Today we met at 10:45 in the lobby of the hostel to take the public transit over to the nearby archipelago. We walked down the block to the tram stop and got on the next tram that came. I was immediately impressed by the cleanliness of the tram we had gotten on (although some later were not as clean) and the efficiency of it. We also ran into the transit police who helped JJ figure exactly where we needed to go as it sounded like one of the lines we needed to take was shut down for maintenance. We got off the first tram and onto a second, where JJ struck up a conversation with someone else on the tram and they actually helped us quite a bit. We transferred to a bus, then got off and onto a ferry.
The Ferry actually had a little cafe on board, serving coffee, some sodas, and various baked goods (including some of the cinnamon rolls we had the other day) It stopped at 2 other islands, then dropped us off at the island of Brännö. We walked across the island and paused a few times to take pictures of the houses we saw or to wait for members of our group to catch up. We continued on, to somewhere JJ referred to as “Suzie’s cove” as his wife, Suzie, had discovered it a few years back. We had lunch on the rocks in the cove.
This island is absolutely gorgeous. I took over 200 pictures.
There are just a few businesses on the island so I would imagine that some of their inhabitants ride the ferry as a part of their morning and nightly commutes. There are also no cars allowed on the island (besides a taxi service and ambulances) so bikes and small engine transport (like an ATV) are usable on the island.
We took a bunch of photos of our lunch spot and then wandered around this island for a while. I found myself wandering around this secluded, tranquil, silent island.
I wandered south and found this little path. The rock formations that can be seen on either side of the picture are quite common here in Gothenburg. I walked back towards the main path we were on and met up with some of the other people in our group. We walked back to the ferry port and waited about an hour and a half for the ferry. I strolled up to the highest part of the port and sat there for a while.
The shed that can be seen below has a few hundred books in it all of which you can take if you donate 50 SEK (about 5.25 USD) to Amnesty International. I scoured the books but didn’t find anything I wanted. By the time the ferry got there, we were absolutely freezing. It had started out very comfortable and I had even considered taking my winter coat off. Once the sun went down, it got cold. We boarded the ferry and headed back to the city. JJ had us take the last ferry out so we could see the sunset on the way back.
We took public transit back and then had a moment to ourselves before dinner. We went back to Karlson’s Garage (the same bar that myself and a few others visited on the first night) and had some dinner. I had some grilled beef with fries and garlic butter.
Our waiter was great and did a fantastic job of handling all 21 of us as well. I will definitely go back there before the trip is over. This bar is a good time. After this, we walked back to the hostel and called it a day. Tomorrow we are visiting Skapa and Goteborg University.
Daily Reflections
People here are more helpful than anywhere else I’ve been
I need to do more wandering of quiet places
Jet lag comes in waves
It gets really cold, really quick here
Public transit here is legitimately a quick and easy way to get around the city.
Sam's Trip to Sweden 