Journey and Arrival
Our journey from London to Gothenburg had originally been booked as a short hop in British Airways’ Club Europe cabin. When the airline subsequently cancelled our flight, Bruce managed to get us rebooked on Finnair via Helsinki. Thus came about another opportunity to experience Finnair Business Class on a long-haul aircraft. Of course, this had to be followed up by a bit of backtracking on a turboprop, but that was perfectly tolerable. Overall, we definitely came out ahead!
Our selected hotel was the Radisson Blu Riverside, which is situated in the district of Lindholmen, across the river from the city centre.
Exploring Gothenburg
Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg, pronounced something like “yeu-te-BOR-yeu”) is Sweden’s second city. It lies close to the Kattegat strait, more or less opposite the tip of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. Once a working-class shipbuilding town, it seems to be successfully diversifying its economy. I had visited once before, back in the days when organising a bmi Diamond Club redemption with maximum miles efficiency involved selecting a random (but Star Alliance-served) continental city as starting point – oh how I miss those glorious days!
This time around, the day after our arrival was the only full day at the destination. Using the free public ferry to get to and from the city centre, we devised a little walking tour to take in some of the central area’s main landmarks. The undoubted highlight was a leisurely al fresco lunch in Haga, an attractive area of wooden buildings that, perhaps better than any other, illustrates the recent transformation of the city.
