Gothenburg

I’m back in Paris after a couple of days in Sweden. I have already posted on Gothenburg (Göteborg), where I spent my first 25 years, but I thought I could again say a few words and show you some more photos.

The name Gothenburg refers of course to the Goths. The city is situated on the west coast of “Götaland”, the probable origin of the Goths. (We should perhaps remember that what is referred to as “Gothic Architecture” originally was a pejorative description created by the Renaissance people (Vasari…).)

The city with some 800.000 inhabitants – suburbs included - is the home of Volvo, SKF (the world’s largest bearing manufacturer), was until the 1970’s world leader in shipbuilding and is the major Nordic commercial port.

The present location of the city dates from the 17^th century after several previous attempts to create a town in the estuary of the Göta River, all destroyed during wars.

The river and the old port where basically only some ferry traffic remains (today’s commercial port activities are now further away) is maybe the major attraction of the city. The former shipyards are today transformed to living quarters, offices, marinas, restaurants …

Maybe a special mention for two ships berthed at the quays:

“Götheborg” is a newly built replica of an original ship which sank in 1745 after its third voyage to China. The present one has also been to China and when it returned in June 2007, it was welcomed by the Chinese President (Hu Jintao), who visited Sweden mainly for this purpose.  

“Viking” is a four-masted steel barque, built in 1906, the biggest sailing ship ever built in Scandinavia. She has been berthed in Gothenburg since the 1950’s and is today hotel, restaurant… 

Some views from the city centre…

… some older areas.

Some views of older ways of commerce…

… and some of more modern ones.