It is in the middle of summer in Sweden. Tropical sunny days mixed with rain. The ground is so hot that the rain evaporates immediately when it hits the lawn, which makes the humidity close to 100%.
Summer is perfect for short trips. I traveled by train to Gothenburg during the day to meet some friends. They prefer cliffs to sandy beaches and wanted to visit the Swedish west coast. Like me, they like to travel. There were direct flights from Barcelona, Spain, to Gothenburg. I travelled by train from Stockholm.
Interestingly, when I booked my train ticket, I automatically took into account that traveling would mean delays. Later, it turned out to be true. The weather was perfect with sun and blue sky. It was soothing to see green meadows and fields pass my train window on the train to Gothenburg. On the way back, deer grazed in the meadows at dusk.
It had been a long time since we had seen each other, and it was a lovely reunion. The funny thing is that we got to know each other when I was in France – not Spain. 30 years ago. I understand a little Spanish, but we speak French. My friend at that time was her little sister. She could not join due to her family in Spain.
We walked through Gothenburg and ended up in Haga. Life is often depicted in pictures, and I also wanted to photograph the gigantic cinnamon buns that were made for Instagram.
At the café, we tried to catch up after our last meeting in Barcelona. We laughed, and as usual, we understood each other despite some language barriers. They wanted me to show them my best secret spot in Gothenburg. Since we didn’t have much time, we took a taxi to Saltholmen-Långedrag. They laughed at me as I tried to stop a black Tesla that later turned out not to be our car – kind of universal humor where words are not needed.
The sea was the same, and the boats were where they should be. Here, too, there was a ready-made motif for social media. A perfectly polished boat that was moored right next to the restaurant. It was hot, and we cooled off with cold drinks. In the background, the song ‘Macarena’ by the Spanish pop duo Los del Río was playing. It seemed to be the end of a sailing course, and all the participants danced the Macarena to the greatest delight of my friends.
The week before, I had seen on the news that a luxury yacht belonging to Putin had passed Gothenburg. It felt better to see dinghies sailing. We started to get hungry, and we found our way back to the city center again. The market hall was tempting, but we ended up with a pasta dinner right by the equestrian statue of Karl IX (kopparmärra).
My Zaragoza friends continued north along the west coast. I went by train to Stockholm – a truly wonderful little summer memory – Le temps est bon. Let’s go, Spain! ⚽️ 🇪🇸 ⚽️ 🇪🇸 ⚽️
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