Friday 29 July
Today is our 16th wedding anniversary. Yahooo. Congrats to Us!
We were extremely happy to leave this camp site as it was the noisiest we've experienced to date (excluding the planes in Berlin). As the camp was close to the Swedish/Norwegian border, we don't know who the culprits were but they kept us up way past the 11pm curfew with singing and guitar playing. Consequently most of the camp was awake and talking so sleep was not possible until the early hours. For whatever reason some young Swedes camping near us then decided to have a conversation at 4am so patrolman Bill pronounced the internationally recognised request to “shut up”.
After a stop at a huge shopping complex for lunch a couple of hours down the road, we headed to the suburbs of Göteberg to the home of our friends Per-Erik and Barbro Sunström and parked our monstrosity in their driveway.
Bill and Per-Erik had worked together on business for over 12 years, so it was lovely to catch up again, enjoy a beautifully home cooked meal and sleep soundly in the peace of their suburb. We did hear the mailman arrive in the wee hours and grumble about the large vehicle parked in front of the postal box.
Saturday 30 July
Per-Erik and Barbro packed their car to head off on their own holiday for a week and we caught a taxi into the city for a week-end of being “normal” tourists.We dropped our bags at the Hotel Avalon right in the centre of the city, which was highly rated by TripAdvisor, and went exploring. So far the week-end promises fine weather with top temps of 27 degrees.
Returning to our hotel for the 3pm check-in we noticed that our room was quite warm so fiddled with the air-conditioning, freshened up and went out again for a very late but leisurely lunch to celebrate our anniversary.
The temperature in our room hadn't changed from uncomfortably warm when we returned so we kicked up a stink and were eventually moved to a room where the air-conditioning worked a little better. Though the hotel is only 4 years old, they finally admitted to their system not coping well with extreme heat (we didn't think 27 was too extreme) or cold. Quite a shame really as in all other respects it's a lovely hotel and in such a fantastic location.
Sunday 31 July
We picked up the Göteberg Card from the local Tourist Information which gives us access to most attractions and public transport and raced to the Lilla Bommen harbour to catch the ferry to the Älvsborg Fortress at the mouth of the Gota Alv River built in 1660.
Most of the fortresses we've seen on our travels have been massive and over time generally renovated into castles. This one however was quite small on a small island from which you could not escape (the prisoners before, and now us) until the next transport in 2 hours time. Not to worry, there was a guided tour starting immediately, if you speak Swedish, otherwise the English tour is in 2 hours time! So we set off ourselves to explore and read the information panels and take a look at the areas actually opened to the public. 
The fortress dates back to 1660, built to defend Sweden's gateway to the North Sea. The Danes tried to conquer it in 1717 and 1719 but were unsuccessful. The canon balls remain wedged in the church tower as evidence of this (although they look fake to us). In the late 18th century it became a prison which closed in 1869. Some of the buildings are now used for weddings and functions but are not accessible generally. And even the church could only be seen if you were on the guided tour, or attending a wedding!
Back on the mainland for lunch then did the Paddan Canal Boat tour which included travelling under several very low bridges. One was so low all the passengers had to sit on the floor to avoid being beheaded.
On the harbour we got up close to the replica of the Gothenberg ship which sailed to Australia when completed in 2005. We also went past the Naval Museum containing several ships including a submarine, all of which could be boarded. And the beautiful Barken Viking with its 4 masts, the tallest of which is 55.5m. This ship last sailed into Gothenberg in 1950 before the Älvsborg Bridge was built at a height of 45m, meaning it could never leave. It is now used as a a five star hotel and restaurant.
Back on dry land we walked to the Gotaplatsen to see the fountain of Poseidon and then onto Liseberg, a huge garden and amusement park. The land was originally owned by Johan Anders Lamberg in the 18th century who built the gardens and a couple of houses but eventually sold to the crown who went on to build this amazing “Disneyland” style park complete with the world's biggest wooden roller-coaster still in use today.
This place was super crowded, everyone screaming and having fun on the rides, and many getting wet on the Flume ride and the Barrel ride down the rapids. People were also walking around with enormous chocolate or chip packets won in roulette wheel fashion. It's obviously a very popular place in summer and becomes a winter wonderland for Christmas with many markets.
We caught an antique tram back to our hotel and after freshening up had a beautiful meal in a little Greek restaurant tucked down an alley. The perfect end to a perfect week-end.
Monday 01 August
Caught a taxi back to our friend's house to collect our travelling beast before boarding a Stena Line ferry for a 2 hour journey to Frederikshavn in the north of Denmark. The weather was fine and warm and the seas calm.
Once in Denmark we had a 3 hour drive to our camp site for the night, Kolding City Camp. This place was fantastic with great facilities and oh so quiet.
More photos here.
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