. I didn’t use public transport that much but it was definitely more convenient knowing I could just hop on and off anything whenever I needed to.

  

The ferry was fun and I enjoyed the ride. It was pretty much empty for my trip up to Lindholmspiren and walking around the area (which was mostly businesses) it was super quiet too.

Not knowing how long it’d take I raced to the Hasselblad building first. It wasn’t exactly picturesque but the nearby flowers helped. Job done I took a slow walk back to the pier to wait for the next ferry.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Back on dry land I bought a coffee at the Pressbyrån in the station. It was nearly 10:30 and though still really quiet the city was starting to wake up a bit.

  

  

The famous Feskekôrka was open so I went inside, co-incidentally a large tour bus just unloaded a flock of German tourists at the same time…

  

It turned out to be great going inside with the big group – they felt no pain and just took photos of everything…I always feel a bit rude doing that so joining them gave me herd immunity.

   

  

  

  

I walked back through Haga where people were setting up market stalls. It all looked inviting but I was in a rush and hussled back to get packed up and ready for the train.

  

I loved Gothenburg and really wish I could’ve spent more time there.

The rest of the trip is a bit of a blur as it was just transiting from buses to trains and then planes. That’s always the draining part, the getting to and from. By the time I was back in the commute I was already starting to feel the exhaustion from the past 11 days. Also that mixture of homesickness and sadness of leaving. There was a sad-looking guy on the metro with me and I don’t know why but it just struck a chord…perhaps because even his little dog looked so sad.

But the commuting and the long flights are a necessity and a means to an end – overall my trip was amazing, everything I’d hoped and more. It seemed to go by so fast but a year later I still remember it all so clearly.

Tack Sverige, vi ses!

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Kapstaden till Kiruna :  intro  |  pt 1  |  pt 2  |  pt 3  |  Kent at Arena Arctica  |  pt 4
pt 5  |  pt 6  |  pt 7  |  pt 8 |  pt 9  |  pt 10  | Tiger Lou at Pustervik  |  pt 11