Visiting Gothenburg: City Walk, Opera and driving a Tesla car [Part 4]

It is time to continue our Sweden travel series, with one final part from Gothenburg, before I head out east to the capital city Stockholm. In this part I want to show you how we spent a whole day in Gothenburg, from dusk until dawn. It was a day filled with many new things and old sights in a new light. We started the day with a test drive of the new Tesla car and ended it in with a visit to the Gothenburg Opera.

This is only a part of our Sweden travel series

For the other parts click here 

Dawn is late in the winter months in Sweden. Around 8 o'clock the night will start to slowly shift and move away, while the north of the country is bathed in complete darkness in this time of the year. We started our day with a visit to nearby Kungsbacka, a outlet town filled with shops and malls. Our host Ulf, had a appointment to make a test drive in the new electric Tesla car Model S, and was gracious with the time he was given in it, to give Selma a chance to drive it. I'm not really into cars so I wasn't that enthusiastic to drive it, but i was in the back of the car, enjoying the ride (until I got car sick from filming and taking pictures while the car was in full speed).

After the test drive, I was ready to explore the outskirts of Gothenburg. We had spent so much time in the city center, that I was eager to see places off the beaten path. First up was Masthugget Church which was built in 1914. It is positioned on a high hill lose to the city and near the river, which makes it a striking sight. The church tower is 60 m (200 ft) high. The church represents the national romantic style in Nordic architecture and was designed by Sigfrid Ericson. The church, which has become one of the symbols of Gothenburg, is a popular tourist attraction because of the sights you have from here.

Our next stop was at the Oscar Fredrik Church. It was erected in the 1890s. Belonging to the Gothenburg Oscar Fredrik Parish of the Church of Sweden, it was opened on Easter Sunday 1893. It's a beautiful church neatly tucked away in the Haga district. The style is Neo Gothic, but the influence is not the Nordic gothic style but rather the style one can find in the large cathedrals down in continental Europe. The church and the parish got its name from king Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik being his full name). The inside is quiet and calming, with a lot of neat architectural features.

After the churches, Selma and I made a stroll through the Haga district. Here, during Christmas time, you can find a old fashioned market, since this part of Gothenburg is known as the old part of town. Originally a working class suburb of the city with a rather bad reputation, it was gradually transformed into a popular visiting place for tourists and Gothenburgers. A redevelopment plan drawn up in 1962 for Gothenburg, which again included the demolition of buildings in the district. This led to the founding of the Haga Group, in 1970, which strove to preserve the original architecture of the area. Between 1973 and 1977, demolition work decreased due to the pressure of the locals. This also moved the authorities to help restore some of the buildings which were already in disrepair.

Back in the city center, Selma and I made our way south towards the Gothia Towers, which I showed you in part one, but since it started to darken I stopped to take some shots in the dusk. Hopefully you will enjoy these.

Pictured up and below if the familiar city center of Gothenburg with the Centralstation and Post Hotel, all of which I talked about in detail in part one. Though the sights here were much more picturesque.

In the image above you can see the Ullevi stadium, known not only for soccer games, but also for concerts and other events. Down below is the Church of Maria, an image which I took as night was already upon us.

The night before my departure to Stockholm we visited the Opera to see "The Phantom of the Opera", the world famous play, which we also saw in New York on the Broadway. The Gothenburg opera house is relatively new: construction started in September 1989 after significant local commitment in the late 1980s and it was completed with great speed. Ground breaking took place in June 1991, and the building was inaugurated in October 1994. With the help of advanced modern technology, whole stage sets can be moved around, exchanged and assembled for the next performance. We enjoyed the play, and luckily for us it was in English with Swedish subtitles above the stage.

Once we got home, the familiar sight that greeted us at dusk changed, as a thin vail of snow was covering the ground...

Next time I will continue my journey alone, heading east for Stockholm. It will be a unique type of post, since it's basically solo travel, which is something unusual for me and this blog. So stay tuned for more...

End of Part Three

To be continued...

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