Day 19 - Another day, another rollercoaster (or four….)

One of the main reasons that I had decided to come to Gothenburg was because of Liseberg. Admittedly, if I had figured out that I would be getting my roller-coaster fix in Copenhagen, I might have made different plans, but I am so pleased that I didn't! Before I tell you about Liseberg, let me just tell you a bit more about Gothenburg first. In case you don't know, it is Sweden's second largest city. It doesn't seen to have quite the same high Scandinavian prices as elsewhere, but is beautiful and there is SO much to do that I feel that I have not even scraped the surface over the past three days. With more time, I would definitely have visited Haga and gone out to some of the islands - but I just think this sounds like a reason to come back again in the future!

Today had been set aside for Liseberg, the big city centre amusement park. For all I have been singing Gothenburg's praises, the one downside of my visit has been quite how much construction work is going on. Seriously, there seem to be cranes and building sites everywhere you go (which is making me wonder if the World of Volvo digger exhibit was actually a recruiting strategy...). So, it was a walk to the park. Admittedly, it was only half an hour or so now that I know my way!


As soon as I got in (having bought tickets online before), I went straight up to possibly the most famous roller-coaster at the park - Helix. I have ridden quite a lot of roller-coasters over the years, but this was probably one of my favourites ever. It was a good length of ride (1381 metres!), super smooth, and just so cleverly designed. There were corkscrews, pretzel-knots (I did teach Miles, via WhatsApp, what a pretzel knot is....), a zero-g loop, and even a Norweigan loop (I had to google that one myself!). I absolutely loved it! 


Right next to Helix was a 116m drop tower ride called 'AtmosFear'. I don't mind a drop tower - I think we have established in this blog that I don't mind heights - but I had to go on it for the witty name alone. It turns out that 116m is quite high..... the ride was worth it for the views alone! I got a nice video of Atmosfear in action, so will be sure to add that to insta in due course.

Next up was a seemingly unloved ride that was essentially a clone of the London Eye. I timed this well, as this was when there was a spot of rain, so being in a ferris-wheel pod was an excellent place to be. Again, there were excellent views. 

After a short break for a drink, my next stop was another roller-coaster called Lisebergbanan. This was a more family-friendly coaster, without any inversions, and quite reliant on what I would describe as 'waves'. It was a nice ride, but I think I had been spoilt with Helix. It was then time for two of the other famous coasters in the park. First up, Valkyria, an Oblivion-like, dive-coaster. I properly lucked in here as there was a single-rider line, and I pretty much walked straight in and onto the front row. It was another excellent coaster too - the vertical drop was epic!

Finally for the main coasters, it was Balder, a wooden coaster. There was a loooooong queue for this one, but it was worth it for the experience. It wasn't as good as Valkyria or Helix, but it was still good. 

It was then time for my new favourite meal - dunch - the time when it is too late to call it lunch but too early to call it dinner. I then had a nice wander around some of the other areas of the park. I umm-ed and ahh-ed about doing one of the coasters again, or trying one of the other rides, but was feeling a bit tired and didn't fancy getting soaked on a log-flume or feeling queasy after a spinning ride. Whilst I am very good with heights and high speeds, anything that spins is not really my scene. I believe that I might get this off you, Dad!

So, I headed back to the hotel for a bit of downtime, and a WhatsApp catch-up with the aforementioned Dad. I then headed back out to Nordstan, a big shopping mall, and to see some of the more historic buildings down by the river, as well as Gustav Adlofs torg, one of the town squares. I also managed to get another Webcam cache, so that was an added bonus

Tomorrow I catch the train east over to Stockholm - the home of the ABBA Museum!

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