Sweden (6) — Archipelago @ Gothenburg
10/21/18, Sunday, Sunny (blog is like a church I visit every week, it keeps me alive :))
From Stockholm, if you take a train 3 hours southwest, you will arrive in another important city of Sweden, called Gothenburg. Gothenburg is the headquarter of Volvo, it is a much smaller city compared to Stockholm. The trains between the two cities are fairly frequent, and you can pretty much buy the tickets when you arrive at the train station and then leave in a few hours. In summer though, there are some construction works going on, the train can stop in the middle and take unpredictable amount of time. The train ride goes through mostly farming areas of Sweden and is very scenic.
My most unforgettable experience @ Gothenburg is visiting Archipelago. Archipelago is a group of islands located near the coasts of both Stockholm and Gothenburg. You can take a bus down to the ferry terminal and then hop on any boats to go to the islands. It costs only a few dollars. Most of the islands on Archipelago do not have motor vehicles. You can walk and bike, and I also see some golf carts.
(you can take your bikes to the ferry as well)
(strange ever looking bikes that can carry goodies)
Archipelago @ Gothenburg is open to the tourists just recently. It is very raw and original in terms of a tourist site. People are just living their lives there. You saw they are hanging out their clothes in their backyards, mowing the lawns, riding the bikes around with their groceries. You think it is a very closed place? No, in fact, I was admiring this robot lawn mower through the fence of some house, I even never have seen such a thing in US. The islands have gorgeous coasts, rocks, waves, winds, colorful flowers and houses. But it is so hard to find any souvenir shops, restaurants or even maps to tell you where you should go. It is almost like none of the rules out in the world applied here. I felt I just took a boat ride from Gothenburg this morning and came here to visit a friend rather than I am a tourist.
(colorful houses)
(Sweden flag)
(rocks!)
(a wooden gym)
I heard the islands like this in northern Europe have the longest life expectancy. Imagine that you have all of your good friends and family live together on such islands, meet often, have conversations, laugh, play, you are going to live long, ha?!
(where it leads you? you never know. But it does not matter, you just keep walking and waiting for surprises!)
