Copenhagen is a city full of pretty medieval architecture and many tall elegant looking people with glowing sun-kissed tans and long limbs riding bicycles. We were jealous of their near perfect physiques kept trim despite the temptation of numerous hot-dog carts.
Hot-dogs the Danish way are prepared using a variety of sauces and pickles piled up inside hollowed out rolls, half the sausage sits outside the bun and flaps around while you try to prevent the leakage of sauce down your arm.
Danish Pork
We arrived in Copenhagen with an expectation of eating great food, in particular pork. Our local Tesco was well stocked with a variety of Danish ham, bacon and gammon (ham steak). Bacon was our favourite foodie moment - crisp, tasty and an almost endless supply each morning at the breakfast buffet. We were not disappointed. Bacon goes surprisingly well when coupled with towers of buttery Danish pastry with traditional strawberry jam / almond filling. We definitely gained a few pounds 'taste testing' the local specialties.
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| Danish pastry - great way to start the day |
Flight from Gatwick Airport
Our journey to Denmark kicked off with an early Saturday morning train trip to Gatwick Airport where we played the waiting game until our boarding gate was called. The McDonalds breakfast meal, a coffee and buying a bottle of water after the security check-point are part of our pre-flight preparations.
On arrival at Copenhagen Airport (CPH), although all the signage was in Danish, the locals spoke English extremely well and assisted us with directions. We boarded the direct train to the Central Station (Kobenhaven H), a short distance of only four stops. The Central Station is directly opposite the Tivoli amusement park and conveniently only a short walk away from the Tourist Information desk.
Unfortunately, the weather was not offering us any joy as we were introduced to the Scandinavian summer of rain rain and more rain. With umbrellas out and waterproof covers on our backpacks, we started exploring the cobblestone streets and canals in the city.
Little Mermaid Statue
Our first tourist stop had originally been planned for the 15th century church 'Church of Our Saviour' on Christianshavn (the artificial island next to Copenhagen city). However a couple of consecutive lightning bolts soon put any plans to be exposed on a tall tower on hold. Instead, we headed north of the city to the well known attraction of the 'Little Mermaid' statue. The description of 'little' was definitely not an understatement - tiny and very underwhelming, the much-hyped statue was nice to see but pretty much 'all over' after 5 minutes. We spent the rest of the time in the area watching tourists try to balance on the wet slippery sea-rocks for photos, witnessing one gentleman slip quite badly and another one broke his camera.
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| Little Mermaid statue |
Kastellet
Nearby we took a scenic walk around the 15th century city fortress (Kastellet), passing a public garden full of statues, a church with a wedding photo shoot being hijacked by tourists and boarded the 'water-bus' down the canal to take in the sights of the Opera House and Art Gallery.
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| Fountain near the Little Mermaid statue |
Our Saviour's Church
Taking advantage of a brief lull in the rain, we returned to Christianshavn prior to checking into our hotel to re-attempt the tower climb. This was rated as the number one activity on TripAdvisor so we were pretty keen even though we were carrying backpacks weighing close to 8kg each.
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Church of Our Saviour - and tower we climbed
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The spire climb involves 400 steps including 150 steps outdoors winding in an anti-clockwise direction. Whilst it wasn't the easiest of activities, the views across the city were worth the effort. The descent was much easier, although many of the ladders were only wide enough for 1 person to use at a time and when a bus load of tourists decided to climb up to the top, it was a slow process waiting for the end of their queue to move passed.
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| Climbing up 400 steps with backpacks |
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| Christiansborg Palace (centre) - view over Copenhagen |
Copenhagen City Centre
From Christianshavn, we took the train back to the Central Station and checked into our hotel by the canal next to Vesterport. Later that afternoon, we took a walk to the main shopping area of Stroget - the longest car-free street in the world. We passed by an archaeological excavation at the City Hall, where they had unearned pottery from the Viking and Medieval Ages and were inviting members of the public to post their own photos / create their own videos about Copenhagen that could be kept for future generations to view. Along the Stroget, we ate some fairly traditional Scandinavian food at the Peder Oxe restaurant, then headed along the streets for pancakes topped with strawberry jam, or Nutella and bananas.
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| Stroget |
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| City Hall (right), Palace Hotel (left) |
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| City Hall at night |
Zeeland
The next day we headed out to the Danish countryside for a Castle tour of Zeeland by coach where we were entertained by a tour guide who was linguistically talented enough to alternate between English and Italian commentary for the entire day.
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Hvidore House - once home to Queen Alexandra (GB) and Empress Maria Feodorovna (Russia)
- both Danish Princesses |
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| 800 year old oak tree |
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| Old style thatch roof, modern transport |
Kronborg Castle
The first stop, was at Kronborg Castle, at Helsingor only 2 miles from the Swedish coastline that was visible from standing along the castle's wall. The castle is best known as the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet, who was a Prince of Denmark and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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| Coastline of Sweden in the distance |
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| Kronborg Castle - setting for Hamlet |
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| Plaque tells the story of the prince that the play Hamlet is based on |
The inside of the castle was furnished with replica furniture from the era. Most of the original furnishings had been lost due to fire and the castle being re-purposed as a military base. Despite these set backs, the great Ballroom at 63m long - the longest in Europe. It was a spectacular site to visit and our guide was very knowledgeable of the historical events in the castle's history.
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| Great Ballroom |
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| Inside the castle chapel |
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| Castle Courtyard |
Marina
Lunch was not included in our tour and we spent an hour at the marina snacking on crumbed fish and chips washed down with Carlsberg beer. We didn't end up taking a tour of the Carlsberg factory as a result of learning from our guide that the company no longer produces beer in Denmark and earns more from real-estate income than from beer.
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| Marina |
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| Ballerina statues near marina |
Fredensborg
From the seaside, we headed back inland to drive past the Royal Family's Spring / Autumn palace (they also have a separate Winter and Summer residence) of Fredensborg.
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| Fredensborg Palace |
Frederiksborg Palace
The next stop on the tour was Frederiksborg Palace - residence of King Christian IV, whom we had discovered so much about during our travels in Oslo a fortnight earlier. The Palace is also used by the Museum of Natural History, and contains many priceless artworks, including paintings of the Danish Royal family and their personal coat of arms - including the one created for Crown Princess Mary - whom the tour guide kept describing as the 'Australian girl'.
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| Frederiksborg Palace and moat |
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| Castle fountain and main entrance |
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| Inside the main courtyard |
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| Castle gardens |
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| Castle Great Hall |
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| Painting of Princess Alexandra, later Queen of Great Britain |
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| Porcelain gift from the Emperor of Russia |
Sightseeing in Copenhagen
We finished our tour late in the afternoon, and headed back to the Stroget to find another Scandinavian meal for dinner. This time we ate roast pork and wild boar. The next morning and our final day in Copenhagen, we continued to explore sites around the city - including Marble Church, Gardens of Rosenborg Palace and Amalienborg Palace - home to the Danish Queen during Winter and current residence of Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederick.
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| Marble Church |
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| Dome ceiling of Marble Church |
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| Rosenborg Castle and gardens |
Amalienborg Palace
At Amalienborg Palace, we watched the changing of the guard and visited the museum part of the Palace that included the personal rooms used by the royal family reconstructed using photographs from the era. As most of the royal families in Europe are related, there were many photos and paintings of the same royal family members in Denmark, as we had already seen in the Royal residences in the UK.
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| Frederick VIII Palace - family home to Princess Mary and Prince Frederick |
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| Olie and the smiling palace guard |
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| Changing of the Guards |
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Photo of the Royal extended family and guests
at the wedding of Princess Mary and Prince Frederick |
Overall, our trip to Copenhagen was historically enriching, gastronomically fulfilling and architecturally enchanting.
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