The weekend before Thanksgiving, Travers and I flew to Copenhagen for a long weekend! We arrived at the airport and took public transportation into town, then walked a couple blocks to the apartment we had rented on Airbnb. After getting the keys, we slowly walked up the 5 flights of stairs to the apartment, which was modernly decorated and had great views of the neighboring
Torvehallerne Food Market. With the food tempting us, we headed to the market, which was filled with people having a late lunch. After walking throughout the two large buildings that make up the market, we settled on sharing a fish taco and a duck confit wrap. Both absolutely delicious! And the perfect start to many other fantastic meals that weekend.
With full stomachs, we headed towards the Old Town area and entered the pedestrian zone, where the streets are lined with shops and cafes and tons of people were starting to get in the festive Christmas spirit, which was only a month away! We headed to the
Rundetarn, a 17th century tower built originally as an astronomical observatory. We climbed up the circular pathway that winds up the tower, and were rewarded with panoramic views of the city beneath us.
Getting our bearings on the city, we went back down the tower and continued our walk through old town. We strolled the cobblestone streets, dodging people left and right, eventually popping into a popular cafe to grab some warm coffee and tasty mid-afternoon treat! Walking some more, we eventually found the Christmas Market that was located in the center of Old Town. While not the largest Christmas Market we had been to, it definitely had all the same requirements, some vin chaud (hot wine), some delicious smelling food stalls, and lots of oranament and gift stalls all surrounding a central mini railroad track where little kids could get on a tiny choo choo train and ride through a winter wonderland.
After getting our fill of vin chaud, we continued our stroll through Copenhagen, heading to the canal and hopping on a boat to do a
boat tour through the city. The boat deftly navigated the narrow canals and often warning us not to stand up and sometimes even duck our heads as we would pass under some extremely low bridges. We were able to see many great buildings throughout the city, eventually leaving the canals and passing by the old Mast Crane from 1748, which is a well known landmark at the entrance to the harbor. From there, we headed out to see the famous Little Mermaid, a statue from the story written by Hans Christian Andersen. Turning around there, we then passed by the Amalienborg Palace, which Travers and I would later go back to on foot. Heading back into the canals, we saw some more popular buildings, like the Royal Library and Royal Arsenal Museum, and eventually passed by Christiansborg Palace before heading back towards where we started. Travers and I stayed on one more stop past where we started, and got off at Nyhavn, a pictoresque canel with colorful houses and sailboats lining each side.
Getting off at
Nyhavn, we walked down the street along the canal, checking out all the pubs and restaurants and a small Christmas Market that was set up with a few stalls of food and drinks and gifts. The sun had set by this time, even though it was maybe 5pm, and it was getting colder and colder, so we popped into a pub to warm ourselves up and get a bit of local culture.
Mostly warmed up, we walked to the
Tivoli Gardens, which is normally a large amusement park, but this time of year gets turned into a large Christmas Market! There were lights everywhere! Lights in trees, on buildings, strung across the pathways. It was so festive, it got us in the mood for Christmas immediately. We grabbed some vin chaud, and proceed to walk the grounds, taking in all the fun stalls and decorations. We watched the nightly light show where over a pond of water, lights were shown in various colors and patterns, dancing to the Nutcracker's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and other popular songs form the famous ballet. And we grabbed some more gourmet food from some of the food stalls that warmed us up and kept us going!
We went back to the apartment after that and woke the next morning to continue our exploration of Copenhagen. We went to the Torvehallerne Food Market again for breakfast, getting some delicious coffees and pastries, then headed to the
Carlsberg Brewery to see how Carlsberg beer is made. We arrived at the brewery before lunch time, but it was already crowded with people. We paid for our self-guided tour, then headed into the brewery to learn as much as we could about the history of Carlsberg and how they brew their beer. And we even got to see the Carlsberg horses that pull carts of beer around for festivals and events! At the end, we were treated to a Carlsberg beer to sit and enjoy!
From there, we walked back to the Vesterbro district where we had heard were some great restaurants and bars, so we wanted to check it out for later that evening. After discovering a restaurant for the evening, we continued walking and ended up at Christianshavn where we grabbed a bite to eat for lunch, and where the
Church of Our Savior is located with its corkscrew spire that you can climb up for some amazing views of Copenhagen. We started the climb along with several other people up the inside of the spire (400 steps total), often having to stop on a small platform to let others pass on their way down. And as we got higher and higher, it got narrower and narrower. The last four turns of the corkscrew are on the outside of the spire and we eventually reached it. Most people stopped there as we were pretty high up, almost 90 meters, but heights don't seem to bother me, so I continued on as far as I could possibly go until there were no more steps left! I took some quick panoramic photos before heading back down, trying not to bump too many others on my way.
After coming back down, we walked through the nearby
Freetown Christiania, a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood, where no photos are allowed once inside, and buying and selling marijuana happens at all hours of the day. We didn't stay long, and eventually headed back to the apartment to rest a bit before going back out for the evening.
We started the evening at the
Mikkeler Bar, which was so packed with people that the windows were steaming up. But they have some unique beers that are all high in alcohol content but taste wonderful, so we tried a couple, wedging our way in between a few people at the bar. From there, we went to dinner at
Kodbyens Fiskebar, that we had scoped out earlier in the day. We ate some delicious seafood dishes, paired with some nice wine, then headed out again to another nearby bar for an after dinner drink or two. We sat in by the window just people watching and commenting on some odd fashion statements and personalities passing us by.
Our last full day in Copenhagen, we started with another breakfast at the market across the way. Then we wandered to the
Rosenborg Castle, which has some of Denmark's greatest treasures. We did a self-guided tour of the castle, seeing some royal crowns and jewelry and the various rooms and surrounding grounds of the castle.
From there we walked to the
Amalienborg Palace, which is made up of four identical buildings, all palaces of various princes or kings of Denmark. We walked around the palace, and into some of the residences, taking in all the history of Denmark royalty we could manage.
We then headed to the
Royal Stables at Christianborg Palace, where we were able to see some beautiful white horses and royal carriages that are still used to this day.
Then we toured the Christianborg Palace, again seeing lots of the royal family's rooms and learning the history of the royal family.
After that, we were pretty exhausted from walking around so much, so we went back to the apartment to rest up, pack our bags, and get ready for dinner that evening. We had selected a wonderful restaurant just a few blocks away from our apartment. The decor inside had trees everywhere that divided the space between tables quite nicely. And we were treated with some great service and a delicious prix fixe menu.
We called it an early evening after dinner as we were exhausted from all the sightseeing we had done in two and a half days we had been there. So we went back to the apartment, got a good night's sleep and rose early the next morning to grab one last breakfast at the Torvehallerne Food Market, this time finding a unique looking bakery where we ordered some tasty pastries and coffees. I would definitely go back to Copenhagen again, if for nothing else than the delicious food!
