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Goteborg (some call it Gothenburg) is important for Beowulf studies because it's the city (borg) of the Geats (Gotar). Scholars generally agree that Hygelac, king of the Geats when Beowulf made his voyage to Denmark, had his royal seat here, and it was probably from here that Hygelac launched his fatal raid on the Frisians.

Modern Goteborg is a bustling port city of approximately half a million people. It's built around the harbour formed by the mouth of the Gota Alv (Geats' River), which flows into the Kattegat from Lake Vaner. Like Copenhagen and Stockholm, it features canals and waterways crossed by many bridges and plied by tour boats, from one of which the picture above was taken.

Goteborgs Stadsmuseum (the City Museum of Goteborg) is housed in a fine 18th-century building once used as offices and warehouse by the East India Company. It has a section for prehistoric and viking materials but it was closed while I was there, maybe for a special exhibition on life under the Nazis.

When I caught a glimpse of an unfurled Nazi flag, I went no further. Otherwise, as you can see from the picture to the left, it's an attractive building with decorating on the vaulted ceilings over the stairways, which reminded me of the decorations inside Gamla Uppsala Kyrka.

Below is Centralstation, Goteborg's rail hub and our landmark for excursions because it was easy to find our hotel (the Rica) from it. The building dates from the 1850s and is registered, (which I believe means the same as "heritage designated", as we say in Ontario).






This handsome guy in the frilly britches is Gustav II Adolf, the official founder of Goteborg. Looks like he's saying, "Build her right here, boys!" This statue is in Gustav Adolfs Torg, on the way to the Stadsmuseum from Centralstation.

To the right is another Goteborg resident that likes to look around from high places. This one's on a van in Kungstorget. I thinks it's a herring gull, Larus argentatus.




















That knobbly green worm above writhes out of the ground in Kungsparken. It's about the size of a small pony,  and presumably it's for kids to play on. It looks more benign than the Swedish wyrm that got Beowulf; it has no wings or teeth.

Nearby are people fishing, one little girl (left) with a pole about three times her own length. There are said to be salmon in these canals, which may explain why folks use such heavy tackle. To me (a North American) it's amazing that people can catch fish like salmon or trout in their downtown areas. If only we (Canadians) would design and manage our urban environments so well.

I spotted the headline below at a newstand in Kungsportsplatsen. It's about the outrage that took place at Glasgow Airport on July 1; the headline is the following day's, Monday July 2, 2007. I have a question about this. Many people tell me not to ask it, perhaps because they have no answer.



Right, I can think of worse things to do than stand in the middle of a quaint old bridge watching the boats pass underneath - though I'd rather be on one of the boats!

You can tell from the designs that Swedes were making these investments in public infrastructure about a century ago, when Sweden wasn't a particularly affluent country. Building and preserving top-quality public works is a good long-term investment; that's the moral I draw from this.

We're still heading westward on the Hamnkanalen towards the Gota Alv. Below is some fancy metalwork on a bridge railing. It looks like the sea-

god Poseidon.

Some of these bridges were so low we had to duck while going under them. Below, we're nearly at the river.



Next we took a right turn into the Gota Alv and passed the Bohuslan, a steamship I'd like to take a cruise on. It cruises the archipelago  and would probably be a great way to view some of Sweden's fabled west coast. Maybe next time!



























Above is the "lipstick Building" - not its official name, but the one people generally refer to it by. Maybe it's not as ugly as it looks. I know strange buildings can "grow" on a person but I'd need a few more days to acquire a taste for this one. Next to it is the Viking, a clipper ship that also goes on cruises, docked near Goteborgs Operan, the city's new opera building - which also may not be as ugly as it first appears.
To the left is a huge floating dry dock, in which ships are built over the water, which I guess makes them easier to launch.

To the right is a touching piece of sculpture, high atop a tower behind the Sjofartsmuseet (Maritime Museum). It's officially called Sjomanstornet, unofficially "the woman by the sea," dramatizing the heartwrench felt by those who love a sailor.

Below, we're heading into the home stretch. The docking area at Kungsportsplatsen is around the bend ahead. The park system to the right is about 1.4 kilometers (nearly a mile) long and about 100 meters (100 yards) wide, and it's right in the downtown heart of a bustling industrial city.




There's a lot of sculpture in Scandinavia. This fountain (below) is in Kungsgatan, part of the park system you saw to the right of the Rosenlunds kanalen.








These birds hanging out in Kungsgatan are Eurasian Jackdaws (corvus monedula), smaller and I think cuter cousins of the crow. A few have been sighted in North America recently. They're "suspected of being escapees;" from what, I wonder.

We found a nice place to have lunch in Kungsportsplatsen (below right); it's a floating restaurant called Atta Glas, right next to the Paddan Boat wharf.

Below, on our way to the Tradgardsforningens Park I saw this young Swede having a read. The Park
boasts a huge glass conservatory, the Palmhuset (below right), modelled after the Crystal Palace in London.

And there's a fine rose garden (below), which my sister Brenda was very interested in because
she grows them.





















I do plan to return to Goteborg on my next Beowulf mission, even though I drew a blank this time (except for the knobbly green worm) as far as Beowulf materials were concerned. I'm sure with more research I'll find more resources to explore, and I'll make sure the Stadsmuseum's Prehistoric and Viking section is open when I plan my visit.

That's it for Goteborg. If you're interested in that question I mentioned, read on; if not I suggest you move on to Gamla Uppsala.        

Wes thu hal!                     - Mike Walton

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Digression -The Question my relatives in the UK think I shouldn't ask:

Since the belief system adhered to by the would-be Glasgow terrorists and others in London, Amsterdam, Madrid, New York, Toronto and elsewhere behaves so badly in all countries where it gains power - I'm talking about public flogging of rape victims, oppression of women, "honour" killings, trashing of human rights, intolerance, tyranny, corruption and dysfunctionality in public life - why are we in the West going to such unseemly lengths to accommodate it?

Instead of killing "insurgents" in the hills of Afghanistan or the streets of Iraq, wouldn't it be more ethical to tell this belief system's adherents that this ideology will get no respect, no concessions, no tolerance of its outlandish, cruel ideas, until it cleans up its act?

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On the location of the Geats in Beowulf's time, see R.W. Chambers, Beowulf, An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn, Third Edition. Cambridge University Press, 1959, pages 9 and 340.

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Goteborg seems oriented toward kids' activities and family tourism. There's a City Package which includes hotel stay, admission to museums, sightseeing etc. You can find out more at Goteborg's web site, www.goteborg.com.

Cityguide-Europe has a Goteborg page with tourist information.

Virtual Tourist offers a Goteborg Travel Guide with hotel deals and travellers' comments and photos.

Then there's a site called I Love Goteborg,  

Norway-Beowulf-resources