Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
oldest train station in the country and its period facade fronts a grand and marvellously
preserved interior - take a look at the wooden beam-ends in the ticket hall, each one
carved in the likeness of one of the city-council members of the day.
Lilla Bommen harbour
At the riverside Lilla Bommen harbour Gothenburg's industrial decline is juxtaposed
with its artistic regeneration to dramatic visual effect. To the west, beyond the harbour,
redundant shipyard cranes loom across the sky, making a sombre background to the
industrially themed bronze and pink-granite sculptures dotted along the waterfront.
Nya Älvsborg
Boat departures early May to Aug daily every 90min 9/10am-4/5pm • 30min • 160kr, includes tour
Boats leave from Lilla Bommen for the popular excursion to the island fortress of
Nya Älvsborg built in the seventeenth century to defend the harbour and the city; the
surviving buildings have been turned into a museum and café. On the half-hour
guided tours of the square tower, chapel and prison cells (included in the price of the
boat trip) you'll hear about violent confrontations with the Danes, and some of the
methods used to keep prisoners from swimming away - check out the set of iron
shackles weighing over 36kg.
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Utkiken
Lookout Point • Lilla Bommen • July-Aug daily 11am-4pm; Sept-June Mon-Fri 11am-3pm • 30kr
North along the riverbank is Utkiken ; designed by the Scottish architect Ralph Erskine
(who also designed the Sydney Opera House) in the late 1980s, this 86m-high office
building resembles a half-used red lipstick. Its top storey offers panoramic views of
Gothenburg and the harbour, and there's a café, too.
Maritiman
Packhusplatsen 12 • April & Oct Fri-Sun 11am-4pm; May-Sept daily 11am-6pm • 90kr • W maritiman.se
Walking west along the quay, it's just a couple of minutes to Maritiman , the city's
engaging maritime museum, which comprises nineteen boats, including the 1915
lightship, Fladen , a submarine and a freighter which once sailed regularly from
Gothenburg across the North Sea to the east coast of England, each giving a glimpse of
how seamen lived and worked on board. The most impressive ship is a monstrous naval
destroyer, Småland , which saw active service until 1979. There's a rather good café on
another of the ships, the ferry Dan Broström , with outdoor seating available on the
upper deck.
Stadsmuseum
City Museum • Norra Hamngatan 12 • Tues & Thurs-Sun 10am-5pm, Wed 10am-8pm • 40kr • W stadsmuseum.goteborg.se
he Stadsmuseum is Gothenburg's biggest museum. It is located in the Ostindiska
Huset, which housed the offices, goods store and auction house of the enormously
influential Swedish East India Company . Envious of the major maritime nations, two
Gothenburg-based industrialists, Colin Campbell and Niklas Sahlgren, set up the firm
in the early eighteenth century. Granted the sole Swedish rights to trade with China
in 1731, the company monopolized all Swedish trade with the Far East for over eighty
years, on condition that the bounty - tea, silk, porcelain, spices and arrack (an East
Indian schnapps used to make Swedish punch) - had to be sold and auctioned in
Gothenburg. As a result, Chinese influence pervaded Gothenburg society, and wealthy
financiers adorned their homes and gardens with Chinese motifs. By 1813, unrest
caused by the French Revolution and competition from British and Dutch tea traders
 
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