On October 27, Götheborg of Sweden arrived to Barcelona and moored at one of the top locations in the city harbour: Port Vell/Rambla de Mar. The first weekend in Barcelona was the official stopover, with full crew, and the ship fully rigged. The stopover started with a very well attended welcome ceremony, and was followed by busy days with thousands of visitors. We want to thank Barcelona for the very warm welcome!
Barcelona is our winter stopover, and we will stay until March 2023. During this stopover we will focus a lot on preparations for the Asia Expedition, and it is possible to join us as a volunteer on board to work with the maintenance of the ship. We will also be open to visitors on weekends. Welcome on board!
We had an early arrival to Barcelona, with gun salute outside the city at 09:00 am and arrival at 10:00 am. After arrival we were proud to host a welcome ceremony of more than a hundred guests. We were very honoured to have Swedish Ambassador to Spain Teppo Tauriainen, Honorary Consulate General of Sweden in Barcelona Sofia Geli Stenhammar and Sr. Don Albert Batlle, Sr. Quinto Teniente de Alcaldía de Prevención y Seguridad del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, among the guests. Thank you to everyone who came on board!
The first six days after arrival were official stopover in Barcelona, and what a great start it was! We had a lot of media interest, keeping the Spanish speaking members of our crew very busy. Thousands of visitors also came on board to see the ship and hear about the history of the ship and the expedition this year.
Barcelona is our winter stopover, which means we will stay in Barcelona until March 2023. During this period we will do a lot of maintenance work in preparation for the voyage to Asia next year. Work is being done on the hull, sails and rig, and as always our thousands of tonnes of hemp need to be tarred.
During this period we will also be open to visitors most weekends. Opening hours and dates, at the moment four hours on both Saturdays and Sundays, will be posted continuously on our website and on social media. We are extremely happy to be able to stay in this great location, and are looking forward to greeting many visitors to the ship in the coming months.
During our winter stopover, we are also welcoming volunteers on board, to work with the maintenance of the ship. The main job will be caulking outside of the hull, above the water line. We will also be re-tightening the wooldings of the bowsprit and other jobs will also be taking place. And of course, a lot of taring of the standing rigging to preserve it from rain and sun is necessary.
Götheborg of Sweden is now moored in Barcelona for the winter stopover, and the plan has been to continue to Asia in March 2023. This plan has now been postponed, and the ship will instead sail in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe in 2023.
Are you interested in Volunteering at Götheborg during her maintenance stop in Barcelona? We now offer a limited amount of volunteer positions for people of 18 years and older!
Thank you Malta for great days at the Valletta Cruise Port! It has been a lovely stay with the beautiful backdrop of this historic city. We want to thank everyone for the very warm welcome to Malta and the great interest in the ship. We had amazing days!