Gothenburg to Töreboda

Awake at 4:30 am - it was just light outside. I blogged at the desk accompanied by the view through the window out to the big bridge over the river and the industrial area in between.  

Breakfast started at 7 am and we were there! Great breakfast!!  

Today we are off to the Hasselblad Centre which is part of the Gothenburg Museum of Art. As it doesn’t open until 11 am, we had the luxury of taking our time over breakfast and checking out.

We left about 9 am and had the most delightful walk along one of the many canals that criss-cross the city and through a lovely park called Trädgårdsföreningen (!).

The buildings are grand, Neoclassical in style. 

The streets have lovely planter boxes.

We only had an hour at the Museum of Art but we put it to good use. The exhibition in the Hasselblad Centre was black and white photos by Anders Petersen: a ‘City Diary’ - pretty grim.

Another section was a collection of works by artists such as Sten, von Dardek, Engström, Faustman, Fougstedt, Frudman, Grünewals, Hjerten, Jolin and Nilsson - many of them successful due to the strong patronage of Charlotte Mannheimer in the early part of the 20th century who helped establish Gothenburg as an important hub for contemporary art.

Finally, there was a wonderfully curated exhibition of work by children’s book illustrator Ilon Wikland - illustrator of children’s books such as 'Lotta on Troublemaker Street', 'Karlsson on the Roof', 'Mardi', 'The Borrowers', 'Anders' and others. Having left Estonia in 1944 with her family when the Russians  occupied the country, Ilon's experience as an immigrant influenced her work and she drew inspiration from rural scenes and Gothenburg itself. It was an excellent exhibition.

Our walk back to the hotel to collect our bags took us by the food hall Stora Saluhallen which was just the sort of thing I had been looking for yesterday when we went looking for another food hall Saluhallen Briggen which by comparison was very underwhelming. 

We got some Swedish home-cooked takeaway from Kagebaren: meatballs, boiled potatoes (they ❤️ their potatoes here!) and lindenberry sauce - we shared one serve and had oodles to eat! Delicious!!

Our train departure was 2 pm so we walked with purpose to the hotel to collect our bags and then onwards to the station. We have walked 8 kms.

The journey to Töreboda (still in Sweden) is fast and picturesque - via lakes, bike paths, forests, fields …

Töreboda centrum seems quite sleepy when we arrive … 

It’s a 5 minute walk to our pensionat which is quite cute although the suitcases have to be lumbered up stairs …

After a short rest, we walked to the Göta Canal to where MF will start his ride tomorrow: a loop ride to Sjötorp and back.

It is very picturesque and there are heaps of bike riders on the track as well as boats moored.

We pick up some water at the nearby supermarket and return to our pensionat for dinner - we choose a fennel and sausage pizza: most unusual and yummy. It is lovely sitting in the garden outside as the sun drops lower (although by the time we head up for bed around 8 pm it is still very light).

We have walked 11.6 kms today.