High atop a hill rising forty meters above the city of Gothenburg, the wind silences the noise completely. Skansen Kronan, which has withstood far more than the weather’s harshness since 1698, remains unfazed. This natural-stone fortress is today the best-known lookout of Sweden’s second-largest city, which means that, especially on days when the grass smells of summer and the trees sway in the gentle breeze, people come to enjoy it in every possible way. From up here, the vastness of the north unfolds beneath your feet, starting with the city itself, which seems to drift asleep under the warm noonday light.
From afar, the Karlatornet, a 246-meter-tall skyscraper, shines in the sun. It is the tallest building on the Scandinavian peninsula, and stands out against a flat, regular horizon. After a final look at its reflective surface, it’s time to descend once more to the bustle of a city of more than half a million inhabitants. On either side appear wooden houses, canals and elegant façades, such as the Eggers Hotel, the third-oldest in Sweden. As you pass by the Courthouse Square, whose center is occupied by a bronze statue of the founder of the city, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden, a guide asks his group: “Do you know who that is?” Silence falls and, after a brief moment of doubt, he adds, rising above the nearby tram noise: “It is the Lion of the North!”.
A poco más de diez minutos en línea recta desde allí se encuentra el río Göta, en cuya orilla flota el sueño de cualquier niño obsesionado con los barcos: el museo Maritiman. En esta agrupación de embarcaciones retiradas se pueden ver desde remolcadores hasta un buque bombero, pasando por el destructor HSwMS Småland, y siempre hay familias paseando por sus cubiertas. No muy lejos de allí, junto al puerto, se encuentra el emblemático monumento de Delaware, coronado por un barco de vela. Al sentarse junto a él en uno de los bancos de madera, cerrar los ojos, inhalar el aroma a mar y escuchar el ronroneo constante de los barcos, el pensamiento llega casi inevitable: Gotemburgo no es solo un destino, significa el comienzo, la línea de salida desde la que tomar impulso para vivir todo lo que queda por delante.
A road trip through southern Sweden is like exploring the south of the North, tracing a less typical line to discover the country in a different way. It isn’t about exploring the impressive length of the country toward the north, but crossing it from coast to coast, step by step, with pauses and detours. The final destination is Stockholm, which lies about 500 kilometers from Gothenburg. It could be done in a day but, why rush? A car trip doesn’t have to be all speed and stress; it can be a perfect family plan, or a way to rediscover the country’s more carefree face. With every kilometer traveled, Sweden shines more intensely: a landscape that embraces you while at the same time offering an infinite sense of freedom, filled with towns, lakes, rivers and islands, with forests and fields where the country’s history peeks through, intimately tied to its outdoor spaces.
