Weather today was partly overcast with temperatures reaching 22C – we luckily missed a very heavy thunderstorm which hit the city in the afternoon after we had left.

J had been to Gothenburg on a work trip a few years back and did not have particularly positive memories of what she saw (a large industrial town/city).  So we were a little undecided whether to take the trip to the city centre or not.  Queen Victoria berthed about 10 miles from the centre of the city, on a quayside in an industrial quarter – right next to a Volvo factory and museum….so there were not many options for taking a walk ashore.

We did however decide over breakfast that we would jump on one of the shuttle busses that Cunard had set up.  So after another filling breakfast we walked ashore and joined a waiting coach after only a few minutes waiting – well done Cunard on the steady stream of coaches that had been set up for the shuttle service.  In reality I think it only took 15 minutes – the roads did seem particularly quiet (maybe it was holiday season, and maybe the time of day post rush hour).  Our driver however did seem a little unsure where he was supposed to drop us so we did get a bit of a bonus tour of the centre of the city as we completed a few u-turns until he asked a local where to go!

It was actually a very pleasant city centre.  There were plenty of cafes with people sitting outside socialising (or partaking in Fika as the Swedes call it….”to have coffee”).  There were also lots of narrow cobblestoned streets with various shops selling various stylish Swedish designed items – think up market Ikea!

We wandered through some of the streets recommended by the tourist office map we were given, as well as walking through the Story Saluhallen (Fresh food market), and Feskekorka (seafood market) – both with an abundance of delicious looking produce. There was also a small network of canals with river boats taking plenty of tourists on rides around.  All in all a very pleasant surprise compared to our expectations.

We returned to the ship in time for lunch again, and for a change we ordered a Club Sandwich to be delivered to our suite, which we ate on the balcony.

We had a quiet afternoon relaxing onboard. The sail away was another interesting transit through lots of rocky outlets with small buildings/lighthouses built precariously on them, before we reached the open sea, and took a north westerly course towards the tip of Denmark to enter the North sea for our southerly transit tomorrow towards the English Channel. The wind picked up a bit as we entered the North sea, with a bit more movement in the sea, but not enough to cause any issues onboard Queen Victoria this time.

We had a relatively low-key evening onboard, enjoying another wonderful and filling dinner in the Queens Grill.