Copenhagan

The first trip of the new decade was a three hour flight to Copenhagen with Ryanair with Elaine. When we landed, we had a 15 minute train journey (kr36/€4.80) to the Central Station, where we were staying close by in the lovely and highly recommended Steel House hostel. It was one of the best hostels I’ve stayed in in a long time. It was situated in an ideal location, and was very clean and had a great vibe.

That evening we went for dinner at Falernum restaurant, as recommended by the hostel. This little wine bar restaurant had lovely had a great choice of tapas style dishes and delicious chocolate desserts to finish it off!

Next morning, we got up and went for breakfast in Sunny restaurant, situated just off the New Square in the city. This cute little restaurant served salmon and egg dishes and large bowls of granola, which set us up for a great start of the day. We joined the free walking tour which started at the City Hall Square. The local guide Allan brought us around the city and gave us lots of tips for places to visit in Copenhagen and even taught us some local language.

We visited walked up the 1.1km Strøget Street which is Europe’s longest shopping street. Then we visited Magstræde which is the oldest street in Copenhagen, which had buildings that survived the city fires in 1728 and 1795. Next, we stopped outside the Government buildings and the Royal Stables before going to Nyhavn Harbour which has transformed from being a red light district to a beautiful harbour with lots of nice restaurants and boats. We finished the tour at the Amalienborg Palace which is the main residence of the Danish Queen Margrethe II. The guards were outside and the Danish flag was flying high above the Palace so we kept and eagle eye out to try to spot the Queen but unfortunately we didn’t get to see her.

After the tour, we walked across the water to Christianshavn. We stopped at a lovely restaurant for some lunch. This was our first experience of some local cuisine where we had a smørrebrød, which is an open sandwich made of rye bread. After lunch we went to Freetown Christiania, which is an autonomous hippie district in the city with its own laws of the sale of cannabis and other drugs. The buildings were painted with colourful graffiti art with various stalls and markets. It was nice to walk around but had a very weird vibe so we didn’t hang around too long.

We walked back into the city centre and we went to Christiansborg Palace where the Danish Parliament is held. We went up the Tower above the Palace for a nice free view across the city. Next we headed to the
Tivoli Gardens which was one of the main things I wanted to do in Copenhagen. Unfortunately it was closed due to preparations for the winter festival which is starting next week. However we managed to walk around the outskirts of the Gardens and saw the lovely lights inside. This just gives us a reason to come back again!

Next morning after checking out, we decided to embrace the local culture and hired some bikes from the hostel for 6 hours (kr75/€10). 40% of commuters in Copenhagen travel by bike every day. There are designated cycle lanes all over the city so we just followed the crowd and tried to stay upright. Our first stop was some breakfast at Lagkagehuset, for some Danish Pastries. There was lots of different flavours and types that we were spoilt for choice.

We then cycled up the coast to the Little Mermaid statue perched on the rocks. When it started to rain we cycled to the Rosberg Castle to walk around the gardens. Unfortunately the main buildings were closed. We then went across the road to the Botanical Gardens for a stroll around. We found that we were getting cold with the walking and cycling so we went back to Lagkagehuset for some hot chocolates and more pastries!

We then made the compulsory stop at the Lego store, especially as Denmark is the home of LEGO! Before we returned our bikes to the hostel, we cycled to the Nørrebro District which is a cool suburb with lots of colourful buildings and play areas.

That evening before heading to the airport we went for dinner in the Tivoli Gardens Food Hall which had a wide variety of cuisines in the little pop up style restaurants. We got to sit near the glass windows and got a view of the nice lights within the gardens, ending a lovely trip to Copenhagen!Read more