Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Trädgårdsföreningen park
The main entrance is just across the canal from Stora Nygatan, close to Kungsportsplatsen • Mon-Fri 7am-8pm, Sat & Sun 9am-8pm •
20kr •
Palm House
Daily 10am-6pm • July-Sept 100kr; free at other times of year
Just southeast of Brunnsparken,
Stora Nygatan
wends its way south along the canal's
most scenic stretch; to one side are Neoclassical buildings all stuccoed in cinnamon and
cream, and to the other is the green expanse of well-groomed
Trädgårdsföreningen
park, which contains a number of attractions. The most impressive of these is the 1878
Palm House
; designed as a copy of London's Crystal Palace, and looking like a huge
English conservatory, it contains a wealth of very un-Swedish plant life, including
tropical, Mediterranean and Asian flowers.
Further on is the
Rosarium
, which, with nearly three thousand varieties of rose,
provides a myriad of colours throughout the year. In summer it hosts lunchtime
concerts and a special children's theatre (details are available at the tourist office).
Kungsportsplatsen and Stora Saluhallen
Market:
Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 10am-3pm
Continuing west from Trädgårdsföreningen park, you'll pass
Kungsportsplatsen
, in the
centre of which stands a useful landmark, a sculpture known as the “Copper Mare”
- though it's immediately obvious if you look from beneath that this is no mare. A few
minutes further on, and one block in from the canal at Kungstorget, stands
Stora
Saluhallen
, a pretty, barrel-roofed indoor market built in the 1880s. Busy with
shoppers perusing the forty-odd stalls and shops and full of atmosphere, it's a great
place to wander, as is the market outside.
3
Feskekôrka
Fisktorget • Tues-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-3pm
Five minutes' walk west of Kungsportsplatsen is Gothenburg's oldest food market, the
Neo-Gothic
Feskekôrka
, or “Fish Church”, whose strong aromas may well hit you long
before you reach the door. Despite its undeniably ecclesiastical appearance, the nearest
this 1874 building comes to religion is the devotion shown by the fish-lovers who come
to buy their dinner here. Inside, every kind of seafood, from cod to crustaceans, lies in
gleaming, pungent silver, pink and black mounds, while in a gallery upstairs there's a
tiny but excellent restaurant (see p.122).
Avenyn and around
Running all the way from Rosenlundskanalen southeast to Götaplatsen is the wide,
cobbled length of Kungsportsavenyn. Known more simply as
Avenyn
, this “avenue”
teems with life and is Gothenburg's showiest thoroughfare. The ground floor of almost
every grand old nineteenth-century home has been converted into a café, bar or
restaurant, which the young and beautiful inhabit whilst sipping overpriced drinks and
posing at tables that, from mid-spring to September, spill out onto the street. Avenyn is
arguably one of the best places in the city for people-watching, and no visit to
Gothenburg is complete without a stroll down it. At the southern end of the avenue on
Götaplatsen
is the fascinating
Konstmuseum
, which contains a fine collection of
international art from various periods.
Poseidon
At the top of Avenyn,
Götaplatsen
is modern Gothenburg's main square, in the centre
of which stands Carl Milles's
Poseidon
- a giant, nude, bronze body-builder with a
