Last week I arrived in Denmark, country where I will live for the next 4 months, and instead of going straight to Viborg, making a short tour of the country seemed a good idea.
That is how I arrived in Copenhagen and a new adventure started for me. It is of course another beautiful capital of Europe, but what makes it so special? Well…from my point of view, the history of the city is the most impressive, I joined a free tour group and the guide really got in to enough details to make us travel back in time. A lot of new information about this nordic country “hit” me as I was prepared to hear only about Vikings and hard winters, but guess what…it was way more to know than this.
Did you know that Copenhagen appeared initially as a harbor? or that it was almost entirely destroyed by two big fires right at its beginnings? I hope not haha!
In the category “did you know that…” come also the next ones:
-the symbol of Copenhagen is the golden apple and ,after so many centuries, the queen still celebrates her birthday by making a ritual which includes this golden apples
-they used to have a bishop who was in the same time a warrior…the Danish people say he was more of a viking than a bishop and that is why in different statues or paintings you can see him keeping a cross in one hand and a sword in the other one
-Bluetooth was a Danish ruler and the name of the function available on your phone comes from his name as he is known as the one who united Denmark and made people communicate and work better together, and so does the app.
-there is a “free area” of this city called Christiania. It is on the ground that used to be the army territory, but now is a place of peace where people are free to do (more or less) whatever they want to. What will get your attention is the lifestyle of its citizens who live in houses build mostly by themselves
-also these people let their imagination swarm by having different businesses and art ateliers or street art. Because of being a so controverted area and sometimes called “the red district of Copenhagen”, it is not really allowed to take pictures.
-this might be expected, however still a very important info to know before coming: you might find very cheap flight tickets but it is one of the most expensive countries in Europe …so if you come around here, better call a friend and ask for a place on the sofa
-and the last one, because I want to let you discover more on your own, don’t expect Copenhagen or its touristic objectives to be very opulent, it has very attractive places to visit and interesting stories to find, but the exterior aspect is not so important for the Danish
Other aspects, more expected, were like seeing a lot of boats…everywhere! and people even leaving in boats. Also the well-known channels with colored houses, Nyhavn ( from which one used to be H.C. Anderson’s house) or a lot of bikers…and by a lot…I mean A LOT! I think I saw more parking areas and streets for bikes than for cars, but I guess that is a very good point to look at as the pollution is lower and you don’t have to wait for hours in traffic.
Here you have also another places that I did not mention, but are really worth visiting
The Little Mermaid
Copenhagen Opera House
Tivoli Park
Church of Our Saviour
Fish markets
travelishspeaker.com 