Saturday 40 km: The Unknown Gothenburg

Description

This rou­te runs through les­ser-known but inte­re­s­ting – and in pla­ces very beau­ti­ful – parts of Gothen­burg. Even if you were born and rai­sed in Gothen­burg and have lived here all your life, you stand a good chan­ce of disco­ve­ring new parts of the city.

Hisingsparken and Lundby gamla kyrkby

The day begins with a short bus ride from Par­til­le Home Guard hall to Tuve. From the­re you walk through Hisingspar­ken – Gothen­bur­g’s lar­gest park – and on through Tole­red towards Eke­trä­ga­tan and then down to Lindholmen.

On the way you pass through a pictu­res­que frag­ment of what was once Lund­by gam­la kyrk­by. The­re you find Lund­by Old Church, which Queen Mar­ga­ret, ruler of Swe­den, Nor­way and Den­mark, often visi­ted during her stays at San­ne­går­den, a royal esta­te alre­a­dy men­tio­ned in the Erik Chro­nic­le. A litt­le furt­her on you pass Lund­by New Church, built in 1996 to repla­ce the Lund­by New Church built in 1886 and burnt down in 1993. (Roughly as con­fu­sing as the new Gam­la Ullevi.)

Lindholmen and Slottsberget

On Lind­hol­men you pass the clas­sic har­bour pub Port Art­hur and walk into the old shipy­ard-wor­kers’ quar­ters on Lind­hol­men on your way up to Slottsberget.

Slotts­ber­get takes its name from Lind­hol­men Cast­le, which stood here and from which King Mag­nus Eriks­son ruled Swe­den and Nor­way in the 14th cen­tu­ry. He gave the cast­le as a mor­ning gift to the Bel­gi­an prin­cess Blan­che of Namur, bet­ter known as Queen Blan­che. Today the cast­le’s sto­nes sur­vi­ve in the founda­tions of cot­ta­ges built by shipy­ard wor­kers in the 19th cen­tu­ry. The buil­dings on Slotts­ber­get look like a Bohus­län fishing vil­lage in the midd­le of the city.

Eriksberg

From Slotts­ber­get you make your way down to the bridge over San­ne­gårds­ham­nen to Eriks­berg. Once across, follow the foot­path up onto Sör­halls­ber­get. Take a short detour to the sout­hern edge of the hill if you can. From the­re you have a swee­ping view over Göta älv through Gothen­burg. On the way you also pass an M39 sentry post, a remin­der of the Second World War.

Walk along Eriks­bergs­ka­jen and enjoy the bust­le. By the quay you find the East Indi­a­man Göt­he­borg, a repli­ca of the East Indi­a­man that ran aground and sank at the entran­ce to Gothen­bur­g’s har­bour in 1745. A litt­le furt­her on you pass the gan­try cra­ne, a remin­der that Eriks­berg was a shipy­ard not so very long ago.

Car­ry on up to the Eriks­berg pla­teau and then into the gree­ne­ry by the nort­hern abut­ment of Älvs­borgs­bron. You are now wal­king on histo­ric ground.

Karl IX’s Gothenburg

When today’s Gothen­burg was foun­ded in 1621 by Gus­tav II Adolf, it was the third attempt to establish a Swe­dish town at the mouth of Göta älv. As ear­ly as 1473, the regent Sten Stu­re the Elder foun­ded the town of Nya Lödö­se. The remains of pro­to-Gothen­burg make up today’s Gam­lesta­den district. The next attempt came in 1603, when Karl IX com­mis­sio­ned the Dutch­man Cor­ne­li­us Cor­ne­li­us­son to build a town on the very spot whe­re you are now wal­king. But the town was short-lived – the Danes burnt it down in 1611. All that remains is the church ruin.

Time for a litt­le rest. On the lawn by the bridge abut­ment you find our first check­point, whe­re you can top up sup­pli­es and take a well-ear­ned break.

Sjöbergen and Nya Varvet

The next leg takes you over Älvs­borgs­bron and into the Sjö­ber­gen allot­ment area. Whe­re the path forks, follow the trails through the woods down towards Nya Var­vet. The­re are many trails and it is easy to take the wrong one. So pay atten­tion and keep an eye on the map.

Nya Var­vet – lite­ral­ly ’New Shipy­ard’ – was indeed new in the ear­ly 18th cen­tu­ry, when it was laid out as a naval har­bour. Today 80 com­pa­ni­es, insti­tu­tions and trai­ning units have their ope­ra­tions here.

Car­ry on east­wards along the sout­hern bank of the river. When you see a red-pain­ted erra­tic boul­der by the water, you have reached one of Gothen­bur­g’s best-known land­marks – Röda Sten (the ’Red Sto­ne’). Histo­ri­cal­ly the sto­ne ser­ved as a bor­der mar­ker between Swe­den and Den­mark, pos­sib­ly as ear­ly as the 11th century.

Klippan

Keep going under Älvs­borgs­bron. You have now reached Klip­pan – one of Gothen­bur­g’s oldest quarters.

Klip­pan has the feel of an old har­bour town, with sur­viving buil­dings from the 18th and 19th cen­tu­ri­es such as the sugar refi­ne­ry and the por­ter brewe­ry built up in the 1850s by David Car­ne­gie. The­re are old wor­kers’ dwel­lings, schools, chur­ches, smit­hi­es, ware­houses and Saint Bir­git­ta’s Cha­pel in Eng­lish Got­hic Revi­val sty­le. Seve­ral tall ships and schoo­ners lie moo­red at Klip­pan’s quays.

As you cross A R Lorents Gata, you catch a glimp­se of the ruins of Älvs­borg Cast­le – now cal­led Gam­la Älvs­borg – up on the hill between the houses. Älvs­borg Cast­le was a sig­ni­fi­cant for­ti­fi­ca­tion dating from the 14th cen­tu­ry. When con­struc­tion of Nya Älvs­borg fort­ress began in the har­bour entran­ce in 1653, Älvs­borg Cast­le lost its stra­te­gic impor­tan­ce and was blown up between 1660 and 1673. Today only sad­ly neg­lec­ted ruins remain.

• Röda Sten

Pub­lic toilets

Majorna

After making your way through the pedestri­an tun­nel under Oscars­le­den, you are in San­na, part of Majorna.

The­re is an ice-cream shop on Bruks­ga­tan. If it is open, it is a good pla­ce to cool down befo­re you car­ry on dee­per into Majorna.

When you reach Mari­a­ga­tan, you have arri­ved in Kungs­la­du­gård. The name comes from the fact that the area sup­pli­ed Älvs­borg Cast­le with food. After Älvs­borg Cast­le was aban­do­ned in the mid-17th cen­tu­ry, the area ser­ved as resi­dence and remu­ne­ra­tion for the county gover­nor of Älvs­borg County. During the 19th cen­tu­ry, buil­ding work spre­ad beyond the town bounda­ry onto the lands of Kungs­la­du­gård, which were incor­po­ra­ted into the city of Gothen­burg in 1868.

• Älvs­borgs­plan

Pub­lic toilets

Slottsskogen

The walk con­ti­nues into the woods that once belong­ed to Älvs­borg Cast­le: Slotts­sko­gen – now a much-loved city park.

Our next check­point is in here too. Take the chan­ce to rehyd­ra­te whi­le you watch the bustle.

Then comes the steep climb up Stig­bergså­sen, past the zoo enclo­su­res, the obser­va­to­ry and the water tower befo­re you final­ly reach Masthugget.

• Slotts­sko­gen, Azaleadalen
• Slotts­sko­gen – Café Bräket

Pub­lic toilets

Masthugget

The rou­te makes a small detour past Mast­hugg­s­kyr­kan so that you can enjoy the mag­ni­fi­cent view over the mouth of Göta älv (and so that the rou­te adds up to 40 km). After that it follows the slo­pes down to Mast­hugg­stor­get and onto And­ra Lång­ga­tan, which takes you to Järntorget.

Mast­hug­get was decla­red a suburb of Gothen­burg as ear­ly as 1646. The name refers to the making of ships’ masts that took pla­ce in the har­bour area. During the 19th and ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ri­es Mast­hug­get grew as a wor­king-class district, with buil­ding stock domi­na­ted by lands­höv­ding­e­hus – the cha­rac­te­ristic wooden houses on a sto­ne ground flo­or that held shops and works­hops. Sad­ly the­se were repla­ced by today’s concre­te blocks in the 1960s.

And­ra Lång­ga­tan is one of the stre­ets in Gothen­burg with the hig­hest con­cent­ra­tion of pubs. Unk­nown to many tou­rists, but popu­lar among locals.

Järn­tor­get takes its name from the iron weighing sta­tion that stood here from 1785 to 1892, whe­re all the export iron from Gothen­bur­g’s har­bour was weighed and inspec­ted. The iron was car­ri­ed down the river from the ironworks in Värm­land and Bergs­la­gen, and after weighing was ship­ped out into the world.

Haga and Järntorget

You lea­ve the noi­se of Järn­tor­get behind and step into the idyl­lic Haga quarters.

Haga was foun­ded in 1647 on the orders of Queen Christi­na as Gothen­bur­g’s first suburb out­si­de the city walls, for fisher­men, boat­men and other wor­king peop­le. During the 19th cen­tu­ry the district grew shar­ply as indust­ri­a­li­sa­tion drew country peop­le to the city. Hund­reds of lands­höv­ding­e­hus – the cha­rac­te­ristic wooden houses on a sto­ne ground flo­or – were built between 1876 and 1895.

In the 1960s the who­le of Haga was under thre­at of demo­li­tion, but strong pub­lic opi­ni­on built up and in 1978 the district was desig­na­ted a natio­nal heri­tage site. Today Haga is a lively district with well-pre­ser­ved 19th-cen­tu­ry buil­dings, char­ming cafés and small shops along Haga Nyga­ta – a remin­der of Gothen­bur­g’s wor­king-class history.

• Järn­tor­get

Pub­lic toilets

Vasastaden, Lorensberg, Avenyn and Götaplatsen

Next to Haga lies Vasas­ta­den, with its impo­sing sto­ne houses from 1870–1920. The area has a stu­dent feel, with the Uni­ver­si­ty of Gothen­burg and the School of Busi­ness, Eco­no­mics and Law near­by, and Chal­mers Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­no­lo­gy a sto­ne’s throw away.

You lea­ve Vasas­ta­den and enter Lorens­berg, named after a country esta­te that once stood near whe­re Götap­lat­sen lies today. Soon you reach Kungs­ports­a­ve­nyn – or just Ave­nyn, as we say in Gothenburg.

Ave­nyn is Gothen­bur­g’s main showca­se stre­et, built in the late 19th cen­tu­ry and inspi­red by Euro­pe­an bou­le­vards such as the Champs-Élysé­es. Lined with lime tre­es and sto­ne houses, the stre­et is today full of shops, restau­rants and night­li­fe. At the end of Ave­nyn lies Götap­lat­sen, laid out in 1923 for the city’s 300th anni­ver­sa­ry. Here you find the Posei­don sta­tue by Carl Mil­les, the City Theat­re, the Muse­um of Art and the Con­cert Hall – inau­gu­ra­ted in 1935 with world-famous acoustics and home to the Gothen­burg Symp­ho­ny Orchest­ra. Götap­lat­sen is the cul­tural hub of the city, with art, music and archi­tectu­re at its cent­re – a sym­bol of Gothen­bur­g’s rich cul­tural heri­tage and living cul­tural scene.

• Vasaplat­sen
• City Ave­nyn, Kungs­ports­a­ve­ny­en 34
• Stads­bib­li­o­te­ket, Götaplatsen

Pub­lic toilets

The events district

After car­ry­ing on past Götap­lat­sen and Ren­strömspar­ken, you reach Korsvägen.

At Kors­vä­gen begins Gothen­bur­g’s events district, which stret­ches along Skå­ne­ga­tan, past Nort­hern Euro­pe’s lar­gest exhi­bi­tion and con­gress venue, Svens­ka Mäs­san, foun­ded in 1918, and the ico­nic Scan­di­na­vi­um are­na, opened in 1971, down to Swe­den’s lar­gest out­do­or are­na, Nya Ulle­vi, built in 1958 for the foot­ball World Cup. Here at Kors­vä­gen you also find the Muse­um of World Cul­tu­re, Uni­ver­sum and of cour­se Lise­berg – the Nor­dic regi­on’s lar­gest amu­se­ment park, opened in 1923.

• Kors­vä­gen (uncer­tain whet­her it is open)

Pub­lic toilets

Örgryte

Take gre­at care crossing the maelstrom that is Kors­vä­gen. Then follow Örgry­te­vä­gen under the E6/​E20 and up to Sankt Sig­frids plan. Don’t miss Örgryte Old Church on your left. From Sankt Sig­frids plan, follow Dans­ka vägen past Över­ås Manor and Örgryte New Church.

Örgryte Old Church has roots in the 13th cen­tu­ry. The stur­dy church tower was built in 1748, and the church is known for its mag­ni­fi­cent Rococo ceiling pain­tings from 1741 – among the ear­li­est expres­sions of Rococo in wes­tern Sweden.

Örgryte New Church was con­secra­ted in 1890 in Got­hic Revi­val sty­le, after the old church had grown too small during the bre­akt­hrough of indust­ri­a­li­sa­tion. Donors inclu­ded David Lund­ström, James Dick­son, David Car­ne­gie and Oscar Ekman – names that all sha­ped Gothen­bur­g’s history.

Just past Örgryte New Church you come to a patch of grass whe­re Präst­gårds­ga­tan bran­ches off. The­re we are wai­ting for you with the third and final check­point. From here it is only 10 km to the finish.

Kålltorp and Torpa

You lea­ve Örgryte and enter Kåll­torp when you reach Delsjövägen.

The name is old, attested sin­ce 1416, and comes from two farms whe­re a lot of cab­bage was grown. But that is not why it is cal­led Kåll­torp. The first ele­ment Kåll is thought to deri­ve from the man’s name Kol­le or Kul­le. The second ele­ment torp means a new sett­le­ment car­ved out from a lar­ger, older village.

When you reach Kag­ge­leds­ga­tan, you have ente­red Torpa.

Tor­pa is an old plu­ral form of torp and simply means that the­re are seve­ral new sett­le­ments car­ved out from a lar­ger, older vil­lage. King John III’s char­ter for Nya Lödö­se in 1572 records that Tor­pa was a small village.

Partille

When you have crossed Gräns­vä­gen, you lea­ve the muni­ci­pa­li­ty of Gothen­burg and enter the muni­ci­pa­li­ty of Partille.

Par­til­le was ori­gi­nal­ly a church vil­lage. The church was built some time between 1150 and 1250, and pro­bably on the founda­tions of an even older church, most likely a wooden one. The parish is first men­tio­ned in wri­ting in 1392.

Modern Par­til­le grew up in the late 19th cen­tu­ry, when seve­ral busi­nes­ses were established along the Säveån.