Helsingborg-Goteborg, Sweden 3 June 2014

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Helsingborg-Goteborg, Sweden 3 June 2014

The ferry to Helsingborg in Sweden took only 20 minutes and cost about $80 from Helsinger in Denmark. We bought some duty-free gin and beer the ferry.

We then headed north in Sweden on the motorway. We drove a further 400kms that day, driving through Halstad, Varberg and Goteborg. Goteborg is the 2nd biggest city in Sweden with about 1/2 million people. It is situated on Sweden's west coast at the outlet of the Göta river. With over 60,000 students Gothenburg University is the largest in Scandinavia. It was once the center of the Swedish ship-building industry, but with rising competition from foreign ship yards, many of the dry docks closed down during the late 20th century. Much of the inner harbor area has changed from industrial ship building to high technology and education, representative of the general change in the city. Today Gothenburg has both international sporting events, concerts, and conventions as well as a small town feel.

On the outskirts of the city we visited the neo-classical Gunnebo Estate which consisted of a manor house and beautiful gardens as we as extensive organic vegetable gardens and sun houses. The manor house was built in 1796 for one of the richest men of that time, John Hall. New buildings have been built so that the vast land can attract some revenue. A restaurant and cafe was on site but all was closed due to the time of day and year.

We then drove around the city and then headed further north.

We had been driving through very thick cloud most of the day, experiencing moderate to light rain, but the further north we travelled the lighter the clouds got. After about 500kms of driving we found a roadside stop with toilets so pulled in for the night.

We found it very quiet during the night. Our shower on board is really working well as Donna, our contact in Utrecht got her mechanic to look at the pump before we picked up the motor home. We had a lovely warm shower.

We then drove further up the western coast of Sweden stopping at Fredrikstad on the way. This town had an "Old Town" that our travel book told us was worth looking through. It was pretty good, and very quiet as the summer holidays don't start until 15 June.

Our intention was to zip up through Sweden as we will be coming back to see the country in more detail after southern Norway, Iceland and Denmark. We reached Oslo in Norway at about 2.00pm.

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