We’ve enjoyed each of the Scandinavian capitals this year but we really fell in love with Copenhagen. It felt like a very friendly and open city; a bit rough around the edges perhaps, but great fun and with plenty to see and do.
We spent four days in and around the city and could have stayed for a lot longer. Aside from the drunken street brawl which greeted us on arrival, the city's highlights are many.
We were surprised
at just how 'little' the little mermaid is! She's one of the city’s most famous
landmarks but she's barely 4 feet tall and she's had her fair share of bad luck, poor love! In the last few decades she's been beheaded twice, had an arm sawn off, and been knocked off her rock with explosives!!
We always make a beeline for a city’s tall buildings and
towers and Copenhagen had a couple of fantastic viewpoints in the 17th
century round tower and the Vor Frelsers Kirke.
The round tower doesn’t have steps but a wide ramp that winds its way up to the
top. It was built like this so King Chistian VI could ascend the tower by horse
and carriage! The views across the city from the top are amazing and stretch right out to the 8km-long Øresund bridge which connects the country to Sweden.
The Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour) is one of the most
unusual churches we’ve seen on our travels. The church itself is pretty ordinary but the spire is... well... crazy!
The unusual feature is the corkscrew staircase
which allows you to make your way to the very top. It’s unusual because it's very narrow, made of wood covered in what feels like tin, and is ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE SPIRE!
It’s a dizzying experience to climb all the way to the top and, at 90 metres high, it's really not for those who have a fear of heights!
One of the city’s most endearing features is its bicycles. Copenhagen is the best city we’ve visited for cycling, mainly because of its fantastic network of cycle paths. In most cases these are like a second
pavement complete with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. And
the wide range of bicycles on the roads is amazing, from cargo tricycles to Long-Johns which have a long wheel base with a cargo compartment at the front, all carrying shopping, dogs, kids, drunken partners etc.
We wild camped in three different spots during our stay; next to the beautiful 17th century Børsen (Stock Exchange) building in central Copenhagen with its fantastic dragon spire, by the Carlsberg brewery visitors centre in the Vesterbro district around 2 kilometres from the station, and by the packed City Camp aire a short walk away from the centre.
Carlsberg was founded in Copenhagen by J.C. Jacobsen in 1847 and his son Carl established one of the city's best museums in 1897. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek houses more than 10,000 works of art and offers free admission on the first Sunday of every month - a happy coincidence!
Denmark is also the home of Lego and although we didn't visit Legoland during our stay in the country we did pop into one of Copenhagen's many Lego shops to see the great models and the 'build your own minifigure' stand!
During our stay we also took a boat tour around some of the main sights, and enjoyed a couple of evening walks to take in the city lights. Seeing the city centre amusement park, the Tivoli Gardens, lit up at night is particularly special.
Copenhagen, we will most definitely be back!
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