The Search for Vikings!

Since the sun was shining, we took advantage and started walking. I was determined to see the famous and colourful Nyhavn (New Harbour) under a blue sky! We got a bit lost but thanks to a helpful local, we were turned around and pointed in the right direction. The next day we were off to historic Roskilde to see the cathedral and .... Viking ships! There were new replicas and the remains of original ones, over 1000 years old! Excellent stuff!

Itinerary:

  • Copenhagen
  • ...with a day trip to Roskilde
  • Day trips from Manchester

Enjoy the sun, it won't last!



We had a few drinks in the hotel bar with Dave but then we went out by ourselves for a walk. Luckily the sun is actually out today so we can see the city under a blue sky. It would be the last we'd see of that until the day we left! I was determined to see the famed Nyhavn (New Harbour with all the coloured houses lining it) under a blue sky so we traced a route on the map and headed out. En route we passed Rosenborg Castle and the King's Gardens and we crossed over the large Kongens Nytorv square. That has the Royal Theatre on one side, a huge old department store and is ringed with cafes. Even in the centre of the square (as in other squares, too) there are little kiosks where you can get drinks or coffee and sit out at tables.

We were also on the lookout for somewhere to have lunch. Just past the King's Gardens, we spotted a little place that did pizza and kebabs and went in there. Graham had a kebab which he enjoyed but I had some sort of shrimp wrap but which was in a pita I think. When it was put in the oven, the pita swelled right up and I thought the sandwich would be huge. It was hollow inside! The shrimp and lettuce was on the bottom but it was too awkward to pick up and eat. All in all it wasn't that satisfying for me. In retrospect we should have waited and got something in Nyhavn but we did have to be back at the hotel to meet up with Dave again later so couldn't really sit and linger over a nice meal.

The Kongens Nytorv is at the end of Nyhavn so we didn't have far to go from there. You only really ever see photos of the northern side of the harbour though the southern side also has coloured buildings and some brick ones but the northern side is the side that gets the sun (when it's out) so that's more photogenic. This harbour was dug back from the main harbour in the 1600s to connect the harbour to the inner city at the Nytorv. It was for shipping and fishing boats so it was all very industrial. It wasn't really a heritage tourist type thing until the last 25 years or so and now all the buildings have cafes and bars in them with outdoor seating all along the waterfront. Wooden ships and sailboats can moor at the docks. There are canal boat tours from here as well and we saw a large boat that appeared to have a little theatre space on it. We thought we might do the canal tour during our visit but the weather over the next few days really wasn't good enough for it.

We walked down the shady side and over onto the little bridge to take the obligatory photos. I'm so glad we did get to see it under sunny skies, with the bright colours and blue water! It doesn't look nearly as pretty otherwise.

We headed back and got a little turned around by Christianborg Palace which is on an island surrounded by another canal. It's a huge complex and includes the Danish Parliament buildings and a few museums as well. We were conferring with the map when a woman on a bike stopped and helped us out, pointing us to a pedestrian street that would eventually take us straight up to Norreport stn. and thus to the hotel. It was still a fair little walk and by now our feet were sore but we finally got back to the hotel where Dave was already waiting for us. We're going to a British style pub back in the old centre where we just came from! But we'd not have found it on our own anyway so needed Dave to lead us.

More walking! Charlie's Bar wasn't much more than a hole in the wall and served nothing but really great English ales. The atmosphere is cozy, the beer was reasonably priced and the bar itself is quite small. We met up with Donovan, Dave's radio show partner and best friend and had a couple of rounds but we were getting hungry and thought we should find somewhere to eat. Donovan knows a place close to our hotel so we piled out the door and started to walk back. Dave decided he would leave us to it and took a cab back to his place and we carried on. Turns out the café, called Bankerat, is on the corner just at the other end of the block where our hotel is.

What an awesome place! It's very Goth in décor, with stuffed animals and gargoyle type creatures everywhere. The lights were low, there were candles and strings of fairy lights around. The back room has a wall that is all mirror and looks like it's all cracked. The lights over the tables there are in dolls' heads hanging there! Creepy but fab! The food was excellent and we though a reasonable price (though still expensive but we knew it would be). We are going to come back again if possible.

May 6

Cathedrals and Viking ships

The plan today is to take the train to Roskilde which is the original Royal seat of Denmark. There's an old Cathedral (Domkirke) and the Viking Ship museum there which are both on our Must See list. The day is overcast and chilly unfortunately. Get used to it!

As breakfast wasn't included, there is a bakery just up the street. We had hot drinks and something to eat there before going to Norreport station. Apparently we can get a regional train to Roskilde from here rather than going to the Central Station so that will be convenient. Only we had trouble with the ticket machines. It kept getting to the payment part and timing out, not giving me the opportunity to put in the corresponding PIN for my credit card. There was no manned ticket office there and the machine only took coins, not paper money. Arggh! We went down onto the platform to see if there was anyone there that could help. There was a snack kiosk so I asked there and the guy had some 24 hour pass type tickets that he could sell to us. Sorted.

The train took maybe 20 or 30 minutes and you arrive at the city centre. Roskilde also has lots of pretty colourful one or two storey houses. They looked quite old, some of them but they also have modern buildings as well, of course. In fact, most of the city is newer after a fire. The city is also famous for a huge rock festival held here every summer.

We walked through a shopping area that led to the old Market square. Here you find some old brick buildings, one of which houses the tourist information centre and the brick Domkirke is behind that. On one side of the church is a long low yellow building which is apparently the Bishop's Palace, his residence and offices.

As I said, this used to be the capital city and most of the Kings and Queens from the 1500s forward are buried in the church. The interior of the church does look like it's been restored and it has been changed over the years since it was first built in the 13th century. Originally Catholic, the Reformation brought Lutheranism to Denmark but some paintings still exist from before the Reformation. Some of the walls and ceilings are very clean and bright, painted white with crests but you can see that the pews and other woodwork are very old. The altar screen is gold, a very elaborate three panel piece that is from the 16th century. Behind that is the tomb of Margrete I who was a medieval queen of Denmark and the workmanship is exquisite. There are 39 kings and queens buried here, both behind the altar and in elaborate side chapels.

The real jaw-dropper is the chapel built by Christian IV. The walls are covered in murals and the vaulted ceiling is bright blue with gold highlights and "stars" similar to the ceiling in Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Christian IV reigned for over 60 years. The chapel has a number of tombs in it including his and a large bronze statue of him as well. The gates to the chapel are intricately worked wrought iron, it looks like lace!

Most of the rulers seem to be Christians or Frederiks though I expect that is just the name they take when they succeed to the throne. Several of them from IV to the next few kings are the ones responsible for a lot of the major castles and buildings, squares and parks in Copenhagen.

From there we walked down a winding little street that led to a main one that comes out by the Viking Ship museum. It was a very pretty walk. The word "Vik" means "shallow inlet" so the word Viking means the people that lived along the inlets.

The museum has a lot of replica longboats in the little harbour and inside the museum there are bits and pieces of 5 real ones, mounted on skeleton frames so you can see how big they really were. These ships were discovered in the fjord in 1962, having been deliberately sunk a millennia ago to protect the harbour from enemies sailing in, and over the past few years were painstakingly raised and dried out and preserved. They also have sailings where you can go out in a replica boat and be part of the crew, rowing and handling the sails but it was far to chilly today for that. It also costs extra to do that on top of the museum entry.

We had a look into the working boat house where they are building another long boat according to traditional methods. There are lots of information boards and there is a film you can watch about the voyage they did in a replica longboat from Roskilde to Dublin and back. They did have radar and some other safety measures on board but basically they are in this shallow boat exposed to the elements and you cannot imagine how the Vikings could have gone across the oceans in these boats and survived!

We had a coffee and we bought a few things in the gift shop. We just missed the bus back to the station so we asked the gift shop people to call us a taxi. She said the bus was only once an hour so it wasn't worth waiting and it was an uphill climb to walk. The departures board at the station was a bit confusing. Surely more than one or two trains an hour stop in Copenhagen? I asked someone and of course, there were other trains and since they all went through one or two platforms, we could be sure of getting one if we waited there. We only had to wait about 10 minutes and we were able to get the train right to Norreport.

I have an app on my iPod for Copenhagen and it shows local restaurants. One of the ones near our hotel seemed like it might be a good bet so we walked down a couple of blocks and found it. It's called Café Klimt and it turned out to be a little gem. It's small and a bit worn around the edges but cheerful. They have an English menu and the prices seemed good. The food was hot and fresh and very good. The restaurant itself is a bit worn around the edges, with some vinyl on seats cracked but the staff was really nice, the food excellent, presented like a work of art, and we liked it there. We noticed they also do brunch and breakfast items cheaper than we could pay at the hotel so we ended up coming here for most of our breakfasts even though they don't open until 10. We're not in any rush so it will mean we don't have to get up really early.

Tonight we went to the studio where Dave and Donovan record their Metal Breakfast Radio show to record a show with them. We had to take a bus through the northern part of the city, the Norrepro district and then walked a few blocks where the building was. It's a small studio and Donovan also has his business in one of the rooms. He builds and fixes electric guitars and is very talented. The session went well, lots of fun. They play songs but then talk through a lot of it and if they don't like the song, they finish it early with Dalek sound effects "Exterminate!!!!" Graham and I had brought some songs to play and I know I fully expected some of mine to be exterminated, and brought one specifically for that purpose!

The room was small and got quite warm with the four of us in there. Beer was drank and laughs were had. It was mostly the three of them doing most of the talking as I don't know as much about the metal music world that they do but I enjoyed myself. We got a taxi back to the hotel as it was dark and late and I didn't fancy walking very far to find a later bus. We discovered we were too late for the hotel restaurant and there weren't any others close by that were open or that weren't too full so we ended up having to go to bed hungry! Better get some snacks in to avoid that situation again!

Next up.... we hit the shops and museums.



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