Monday May 25 - Frankfurt to Fjallbacka
We left Frankfurt on a mid-day flight to Gothenburg - about 1h40m - all went smoothly helped by having business class tickets. On arrival in Gothenburg we picked up our hire car, a Volvo (of course) station wagon - very nice - must have been an upgrade. I fired up the Garmin, loaded with our newly purchased European maps and drove to Fjallbacka - about and hour and a half north. Fjallbacka is a very scenic costal town - a favourite of Ingrid Bergman’s and in fact her final resting place. Our hotel is right on the waterfront - and seemed to be the only place open - the season does not really start until June.
By the time we checked in it was after 4pm so we sat on the sunny terrace of the hotel’s bistro for an afternoon refreshment. We had dinner at the Bistro - smoked salmon and potatoes for me and a small steak & fries for Dieter - then off to bed.
Tuesday May 26 - Fjallbacka
After a sleepless night we had breakfast as soon as it started at 7:30am - it was about a 6 out of 10 - no fruit but the coffee was good. We spent the day driving around ….. it was very windy and cool (mid-teens at best).
Wednesday May 27 - Fjallbacka to Gothenburg
After another sleepless night we left around 9am to drive to Gothenburg with a planned stop at Marstand, the sailing capital of Sweden.
We left around midday - planning to arrive at the Gothia Towers (Upper House) in Gothenburg around 1pm including dropping off our hire car at the main train station. As it turned out - the car drop off was a total disaster - what should have taken 10 minutes took over an hour as it was next to impossible to find where to drop the car - there were no signs whatsoever and the Garmin told us we had reached our “destination” (Hertz) in front of the main station where you could not even stop. Tempers and stress levels were at an all time high. Finally after asking at 2 other rental agencies we finally stumbled on Hertz and dropped the car minutes before we would have ticked-over to a new rental day. We then took a taxi the short (2km) distance back to the hotel - this cost $20 - either we got ripped off or taxi costs in Sweden are a world record. Finally back at the hotel around 2:20pm we checked in - this process took 20 minutes leaving us both totally aggravated - we finally made it to the casual dining spot in the lobby for a shared pre-prepared sambo and a drink around 3pm.
We went back to the room to unpack, rest and freshen up before taking a short walk and having dinner in the Italian restaurant in the hotel - a most lack lustre experience.
Thursday May 28 - Gothenburg
Finally - a good night’s sleep. Breakfast for the Upper House was served in their fine dining restaurant on level 25 - very exclusive and pretty good - an 8 out of 10 as selection was a bit small. We took a self-guided walking tour of the city - checking some shopping as well as Haga, the old section of town and the fortress on top of a small hill. We had a nice lunch at Brasserie Lipp - excellent and good value for money. We were back at the hotel by late afternoon in time to freshen up and have fives at Heaven 23 - one of the hotel’s bar/restaurants. We had dinner at a Turkish restaurant about a 5 minute walk from the hotel - it was fine but not memorable and not too expensive.
Friday May 29 - Gothenburg
We got up and had breakfast - same as the day before then packed up as we had to move rooms - from the Upper House to Gothia Towers (same hotel, different tower and not as exclusive) - we had booked it this way as the the room price increased by $200 for Friday night. On check-out/in at 10am we were most pleased to find we could have our new room immediately - saved a lot of hassle.
We had decided that whatever the weather we would take the tram/ferry to the archipelago - a series of islands just off the coast. We managed to work out the pubic transport ticketing - a flat rate to go anywhere for 90 minutes - about $4 - this included the ferry ride to the island we visited, Styrso. The ferry left from the end of tram line 11 and took about 30 minutes which included a stop at Kopstadso. There are quite a few people living on these islands which have no cars - just bikes, scooters and golf carts. Just after arriving at Styros Blatten (one of the hamlets on Styrso) a storm swept in - driving rain and hail which did nothing to improve the temperature of about 10℃. Fortunately we were close to a cafe/bar so ducked in there for a beer and Diet Coke - we returned on the 1:10pm ferry; to our surprise the ferry only runs once per hour.
Back in the city we started walking back to our hotel but stopped at a very nice indoor market to look around and share a sambo (as we hadn’t had any lunch and it was well past 3pm) - we then found a trendy bar for an afternoon refreshment before walking home - the rain moved in again.
We freshened up for dinner then went to Dinner 22 for dinner.
Saturday May 30 - Gothenburg to Visby
We had a terrible night - a drunken party by a group of uni students who also caused a fire alarm kept us awake until 10:30pm when they were evicted by security. After breakfast, which was an OK affair, Dieter went to complain to the manager while I showered. The manager immediately knew what the problem was and offered a full refund for our 1-night stay - I decided my scathing Trip Advisor review will need to be kept under wraps.
We checked out and left our luggage with the concierge while we took the tram to the Botanical Gardens for a walk. Unfortunately the heavens opened just as we arrived so our visit wasn’t all that great. We took the tram back to the city for a light lunch then went back to Gothia Towers to collect our luggage and depart for the airport and our 3:30pm flight to Visby via Stockholm.
We arrived late into Visby due to the late departure of the Stockholm-Visby flight - got to our hotel (Hotel St Clemens) just after 8:30pm; just in time to check-in (reception closes at 9pm) and rush off to dinner. Fortunately we had the foresight to ask the hotel to book us a restaurant as it was Saturday night and all of the many restaurants were chocker. We had a great dinner at Masters. The taxi from Visby airport to our hotel in the old town, all of 3km’s away, cost an amazing $30 - probably a world record.
Sunday May 31 - Visby
We got up to a pretty good day - clear but very windy and as a result the 10℃ felt very cold indeed. After a pretty meagre breakfast (this place could do better with breakfast and a few other things) we decided to rent a car for our 2 day stay. After walking around the amazing old town with it’s 23 churches and many k’s of ancient walls, we collected out ‘rent-a-dent’ near the ferry terminal - after completing the paper work we then found out we had to walk another 600m to the car lot. The car was indeed almost as ancient as the ruins in the city - some 360,000 k’s on the clock - could have been the second or third time around.
After filling the car with petrol (this was one of those rentals which start out on empty and you fill up with what you think you need leaving any extra for the next person), we drove up north on the island of Gotland. We went up to Farosund where we took a (free) ferry to another island and continued onto some points of interest - mainly rock formations in the ocean just off the beach. We stopped at Ebbans Cafe for a light lunch - we had a bit of trouble finding it as the Garmin had it placed in the middle of a sheep paddock.
Back at the hotel we freshened up and went to a pub for “sixes” - Bolaget, situated in the sun on the main square - of course the locals were sitting outside but at 10℃ and windy I elected for an inside table. The hotel had booked us into a restaurant right around the corner but when we went there we found it not really to our liking (Mexican bent) so we went back to Bolaget for dinner - a great choice as it was one of the best meals so far on this trip - Dieter had lamb (NZ) and I had slow cooked pork - amazingly good - worth a return trip to Visby.
Monday June 1 - Visby to Stockholm
We got up to a pretty bleak looking day - drizzle and again very very windy. After yet another mediocre breakfast we set out to drive to the southern part of Gotland as our flight to Stockholm was only at 4:40pm (I investigated getting on an earlier flight due to the bleak weather but according to FT this would be a non-starter). So we set out (after some very tricky manoeuvring to exit the hotel carpark) and drove to some more points of interest (again rock formations) along a beach lined with very up market holiday homes - at our hotel’s suggestion we stopped at Djupvik Hotel/Resort along this beach for lunch - what an amazing place - modern but very sympathetic to the local environment - we had a wonderful light lunch - half a prawn open faced sandwich for me and asparagus for Dieter (the local green asparagus was in season).
We continued driving around the southern part of the island returning to the airport for our flight to Stockholm. We arrived in Stockholm right on time at 5:30pm and took a taxi to our hotel, the Sheraton. (A taxi costs the same as 2 one-way tickets on the fast train - crazier than Sydney). We received a warm and friendly welcome at the Sheraton and found the Club room we had booked had been upgraded to a ‘renovated’ room overlooking the old town - perfect. We dropped our bags and hit the Club for the final 45 minutes of Happy 2-Hour. We had a quick dinner in the hotel dining room - OK but a bit of a boring atmosphere.
Tuesday June 2 - Stockholm
Up and at 'em - we had breakfast in the Club as the restaurant was lined up. Around 10am we did a self-guided walking tour of the old town and visited the parts of the Royal Palace which were open to the public - the most interesting ones were closed as the Royal family was in residence for the upcoming wedding of Crown Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist this weekend - we are expecting our invitation any day !!
We stopped for lunch at a very trendy restaurant on the water front, Mister French - it was recommended by the concierge - an excellent suggestion.
Later in the afternoon we did a bit of shopping and I bought a down jacket (aka a puffer jacket) as my black fleece and gortex jacket weren’t cutting it.
After happy hour in the club (where we sat with some folks, Ann & Bob from Houston we had met the previous evening) we had dinner at Publico about a 2 minute walk from the hotel. The restaurant, again recommended by the concierge, was sort of modern South American tapas - it was fabulous.
Wednesday June 3 - Stockholm
We got up to cloudy / partly sunny day with a high of 17℃ predicted. After breakfast which we had in the hotel lobby bar (served from the overcrowded main restaurant) we headed to the Vasa Museum by tramway - we bought a 72 hour transport pass for 140 SEK pp - a very good deal for us seniors. The museum was very interesting - the Vasa was a Swedish war ship built in 1628 which sank only 1000m from the port of Stockholm on its maiden voyage - beats even the Titanic - the reason was that the ship was not seaworthy - the first gust of wind and it keeled over - the ship was a magnificent specimen - complete with many ornate carvings.
After a light lunch in the gardens surrounding the various museums we went on a mega walk through the extensive gardens - 2 hours later we were happy to reach the tram back to the city. Back in the city we walked around a bit more then headed back to the hotel for showers and happy hour.
We had dinner at Luzette located close by in the train station, not a place we would normally look for a restaurant but it was recommended by our trustworthy concierge so we gave it a try. It was very much a French style bistro and we were extremely satisfied - I had white asparagus for entree, Dieter had green - both excellent but mine was better but then it was much more expensive; for mains I had a half-lobster entree and Dieter had peppered veal cutlet - again excellent.
Thursday June 4 - Stockholm
At last a sunny and mild day - high of 18℃ forecast. We took the tourist boat / ferry to the Royal Palace at Drottningholm - about an hour away - the length of the trip was due to the slow progress of this ferry built in 1901; it also serves as a public ferry with ah-hoc stops along the way. This took most of the day - on our return to the city we walked around some more then back to the hotel for fives'es etc - we elected to just have bar snacks for dinner and retire early.
Friday June 5 - Stockholm
A wonderful sunny and mild day - high of 19℃ forecast - best day yet. We tried to visit the Skyview platform but once we got there we found that we would need to wait 1.5 hours (contrary to what the concierge told us) so we headed back to the city and caught the ferry to Stadshustornet, an island in the archipelago - about 30 minutes away. We had a light lunch at a restaruant right at the water front then headed back to town (by ferry of course). We walked through the city which was packed with locals attending the Stockholm food & wine festival (think the Rocks food market only 200 times larger) - the locals were all enjoying their first taste of summer.
Later in the afternoon we were able to get a ticket for a visit to the city hall tower - a climb of 390 steps - but well worth it for the panaramic views of the city in clear sunny skies.
Back at the hotel we showered and after happy hour went to the old town for a shared pizza - OK but not all that memorable - tomorrow it’s off on the Seabourn Quest.