Nearly a year ago to the day we met a family in Franz Josef. Jesper, Dorota and Storm pulled up in their very large campervan at our campsite and put our small campercar, Maverick, to shame. That evening we got talking and drinking whilst sat at our communal bench and the rest, as they say it, is history. We spent 4 nights in Franz Josef and they were there for the majority of our time. We bumped into them, randomly, at a view point further south and met up again in Wanaka. We parted ways feeling glad to have met such like minded people who gave us hope that travel and a family are a possbility in the future.
We met so many people whilst we were away but only about 10 of them we are still in touch with on a regular basis. It’s all great having the intention to meet up again in their home country or yours, but it rarely happens due to life and money getting in the way. However, on a trip to England earlier in the summer we were able to meet up again for dinner in Dartmoor and we made plans to visit them in their home city of Copenhagen. So here it goes… our whirlwind 55 hours in Copenhagen. Thank you Jesper, Dorota and Storm for having us. We had a truly amazing time.
We started our trip at 2am with a 4 hour drive to Gatwick. The A303 was closed in places and I couldn’t give you a good description of where we got directed to, but we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The flight was short at under 2 hours and left on time, which is good because I may have planned for us to do A LOT whilst we were there.
Not having any checked baggage meant we were buying metro tickets within 30 minutes of landing and quickly we were on our way to the station nearest Nyhavn.

If you’ve seen pictures of Copenhagen more than likely it’s been of Nyhavn (new harbour) or of the Little Mermaid statue. It was a little overcast but as we walked past all the colourful houses we were pleasantly surprised by the beauty and relaxed feel of this place. Needless to say, the rest of our time in Copenhagen could also be summarised in this way. We walked relatively quickly through Nyhavn as we knew we’d be back and headed towards Paper Island (Papirøen) over the ‘kissing bridge’. Info about paper island. I had read about the food market on Paper Island and everything I read said that we had to eat there. Firstly because you can buy any cuisine you fancy but secondly because it is closing down at the end of the year. I believe they are building a new food market but after visiting this one I can’t help but feel that it won’t be as authentic and will probably lose some of its charm. We both had some smorrebrod and Simon also had an ostrich burger. It was all delicious.

After our lunch we walked along the water up towards the Little Mermaid statue. On the way we found an art installation where you could add a wish to the wishing tree. There was a lot of very beautiful art work just scattered all around Copenhagen.

Prior to us going everyone told us we would be severely disappointed by the statue. We visited with this mentally and were pleasantly surprised. The statue was more beautiful than we expected, which may have been helped by the lovely afternoon light and there were far fewer tourists that we expected. We took a few photos and walked back towards Nyhavn through Kastellet, which is one of the best preserved ‘star’ fortresses in Northern Europe. This area was an unexpected surprise and we really loved walking though here as it had a really great feel to the place.

Our last stop on the way back to Nyhavn was through Amalienborg, which is the current residence of the Royal Family. We admired the beautiful buildings and square and had a look at the Royal Guards, including a cheeky selfie.

At this point in the day we had to start rushing as we were due to go on a Christianshavn free walking tour. Everywhere we go, we love to join a free walking tour as it’s a great way to have a residents perspective on a city and to learn some history as well as some tips and tricks for good restaurants and spots to visit. We made it in the nick of time and soon realised that our tour guide was from London originally and had moved to Denmark 6 years previously for love. She loved living in Copenhagen and had no regrets moving over. It was really interesting to hear a different perspective on living in Denmark. We’d only heard great things from all the Danish people we met travelling, but to hear it from a Brit as well, really made us think.

Our first stop on the tour was to walk past Christiansborg Palace where we learnt about the current site of Parliament. This Palace is also used by the Prime Minister and several rooms by the monarch. From here we also learnt about the Church of Holmen. Originally, this church was built as an anchorage, but later became a naval church. We didn’t venture into the church, but apparently it is quite unusual as it is wider than it is long. Our guide told us the story of Peter Tordenskiod. His name actually translates to Peter Thundershield, a pretty cool name if you tell me. Thundershield was a prominent Dano-Norweigan navy officer who rose to the rank of vice-admiral for his services during the Great Northern War. If you haven’t heard it already Denmark and Sweden have a pretty troubled history and have been at war with each other for quite a lot of it, but we won’t go into that now. Thundershield was a well respected man, but in 1720 he died in a duel at the age of 30. Whilst visiting Germany he got into a fight with a Swedish member of the military, called von Holstein, when he was accused of cheating whilst gambling. Rumour has it that von Holstein’s second in command convinced Thundershield that he had forfeited the dual, so being rather cocky he attended the dual the next day without his gun. Turns out, the other guy hadn’t forfeited and had brought his gun. Being rather honourable von Holstein agreed to a dual by sword, but it turns out Thundershield had only brought a pathetic ceremonial sword and was killed pretty quickly. Duelling was actually illegal in Denmark at the time so Thundershield was buried at the Church of Holmen in the middle of the night to avoid any attention.

Our next stop was to admire the Old Stock Exchange building (Børsen). If you look at the spire you will see some peculiar looking animals. We were asking to guess what they were meant to represent. Guesses from other members of the group included dragons and lizards. I guessed crocodile and got it right (yes!) Turns out the architect designed the spire to represent crocodiles, but he had never seen a crocodile and neither had anyone else in Denmark in the 17th century. He guessed what they looked like and the result is a spire that looks a lot like three funny looking dragons intertwined.

From here we moved onto the island of Christianshavn. Christianshavn was founded in the early 17th century by Christian IV as part of his extension of Copenhagen. The area is most well known for the free-town of Christiania, which can be found here. Before we learnt about Christiania though we explored a bit more about Christianshavn. We saw the Church of Our Saviour, which we returned to the next day to climb the spire (more on that later), and learnt about the urban legend that surrounds the church. It’s believed that the architect killed himself from jumping from the top of the spire when he realised that the spire turns in the wrong direction. During that time, spires usually went in a clockwise direction to allow for easier fighting with a sword as you both downwards, but his went anticlockwise. The truth is, is that the architect died 7 years after the spire was completed in his bed at home and when questioned about the spire he said that I wanted it to go anticlockwise as there should be no fighting in the Church of Our Saviour.
It started to rain quite badly at this stage so the amount of photos we took became quite limited. Before heading to Christiania we also walked nearby to the Black Diamond (Royal Danish Library), Christian’s church, which was originally built by the German community, and past the Christianshavns Vold which is a former rampart used to surround Copenhagen. Our tour guide rushed a bit through these stops as it was raining quite badly and it was pretty nippy. I can’t remember much about these stops unfortunately, which probably tells you all you need to know about them.

Our guide couldn’t take us into Christiania as the free-town run their own tours of the community, but stopped us outside and told us a lot about the area before leaving. Christiania is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen built on an abandoned military barracks. The neighbourhood is car free and has it’s own set of society rules and they like to see themselves as completely free of the Danish government. In 2011 an agreement was made and as a result the Foundation Freetown Christiania foundation was founded. The foundation now owns the entire part of Christiania.

The houses in Christiania are unbelievable. I really wasn’t expecting what we saw whilst we were there. Some of our favourites were a house made completely of glass windows and a round house (which I didn’t get a picture of). The area is actually quite large and as you move more into the main centre there are cafes, bars and shops all over the place.
I was really surprised to see commuters biking through Christiania to get home, but it appears that the main visitors to the area are your young twenty somethings. Christiania is known for one particular street, Pusher Street. Around this area you are not allowed to take photos or run as this area is known for the illegal selling of Marijuana. No photos, because it’s illegal and no running because that makes the sellers believe the police are on site. I have to say, I have never seen anything like Pusher Street. It felt relaxed, we didn’t feel unsafe walking along the street and we were overwhelmed by the endless number of sellers. They each had a little portable stall selling their products. We probably saw 30 stalls in total in a 150m space. UNBELIEVABLE. The area was super busy and I have to say, I have never heard the conversations I’ve heard along that street before… “1g or 2g?” “What flavour is this one?” etc. I’ve been to Amsterdam, but still felt as though the marijuana culture there was very ‘underground’. Here, in Christiania, it was very obvious what was going on, it was completely in the open and it is fully known by the authorities. I suppose the blurred line between Danish and Christiania mean that a blind eye is turned in this instance. It was super interesting to walk around and I would have liked to have stayed for a drink in one of the bars as it had a lovely chilled South East Asian feel to it, but it was nearly time to go and see Jesper, Dorota and Storm so we kept moving.

We walked back over to Nyhavn and enjoyed a cheeky Gloog (Mulled wine to you and me) and enjoyed the pretty christmas lights along the water. As soon as we finished we headed on the underground to Jesper, Dorota and Storm’s house where we enjoyed a lovely evening catching up, drinking good food and wine.

The next day we had a leisurely morning and enjoyed a very traditional Scandinavian breakfast of rye bread, meets, cheese, tomato, cucumber and fruit. It was all very delicious. Storm was going to visit his Grandparents for the day so it was adults only. Our day was to be spent on bikes. There were two things I didn’t expect from the day 1) to realise how un-bike fit I am and 2) how sore my butt would be at the end of the day. Our first ride was through the Vestre Cemetery. The day was glorious and this cemetery was really pretty with endless rows of tree lined paths. A really great start to the day.

Our next stop was to Carlsberg to visit the Carlsberg factory. We had decided to not join a tour, but even without doing this you can still visit the horses and see some of the old carts, see the famous elephant statues and enjoy a drink in the bar, which is what we did, at about 10:30am, which is apparently was very Danish of us.

We continued to ride along the waterfront and absorb Copenhagen. As with the first day, we loved the feel of Copenhagen. There are bikes everywhere and everyone seems so happy and friendly. We made our way back to Christianshavn and enjoyed the typical Danish drunk food… hotdogs! Yummy!

Next, as promised, we went back to the Church of Our Saviour. This time, we were climbing it and not just walking past it. The last 150 steps on the way to the top of the spire are outside and the path gets narrower and narrower and the railing gets lower and lower. It was a pretty windy day, but the views at the top were unbelievable. You could even see Sweden from the top and we had some good vides of Christiania. Definitely a recommended activity if you’re in Copenhagen.

A coffee and cake was next on the agenda. Hygge is a word that is starting to spread into England. Hygge is a word, that we don’t have an equivalent for, that acknowledges a feeling or moment as cosy, charming or special. Cafes are littered with throws, hot drinks, tasty pastries and we definitely enjoyed a moment of hygge in this cafe. I enjoyed another gloog and aebleskiver (pancake balls). These pancakes balls were sooooo yummy and I will definitely be attempting to make my own when I get some spare time.

Side point, my bum was definitely starting to get saddle sore by this point, and after prolonged periods off of the saddle, it was only worse. Being totally hardcore, I carried on. We rode through the cobbled streets of Christianshavm (ow!) and moved back to Nyhavn. The sun was setting and the houses were stunning. I really don’t think I’d ever get bored of seeing Nyhavn, it’s such a beautiful spot.

We went for a walk around Christiansborg Palace, seeing the gardens and buildings.
And then very briefly visited the shopping street of Stroget, as what trip to Denmark is complete without visiting a Lego store. There was a mini Nyhavn and some other pretty impressive lego statues.

You’re probably thinking, wow they’ve done a lot in one day and you’re completely right. Jesper and Dorota had been absolutely amazing making sure we had seen all that Copenhagen has to offer, but we weren’t finished yet. Our next stop was The Round Tower, the oldest functioning observatory in Europe. King Chrisitian IV built the tower (he built a lot of stuff) in the 17th century. To get to the top you walk around and around covering a total of 268.5 metres, to ultimately only travel upwards by 36 metres. Again, the views over Copenhagen were absolutely stunning and we managed to get to the top to catch the end of the sunset.

It was time to get the party started so we stopped for a drink at the indoor market of Torvehallerne. Simon and Jesper enjoyed a Danish fish cake (frikadellar) with their wine and Dorota and I devoured some olives. Yummy! It was nearly time to ride over to the meat packing district for dinner, but on the way we rode passed Tivoli. Unfortunately, when we visited, Tivoli (an outdoor amusement park) was in-between the Halloween and Christmas season so was closed. Not like we need another reason to go back as we would love to see Jesper, Dorota and Storm again, but to visit Tivoli is definitely a good reason.

 

With a very sore bum we arrived at the meat packing district. Our first stop was WarPigs a very hip brew pub with 22 taps of beers and ales. Simon and I enjoyed a taster board of which we enjoyed most of them. One of them was very sour, which was most unusual. We got chatting with two guys, one from Italy, but living in Sweden and another guy from South Korea. We enjoyed a few hours chatting away and learning all about their countries and culture. This is one of the things I love most about travelling, the endless array of interesting people you meet along the way.

Suitably beered up we made our way to Gorilla, our restaurant for the night. Here we enjoyed a 10 course taster menu of pure deliciousness. The quality of food in Copenhagen was unbelievable. I do feel like sometimes in the UK we settle for food that isn’t as fresh as it should be and isn’t prepared as well as it should have been. During the taster menu we enjoyed Cod with Jerusaleum artichoke, sliders, tapas style meats and bread, this unbelievable raw beef salad, steak and sorbet. There were plenty of other courses, but everything was just perfect. Thank you so much to Jesper and Dorota for taking us here and for the day in general, it was so perfect. We had intended to go out drinking after the meal, but Simon and I was falling asleep on our feet and bed was calling. We jumped back on our bikes and rode back. Thank you Jesper for the slight push up the ‘hill’ on the way back.

After sleeping like babies we awoke to another beautiful Scandinavian breakfast. Simon and I were on our own today to finish off the final bits we wanted to see (hard to believe we had any left, but that just shows how much Copenhagen has to offer). We were offered the bikes again, but my bum couldn’t take it so we took the train.

We popped up at City Hall Square where we visited the Hans Christian Anderson statue and picked up our obligatory Hard Rock Cafe glass.

After a wander through some beautiful streets we arrived at Rosenborg Castle. You can probably guess who built the castle. Yep, you’ve guessed it, King Christian IV. Here we walked through the 400 year old castle, taking in the beautiful rooms and eventually the Crown Jewels.

From here we walked over to the Botanical Gardens. If you’ve ever ready my blogs before you’ll already know that Simon hates Botanical Gardens. I can’t really tell you why, but I now know that I have to trick him into visiting them. The grounds were so beautiful and we enjoyed a leisurely stroll talking about all that we had seen in the last few days. We then stumbled upon the 27 glasshouses that are on the site of the Botanical Gardens. We ended up in the Palm House which was so amazing. It was lovely and warm for one thing, but also it just had a really romantic feel to it. I could really imagine it being used in a romantic movie.

We needed a coffee and we had one more Danish food item to tick off our list… a Danish pastry. We found a lovely little cafe near to the Botanical Gardens and devoured our Danish pastries whilst trying to figure out if they’re called Danish pastries in Denmark or just pastries.

We had about an hour before we were due back to Jesper and Dorota’s house so we decided to go up the tower at Chrisitiansborg Palace for our third vantage point of Copenhagen. This one is free, but I have to say, it doesn’t provide the best view. The best view is definitely from the Church of Our Saviour. Here’s what we saw.

And with that, our trip to Copenhagen was pretty much over. We headed back to spend a few hours with Jesper, Dorota and Storm before our late flight. I still can’t believe how much we saw and did in the time we had. I would absolutely visit Copenhagen again. It’s such a lovely city filled with amazing food, endless things to do and such wonderful people. We can’t thank Dorota, Jesper and Storm enough for having us to stay and I really hope that we will get back to see you again soon.