Goteburg high spirits

Posted on by Laura Dragulin - Photo Stories

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After spending two days in Stockholm, we took the train to Goteborg, a city that initially looked like a massive work in progress, but eventually got quite delightful.

We stayed at Riverton, a smart hotel facing the harbor of Goteborg, which by day, meant a lot of constructions works and activities, but by night was an amazing game of lights and shapes. In Goteborg, we had only one day of strolling together, as my boyfriend had a training and I had the city all for me, the other 2 days.

We sniffed around the Victorian architecture and we admired the wooden houses from the west.The wooden county governor houses (landshövdingehus) from 1875-1940, are one of building styles that are the most typical in Gothenburg and they are characterized by a ground floor made in stone, followed by a second and third floor in wood. This was partly due to fire regulations. In the 1940s around half of the population lived in this type of house.

The fish market hall Feskekôrka (literally the “fish church”) is one of the most well-known buildings in the city. It was designed by Victor von Gegerfeldt who was the city architect between 1872 and 1896. Head there, not only to check out the quirky design, but also to grab some fresh seafood or perhaps lunch at Gabriel’s upstairs.

Haga is one of the first suburbs, although today located right in the current center, and it was planned in the middle of the 17th century. The neighborhood has kept a lot of its original charm and the picturesque main street Haga Nygata is lined with well-preserved wooden houses and quirky, little vintage shops.

We went to Skansen Kronan, a delicate redoubt in the city center, to see the whole Goteborg city from atop.  Skansen Kronan was built 1687-89 after designs by Erik Dahlbergh. Walk along the street Vasagatan, towards the main boulevard Kungsportsavenyn, to see grand turn of the century stone houses.

The square Götaplatsen, at the end of the main boulevard Kungsportsavenyn, was created for the World Expo in 1923. It’s the home of the characteristic Poseidon statue by Carl Milles, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, the City Theatre and the Concert Hall. The later was designed by the architect Nils-Einar Eriksson and opened in 1935. The well-preserved interior is a real design treat and the main hall is decorated with panels in Sycamore mapel. The acoustics is considered to be among the best there is. In a nutshell, Goteborg has its charms. Less crowded than Stockholm, with bohemian wooden houses and nice design shops. If you are in Sweden, don’t miss the chance to visit it.

Stockholm Syndrom

Posted on by Laura Dragulin - Photo Stories

Stockholm Vatten

The imminent thing to do while you are in Stockholm, is to experience the Stockholm Syndrome. Metaphorically speaking. My boyfriend and I were for two days the hostages of this city and we tried to live like a Stockholmer – we didn’t look too different either.

We went to Sweden partially for business, partially for leisure. We traveled separately, my boyfriend landed in Goteborg, I landed in Stockholm and then we reunited for a way-to-short city break in both these amazing cities. (see the album below)

In Stockholm we stayed at Nordic C, a right-in-the-center design hotel, hosting the freezing yummy Ice Bar. In this year’s ICEBAR by ICEHOTEL Stockholm it was all about a journey across Sweden. The design, inspired by the novel ”The wonderful adventures of Nils” by Selma Lagerlöf, triggers your imagination as you explore the Swedish provinces in a new, exiting and freezing way. Storytelling and a playful approach are combined with delicate graphic patterns and sculptural expressions, a delightful Northbound Adventure!

We’ve enjoyed walking on the streets of this green, active city, searching for bits of culture and architecture wonders. We wandered to the sunk Vasa (musem), the most visited non-art Scandinavian museum. Then we immersed in Stockholm’s sun, for a happy hour of drinks on a boat. The alcohol is quite expensive in Sweden, compared to the Netherlands, so happy hour there means a bit overpriced drinks in Netherlands. A wine can be around 100 SEK (Swedish Krona) aka around 10 euro and a 500 ml beer can get around 90 SEK which means almost 9 euro.

For my little enlightenment, we went to Fotografiska, a center for contemporary photography located in Stockholm, where I could drool for a few hours at amazing pictures.

The funniest part was not the Ice Bar, nor the Mud race from the center of Stockholm, but Skansen, the first open-air museum and zoo in Sweden, located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era.

We spent there almost half a day, eating Swedish delights, talking with Swedish people, running, kissing and taking photos. Ooh, the careless days of almost-Midsommar, reminded me of the summer we visited another open air museum, that time the one from my origin’s country (Romania), called Astra Museum.

(T)Raveling

Update on the latest events: Valfrejus

Gallery | Posted on by Laura Dragulin - Photo Stories

 

Life has been hectic lately. In March I started a new job and I put on hold my freelancing activities – together with my blogging a photography activities. Now, while crossing country in a train from Stockholm to Goteborg, it’s literally the first time when I got time to get back to my writing.

Don’t get me wrong, with my newest job, I write all day long, but not my kind of stories. So here we are, back on track with my latest photo adventure, that happened in the first week of March – Snowboarding in Valfrejus.

For snowboard fanatics, the black and red tracks are pretty nice, for intermediate snowboarders like me, there is not so much fun in Valfrejus. There is a 10 km piste/track called JEU (Game), which goes nicely through the forest, from the top of the mountain towards the valley, ending exactly at the vase of the mountain, in the middle of Valfrejus.

However, after a few days of snowboarding in Valfrejus you will end up bored, because there is not so much to do. Compared with other mountain resorts, like Val Thorens, for example, Valfrejus is extremely small, with not so much variety in restaurants and bars and with very narrow tracks. The highest peak that can be used for snowboarding has a very dangerous set-up: it looks like a bridge with no fences, having big, rocky valleys in both sides. I would recommend not to take that track on a foggy or windy day. We had the uninspired idea to do that, and is the scariest experience ever, especially if is the first time being there, as you get no sense of space. When we took the same track, the next sunny day, then I realized how scary it was.

The only good things about this experience was the fact that I burned around 2000 calories / every session of snowboarding (3h), which is pretty intensive; our hotel had an awesome outdoor pool – which was like a blessing after a tiresome snowboarding day and I OD-ed in pain aux raisin – an extremely delicious breakfast pastries, that French people nail (don’t try to each the Dutch equivalent, called Koffie brood).

Well, in a nutshell, this was the Valfrejus trip, from French Savoie  region – a bit disappointing, but quite good training for sport-oriented people.