Gothenburg- A cash-free city
My friend and I each had about £160 worth of Swedish krona left over from our trip to Stockholm in the previous year. With our hotel paid for, that would do nicely for our spending money for few days in Gothenburg, we decided. And if we wanted to treat ourselves to something nice there were always our credit cards. So we went in the first week in September
It was raining mid morning on our first full day so we nipped into this cosy little cafe on a bridge. It was a good place for people watching and to shelter from the rain!
The coffee was warm and welcoming and the cake delicious. I only realised that they did not accept cash when I paid. They didn’t accept American Express either so it was just as well that I had a MasterCard.
We found out later that many eateries displayed signs outside proclaiming to be cash-free establishments. We soon learned to ask “do you accept cash?” before we ordered food at cafes and restaurants.
We managed to spend most of the cash eating well at the hotel restaurant on our last night in Gothenburg. As the Uber trip we intended to take to go to the airport would be charged to my credit card we spent liberally at the City Museum cafe for our early afternoon tea.
After all that we were left with 40 krona. As we did not want to undertake another trip to Sweden on the basis of that, we gave the money to the delighted driver
Where we stayed
We chose to stay at Hotel Elite Plaza Gothenburg. It’s an elegant hotel conveniently situated within walking distance to the harbour, canal, museums and shops. It means that we didn’t have to use public transport at all. And when it rained we could pop back to the hotel to dry off and change before going out again.
Around Gothenburg
Under a greyish sky Gothenburg looked different from the photo-shopped pictures that I saw in advertisements. But it was no less charming. Occasional downpours didn’t get into the way of our sight-seeing!
At the harbour
The Opera House
When we first walked past it on our way to the harbour I remarked to my friend that it looked like an Ikea warehouse!! 😂
When we realised that it was the opera house from the other side of the water we went back to have a look inside. It definitely looked better inside than from the outside! It was just not what I expected an opera house to look like!!
Poseidon statue
City Museum by day and at night
Along the river at night
Nordstaden
Along the canal
We had only one rainy day (out of three) in Gothenburg.
When it rained we just did what the locals did. We had a coffee and cake somewhere and watched the world go by.
This lovely cake shop is just opposite the hotel.
I would have loved to go on a Paddan boat ride on the river but not on a rainy day, please!!
Finally – me and the fridge magnet
