Crazy Copenhagen

When I think about travelling, I always seem to fantasize of exotic places with a severe difference in food, in language, in people, and – as my post on the disappointing dreariness of the Irish weather proves – I often plan to escape somewhere for a significant difference  in the climate.

In Europe and not particularly renowned for phenomenal weather, Denmark was not on my travel radar. Until SPAR sent me there for a week. Uncertain of what to expect, I unexpectedly became certain that I loved this city. My stay begun with a fantastic meal in an out of the way, empty, but beautifully quirky restaurant. Upon telling the waiter I was planning on staying in the city for the next 6 days, his less than enthusiastic reaction (‘‘WHAT?! There is literally nothing to do here for more than three days. Get out of here!”) didn’t exactly fill me with hope for an enthralling week ahead.

But it was enthralling. Hurrah!

1) Tivoli

Tivoli is the world’s second oldest theme park – WAAAAAAAAAH! This makes for a very, very cool way to spend a day… and night. There’s not too many rides, but the world’s highest carousel is worth the steep 7 euro fee, and the beautiful surrounding gardens are easy to lose yourself in. On Fridays, Tivoli hosts a free concert. As with my experience in Slovenia, this free concert blew my mind, with an incredibly talented group and a great festival feel to it. Cider in hand, brilliant music, a chilled out atmosphere = very good times.

2) City Tour

Free city walking tours are extremely common all around Europe, and in my experience so far, have all been worth the tip you will feel obliged to give the host. Our city tour was given by this lovely lady, lasted three hours, and told an abundance of history related things that I can never be bothered to read about.

3) Louisiana

Louisiana museum of Modern Art is one of the most beautiful museums in the world. Even if you’re not into art, you should visit this place. A short and relatively inexpensive 20 – 30 minute journey away from Copenhagen Central, the views of the coast and surrounding gardens are worth spending a full day. Suffering from the night before, we didn’t manage to get there until 3 in the afternoon, and huuugely regretted not dragging ourselves out of bed a bit earlier!

4) Free Bikes and Free Music

Copenhagen provide free bikes all over the city. They do. They actually do this. Walking down the street and thinking ‘If I had a bike this journey would be 20 times faster’, and voila. There a bike was. For free?! Cycling around any city is always a fun, different way to see the sights and get around, but as with everything, it always tastes better when it’s for free. The city is also alive with music at night time, and we stumbled into several different bars with amazing bands casually playing in the corner.

5) Christiania

A ten minute walk from the city centre, Christiania is a completely different world from the clean cut, healthy streets of Copenhagen city. The streets are littered with eccentric and battered hippies, artists, and just plain old drunks. There’s a smell of freedom in the air which many residents are more than happy to pass around, and the beer is actually cheap. I had a truly absurd night here.

I stayed in Copenhagen for 6 days, only venturing as far out as Louisiana, and could fill a hundred more there. Take that, pessimistic waiter.

#Denmark #Europe #History #Music #Copenhagen #Cities #Travel