København cool culture and casual charm

Various reviews will tell you that Copenhagen (København) is the most modern of the Nordic countries. The Danes have a reputation for being a progressive nation with a reserved flair for living - evident as they socialise in groups on warm summer evenings.

Bikes, balmy Nordic summer evenings, and foodie feast

From the 15 minute train ride to Nørreport Station from Copenhagen Airport, to the 10 minute walk to the Danishly cool Ibsen's Hotel on Vendersgade, the city doesn't take long to make its mark.


Ibsen's Hotel, Vendersgade, Nørreport

Everywhere you look there are people on bikes. Bikes easily outnumber people. It's a balmy Tuesday afternoon at the end of summer, and people sit on the street (often only a couple of metres away from parked cars), eating, drinking (mostly beer), smoking, and generally enjoying each other's company.

Trundling past Torvehallerne (food halls) with our heavy bags, we barely noticed the activity behind the double doors of the space. Definitely something to explore after recovering from the morning's travels, it soon became a breakfast stop - with cinnamon pastries that are seriously addictive.


Cinnamon swirl and latte for breakfast - not good long term

After a detour because...well, you just never know what's around the corner...we eventually made our way back to Torvehallerne with grumbling stomachs; senses overloaded by choice - fresh seafood, iconic Danish open sandwiches (including one piled high with shrimp that was particularly delicious), cheeses, wines, pastries (the strawberry tart was AMAZING), coffee and more.

The place was packed inside and out, where a stage performance was underway by Copenhagan Opera. Nestled between the two food halls was a farmers' market, florist, nursery and food stalls serving sliders and Mexican. By the bikes parked around the market, most there came on two wheels and it was obvious that there were just as many locals there as visitors.


Copenhagen Opera performing at Torvehallerne

Are there enough people for all these bikes?

Some of the fresh food offerings at the Torvehallerne farmers' market


Returning to Ibsen's each evening in time for drinks hour and some people watching

The city of cool shows its underbelly

With our Copenhagen Card purchased prior to flying out, giving us entry to 80 museums plus free public transport for 72 hours, we headed to Copenhagen Central Station to collect our card and put it to use on as many attraction entries as possible within the time we have on the card - it kicks on on the nearest hour to the first use.

The closest attraction to Central Station is Tivoli Gardens, which like many other things in the city, doesn't open until mid to late morning. Many shops don't open until 10am, and Tivoli doesn't open until 11am. We headed towards Copenhagen City Hall to find the city of cool has an underbelly. On our way down to catch the train to Central from Nørreport Station, amongst the Wednesday morning commuters, were several homeless sleepers and an individual urinating against a wall in broad daylight. In the square at the front of City Hall, Asian tourists take selfies in front of the impressive facade while two men slept on the ground only metres away. For a highly taxed nation with an impressive welfare safety net, this was a surprise to me...or were they immigrants?

City Halls aren't that impressive as attractions at the best of times. Dubbo's certainly isn't. However, as the Danes proudly brag on the interpretive signage, theirs is one of the few working City Halls open to the public. And it certainly is impressive. A working venue, popular for public ceremonies and weddings, larger than life busts of many of the countries significant individuals flank the main hall and floor above - all of them men - including Hans Christian Anderson.


The main hall of Copenhagen's City Hall - an impressive building as city halls go

The bust of Dane great, Hans Christian Andersen inside the main hall of City Hall

We managed to spend more time at City Hall than I would have given credit to before having morning fika, doing a spot of shopping in a Danish design outlet, and joining the queue for entry to Tivoli Gardens - a place that comes highly recommended. We entered with high expectations.


The entrance to the Tivoli Gardens - a glamorous setting for a sideshow alley

The gardens are lovely, however it's basically a big sideshow alley in a landscaped environment, with souvenir shops (handy for buying a hat when you realise you're getting sunburnt), overpriced restaurants and lots of junk food. We wandered the perimeter of the venue and laughed at the screams of those on the roller coaster and a horrendous ride called Vertigo, before deciding we'd had enough walking. Cam suggested we head to the canals for a cruise to rest our feet for an hour.

Walking another four, long blocks past the National Museum, Christianborg Palace and the tourist masses in Højbro Place, we eventually joined the queue for a canal cruise on Ved Stranden. Running for about an hour, the cruise the equivalent of a floating sardine can - bum cheek to bum cheek. The humorous cheer of our tour guide didn't quite take the edge off the squeezy conditions and the light rain that set in half way through the tour. I learnt a couple of things though - the massive incinerator in Copenhagen, the biggest in Europe, sits on top of a ski slope (no snow required apparently), and the city's most famous church displays two distinct styles because the two architects employed to design the building couldn't agree on a style. There's also some really impressive, and no doubt expensive, waterfront real estate in Copenhagen.


Do as the Danes do - drink on the water. Carlsberg and a canal cruise wearing my Tivoli hat.

Joining the rain ponchoed masses on a canal cruise of Copenhagen

With our feet hardly rested, we decided to take the slow route back to Central Station by walking through the iconic Christianborg Palace or Borgen (star of the Danish TV series that I'd watched three seasons of before leaving Australia). Once home to the Royal family, it's now the home of Parliament. Next stop was the National Gallery, with two exhibitions having caught our eye on our way to the cruise - one about the Vikings and another on nomadic Mongols and Genghis Khan. We saw quite a bit in between not quite finding our way about with much time for the bits we came for before the place closed at 5pm.


Christianborg Palace (Borgen), home of the Danish Parliament and star of the TV series

Taking my rightful place on the Viking throne at the National Museum

It was several blocks back to the railway station and a dud steer before we found the right platform to catch the train back to Nørreport in time to buy a dinner of cold quiche from Torvehallerne and free drinks on offer at our hotel between 5-6pm. A big day rounded out with a few glasses of red.

Venturing out to where it all began

Day 3 and we're starting to get used to dodging bikes and walking on the right hand side of the footpath, and we're starting to get the hang of catching trains. Visiting the birthplace of Denmark required a trip on a regional train about 25 minutes out of the city to Roskilde, also home to the Viking Ship Museum, the real reason for the trip.

Steeped in history and turbulence with the introduction of Christianity, power plays between royalty and church officials, Roskilde was relegated to the history books as Copenhagen took its place as the nation's capital. It hasn't stopped the regional municipality from ramping up the early culture and history of the place for the tourist trade, with plenty to fill a day.

It's a hike to the Viking Ship Museum from the railway station, but most of it is downhill, passing through sleepy, cobble-stoned streets through the centre of the town, and the occasional open field.



Poppies pop in this Danish field, Roskilde

Shady wooded pathway linking the Museum to Roskilde, with overgrown rhubarb growing on damp slopes

Eventually, the architecturally designed site reveals itself on Roskilde Fjord. For a Viking junkie, the information on offer adds layers to existing knowledge, filling in the odd gap. It doesn't really bring the Viking culture to life except for their ship construction. The Museum's underpinned by experimental archaeology and dedicated to the reconstruction and use of the five recovered and conserved boats on display. Some of them have been reconstructed multiple times.


Cam having a Viking moment

Two of the five reclaimed and restored Viking ships at the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum

On the way to the Museum, you pass the Roskilde Cathedral. A physically imposing building of incredible brickwork with walls and spires that do appear to reach towards the heavens - threatening to open and rain on us most of the day. Not being a big fan of cathedrals, we didn't venture inside on our way back into town, instead making our way to the Roskilde Museum.

Roskilde Cathedral overlooking the Royal Palace

Auroch found in 1946 at Himmelev, c.8000 BC

This small town museum tells the story of Roskilde and Copenhagen (they're histories are entwined) from Prehistory, the Viking era and Middle Ages through to the Modern Age. Using a mix of stunning historical artefacts on display, interpretive signage and digital media presentations, the museum shares its comprehensive historical story over three floors.

As we finished our tour of the spaces, the skies finally opened and we saw heavy rain for the first time in months. Letting it ease, we eventually set off for the railway station in the rain, more than prepared to get a bit wet.

I've developed a liking for Nordic licorice, in its more traditional form (sweet but a bit more salty than Darryl Lea). However, when you start looking you soon realise the Finns and Danes do all sorts of weird things to their licorice - including berry flavoured licorice and one that with whisky and caramel flavouring. Not being able to read Danish, or even make out many words, I grabbed a packet from the 7/11 at the railway station only to find that there's a version that is just pure salt. It was like pouring a tablespoon of table salt in your mouth. They do this with their cocoa coated almonds and rye bread crisps too. All probably designed to make you drink more beer. Uugh.


Drink hour at Ibsen's rounding out most days of touring

To be or not to be

Keen to get out of the city again after our excursion to Roskilde, this time we put a pin in the map north of the city, taking the train as far as it'd go to the port city of Helsingør, also known as Elsinore. The imposing 15th century Kronborg Castle overlooks the Øresund strait, the closest point in the country to Sweden. The castle is also the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Again, it's a bit of a stroll from the rail station, past the Værftsmuseet and Kulturværftet (museum and cultural centre), and the converted dry dock that is the Maritime Museum of Denmark, but given the castle doesn't open until 11am, there's no need to rush with time to find a coffee in the cobblestoned streets of the Helsingør town centre.

A sea breeze keeps things comfortable as you walk along the port edge, watching the ferries come and go on the hour from Sweden. By late morning and through into the early afternoon, the space in front of the imposing Kulturværftet with its boats moored on the water, brings crowds soaking up the Danish sun with beers in hand. Getting as much sun as possible seems to be a Danish and Swedish obsession.

Værftsmuseet and Kulturværftet, Helsingør

Cam didn't seem to know of Kronborg's Castle connection to Hamlet, so he was slightly puzzled by the character actors greeting visitors at the castle entrance - King Claudius and the Polonius the Lord Chamberlain. Short performances starring the King, Lord Chamberlain and the Prince of Denmark himself bring to life various museum style reconstructions of what was one of many residences of King Frederick II and his wife, Sophie. It was a strange combination of fact and fiction that would certainly appeal to a range of ages and interests. There's even a room dedicated to all the famous actors who have played in productions of Hamlet, many of them at the castle.

Cam outside the perimeter gates dated 1690 (the smaller section) and 1735 (the brick section)


Looking to Sweden across Øresund Strait from the castle ramparts


You can never have enough moats, Kronborg Castle


Ball room, Kronborg Castle - said to have been the biggest in Northern Europe in its day

One of the eeriest spaces in the castle were the casemates below ground. There's a myth that the slumbering giant, Holger (Ogeir) the Dane would come to life if the wellbeing of the country was ever under threat by a foreign territory. He's supposed to reside below Kronborg Castle. There's a sculpture of the Dane and a bizzare exhibition of various historical references to Holger presented on the walls in pitch dark, damp, roughtly stone-paved rooms requiring a phone torch to navigate. Given the space was used to keep prisoners during war time, it left one with a feeling of dispair.

Holger (Ogeir) the Dane statue by H.P. Pedersen-Dan in the casemates, Kronborg Castle

It was early afternoon by the time we emerged into the warm Danish sun and headed back into the town in search of some lunch. We had hoped to do a mini cruise before we left, but that wasn't to be. Stumbling upon a square surrounded by restaurants and beer gardens packed full of people (we assumed to be day visitors from Sweden) all drinking beer. An interesting aside, there are fewer regulations on alchohol here than in other Nordic countries, which means you can buy alchohol pretty much anywhere. Many places were full, so we opted for a busy enough place to eat with seats outside in the shade. We're obviously too pale for this Danish sun-baking tradition. Massive burgers, chips and two beers later, we waddled back to the dock for a walk around the ferry loading area to watch a Swedish ferry load up and head off before catching the train back to Nørreport. The 40 minute trip was just long enough for me to nod off briefly a couple of times. I blame the beer.

Coming out at the far end of Nørreport Station, we noticed a park on the corner opposite. Wandering in, we discovered it was the site of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and Botanical Gardens. It's home to a magnificent green house (including specimens of some iconic Australian plants, amongst them the Wollemi Pine), the butterfly house, and geological museum, the latter we didn't get to see due to it being so late in the day. There was even a Nordic Beer Garden displaying the different varieties of ingredients in traditional and modern beers. It was a great way to round out the day.

The Greenhouse at the Botanic Gardens, including the Palm House and Mediterranean House


Fruit stations for the butterflies in the Butterfly House, Botanic Gardens


The Nordic Beer Garden, showing hop varieties (old and new), Botanic Gardens

Looking for an early night rather than dinner, we stopped past the Fakta supermarket to grab a pre-packaged salad for one.

Rest required after trying to get value from that Copenhagen Card

Pre-purchasing a Copenhagen Card before leaving Australia, the idea was to have a hassle free experience of getting around on public transport and seeing what we wanted to see. At the cost of about $163 per person for 72 hours, we managed to not quite hit the average number of attractions per 24 hours (10), but still managed to save $190 plus on entry to eight attractions and public transport over three days. You need to do your sums to make this worthwhile, and travelling with the resident Scot, we were guaranteed to get as much value from the card as is physically possible.

With an hour left before our cards expired, we opted to head to the closest venue to our hotel,
Rundetaarn or the Round Tower plonked at the end of Trinitatis Church in the cobblestoned streets of Nørreport. The tower features a spiralling ramp to the observatory, planetarium, and event hall. Truth be told, I was attractioned out by this stage and opted out in favour of exploring the streets around Kultorvet, with its quirky little cafes, boutiques, book shops and stalls tucked in various spaces.

Cobblestoned streets around Kultorvet, with the Round Tower in the background


The view over Copenhagen from the top of the Round Tower (courtesy of Cam)


A wide range of punch-packing Viking drink on offer

I found a couple of Danish label boutiques with an incredible array of cotton, linen and cashmere clothing - just my thing. All loose, comfortable clothing designed to be worn with Birkenstocks or leather boots. Alas, every decision made was based on how much excess baggage I was prepared to pay. Very sad given the 50% discount on most items as part of the end of summer sales.

On returning to the Round Tower at the appointed rendezvous time, we we wandered over to one of the stall holders tucked under the colonade of the building opposite. It'd caught my attention for the pile of Nordic sheepskins of all lengths and colours - if only I had the capacity to bring them home. Right next door to the sheepskins was a selection of traditional Viking drinks, supposedly using authentic ingredients and recipes, based on berries, fruits, grains and honey. With the stallholder offering tasters of all of them, complete with stories of each Norse God associated with that drink, as well as some local knowledge of Danish ravens and crows. We finished our morning with a brandy shot (the 9th) at 33% alcohol. I needed a coffee after that.

It's been a lazy afternoon but much needed despite sleeping for 11 hours last night. Time for washing and preparing for our last day in the Danish capital before we head to Sweden on Monday.

Day 6 and the final long walk

With train reservations to sort before we leave, I was awake early trying to navigate my way around Eurail's online portal (impossible on a mobile). It's hardly straight forward trying to navigate available trains around trackwork schedules across multiple countries, keeping the number of changes to a minimum. I can only cross my fingers and legs at this stage that I got it right. Truly, my stress levels would be slightly lower had this been done before we left. I'm not a happy traveller at the best of times and the idea of winging it doesn't really thrill me.

With the reservations made, we headed out for our one final look around Copenhagen, feeling we'd hardly scratched the surface in our time here. Mind you by Day 6, I'm a bit over attractions. I'd much prefer to soak up the culture by spending time doing something rather than just seeing things. However, walking is probably one of the best ways to see and experience what's happening around you - we've done between 6-12 km/day even with almost daily use of the trains.

After a final breakfast of cinnamon rolls at Torvehallerne, we decided to keep it local on our final day, that is within about six blocks of our hotel, heading back to the Natural History Museum's Geological Exhibition with a focus on fashion. We went to go there the other day but had left it too late in the day. Titled Fashioned from Nature, the exhibition was interesting for its focus on the use of natural and man-made materials and their subsequent impact on nature (the environment) in the name of fashion. It was very political. It left me thinking about whether museums have a role in taking such a strong position on issues. Has the nature of museums changed so much they can now afford to take a strong political stance?


Heading to the Geological Museum through the picturesque Botanical Gardens

Only Angels Have Wings, Nikolene Liv Andersen (Denmark) as part of the Fashioned from Nature exhibition

One of the many statements made about the impact of fashion on the environment in the exhibition


Butterflies: Nature's silent messengers exhibition, Geological Museum, Copenhagen

We also called in on the butterfly exhibition - a collection of samples with interpretive signage - and the minerals exhibition - a collection of rocks (sorry Michelle).

Straight across the road from the Geological Museum is the National Art Gallery of Denmark. Like any National Gallery, it covered the highlights of the country's art history from 1300 - 2016 and all the major movements over that time. Highlights for me were seeing the daily life of Danes in the 18th and 19th centuries, revealed as if by hidden camera, catching the nuances and feel of the moment. I always enjoy the modern and contemporary sections too, with plenty to satisfy there with Matisse, Vlaminck, Braque and more. One of my favourites of the day was by Danish multi-disciplinary artist, Per Kirkeby, titled Untitled (Winter Picture), a large immersive, dark abstract painting I wouldn't mind having hanging in my house.


National Art Gallery of Denmark


A Sardine Cannery in Concarneau, Peder Severin Kreyer, 1879

Foreigners, please don't leave us alone with the Danes, Superflex, 2002

Untitled (Winter Picture), Per Kirkeby, 1995

With my body giving out on me too early in the piece thanks to some ongoing issues with my hips and chronic plantar faciitis that kicked in the week before we flew out, we had an early lunch and parted ways. Cam continued down towards the canals for an afternoon of exploring solo while I headed back to the comfort of the hotel lounge for a glass of Tuscan Pinot Grigio and some online catchup.

Next stop is Malmö, Sweden for a night just to see the bridge and to wander through the old town.