leaving from Göteborg, we take the coastal road towards Oslo and quickly turn off to follow local roads over/under the archipelago. there is quite some traffic, but then it’s a Saturday and this area is popular with Swedes for a day out. we first stop at Bohus Fästning, which we only discovered by accident this morning by googling ‘things to do’. it turns out to be a giant ruined castle on a promontory above the river and we spend the next our clambering all over it (completely legally and respecting all safety regulations). we got an English leaflet at the ticket office and most of the educational panels have a small font English translation as well, so we learn about the war over territory between Norway, Denmark and Sweden and how this castle was in the middle of it for a long time.
back on the road north we stop at a gas station/convenience store/fast food area and eat something called korf, some kind of sausage in a bun, delicious. we follow the tourist trail to Lysekil – a charming little town, but overrun by tourists – to visit the Havets Hus – a small aquarium with local sea life, but overrun by children. the saving grace is the walk up to the church and vista on a rocky hill in the middle of town, one side of my body was baked by the sun, the other cooled by the strong sea wind. an ice cream in the center of town wraps up the visit.
we arrive at Nordens Ark around five, so we quickly check in and set off for the zoo, taking along just the camera (24 mm & 200 mm objectives), a cell phone and a map of the zoo. we see a pudu and a red panda while the thunder approaches and get caught in a sudden downpour two minutes later. we take shelter near the lapland owl and wait it out for fifteen minutes, until the deluge devolves into a light shower. fortunately it’s still warm enough that getting wet does not mean getting cold, it only means I can’t take pictures! the zoo is deserted while we visit the storks, amphibeans, snakes, otters, .. we see amur tigers and wolverines out and about, but no pictorial evidence to prove it..
Febe writes 