Gothenburg, Sweden

Wednesday, May 14

The Royal Princess docked in Gothenburg at 7.00 am this morning for its first visit to this city. This meant there was considerable interest from locals as well as visits from the Mayor, etc. and coverage by local news as it is the largest cruise ship to ever dock here.

A section of the busy port

Gothenburg is Sweden's second largest city but it's main port and from our high vantage point on the ship it was amazing to watch all the activity taking place in the port area. Because of all this activity we had to use port shuttle buses to take us through the port area and into the city centre - approx. a half hour's drive away.

Lovely buildings - interesting tree pruning!

The original settlement in this area was the work of King Karl IX (1604-11) who built a fortified settlement at Hisingen on the West Bank of the Gota River. At the time, the Danes controlled the southern parts of modern Sweden and thus access to the Baltic. In 1611 they seized and destroyed Hisingen thus cutting Sweden off from the North Sea and the Sound. The next King, Gustavo 11 Adolfo, founded the present city in 1619 on the opposite bank of the river and strongly fortified it. He enlisted the help of Dutch architects because the city was largely to be built on clay and the result was a city that had a distinctly Dutch look complete with canals and fortified sea walls. This look remains today.

The shuttle buses dropped us in Gustav Adolf Square where a statue of the old King, with arm extended pointing out over the city he founded, normally dominates the square. It is currently under renovation and we were tickled to see that on the scaffolding covering the work, they have a silhouette of the statue with the words "Staying Alive" beside it (in true John Travolta style).

Old Gustav doing his John Travolta imitation

After a quick visit to the Tourist Info Centre (with free Wifi) where all of us caught up on emails and sent messages, we ambled around the city along cobblestone paths and roadways taking in the ambience of the place while ducking out of the way of speeding cyclists, trams and athletes coming from all directions.

The Fish Market

The city has a heritage of fishing and still has an active fish market where local fishermen sell their catch at auction. We went to both the fish market and produce market and all of us were salivating at the sight of the delicious things available. Had we not been on a cruise, we would have been buying up big for a real smorgasbord.

Fresh fish at the market

The weather was quite warm but overcast although the sun broke through at times. It was really pleasant just strolling around, looking in the shops at great Swedish designs in jewelry, clothing and homewares, watching the people and enjoying each other's company.

Swedish Design Shop - Marimekko

The ship was only in port until 2 pm so it was "All Aboard" at 1.30 pm. We made our way back to the main square where we caught a shuttle bus back to the ship, went on board and headed for a lunch of fish and chips. The fish market had certainly worked its charm on all of us!

Exploring the ship - The Wheelhouse English Restaurant

We all went in separate directions after lunch and Al & I decided to explore the ship as we really had not yet "got our bearings" as it is so huge. Both of us are glad we did the 6 week cruise on a smaller ship. This one is amazing but doesn't have the "soul" of a smaller ship. There is no need for a gym (although there is a fantastic one) as you walk miles to get to anything and you never want to leave anything behind in your cabin! We have found the elevators very confusing as some do not go up to all decks and quite a lot of the stairwells do not go down to every deck so you have to go part way then walk to a different bank to finish the journey. Hate to think of the mayhem in an emergency!

Pre- Dinner Drinks in Pat & Burgess' cabin

A very happy hour was followed by a "Spectacular" early show featuring the ship's singers and dancers (which was Broadway quality), as the late dinner sitting we're on doesn't start until 8:30pm. Fortunately there are numerous entertainment options going on in various parts of the ship until very late so you don't have to go to bed on a full stomach. However with the early starts in the morning our sleep time has dropped!

 

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