A little about me? Well, having been active on Ciao Germany since 2000, I figured it was time to hav...
A little about me? Well, having been active on Ciao Germany since 2000, I figured it was time to have a look across the channel :-))
Member since:18.03.2003
Reviews:4
Members who trust:3
Yes, yes, everyone knows Copenhagen and the Little Memaid or the Tivoli.
But how many of you know about the rest of this wonderful country?
To understand my fascination, you must know one thing:
Unlike like most people at ciao.uk, I do not live on an island surrounded by the sea. No, I, as a boring German, live in the boring German countryside where the nearest bit of sea still is a good 8 hours' drive away. *sniff*
And so, as I love those high, rough waves beating upon a sandy beach, the wind blowing so hard that it's difficult to breathe, the smell of burning wood wafting across the heather, so I spend most of my holidays in Denmark, preferably somewhere on the North-Sea coast.
In my opinion, there is nothing better than a small holiday house a stone's throw away from gigantic sand-dunes. Go for a walk, get soaked, sit by the fire or use the house-own sauna - that's my perfect holiday.
As I am not sure whether this kind of holiday
will appeal to you, too, let me get to the point.
Copenhagen - yes, it's nice. It's got some nice tourist attractions and it's "buzzing" in the summer. BUT ...
*Jutland*
Or Jylland, as the Danes call it, is the Danish mainland. It is much quieter, calmer, more relaxed.
There are no "big" towns, all the towns Danes'd call big like Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense or Esbjerg are hardly big by British or German standards.
They are, however, still nice and worth seeing.
RIBE for instance, in the Southwest of Jutland, has its own night-guard as in the Old Days, who walks around the picturesque town centre shouting out the hours.
LEGOLAND near Billung is something you may have heard of - expensive, but worth a visit. You can admire many typically Danish as well as other European landscapes, all made off those Lego Stones. Good fun is the Western park where you can wahs gold and feast on enormous amounts of spareribs, while the kids get to bake Bread-on-a-Stick with a >genuine< ;-) Indian Chief.
AARHUS on the East Coast, sports "Den gammle By" - an outdoor museum with old houses that depicts life at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Also nice to see is the Aarhus Old Town with several private breweries - sampling recommended ...
RANDERS offers the newly opened Jungle Park with an indoor jungle (complete with less harmless bits of the fauna). There are special tours for children, too.
HJERL HEDE in the mid-west is a stone-age village which is inhabited by "stone-age people" during the summer. It's fun to see how char-coal was produced, or how the inhabitants earn their dinner by spearing fish.
JESPERHUS Blomsterpark on the island Mors in the Limfjord again is worth seeing, if you are a gardening fan, plenty of flowerbeds as well as a large amount of live butterflies will enchant the visitor.
AALBORG the second-largest town in Jutland after Aarhus - and Heksen's home for 14 months - has its own little church (Budolfi Kirke), remainders of a castle (Slot), a zoo, and a funpark as well as an extremely nice pedestrian zone where shopping is fun (and the clothes are - by Danish standards, cheap).
Proceeding further North, we reach HIRTSHALS where the ferries leave to Norway. This town houses, would you believe it, Europe's larges aquarium - a gigantic fish tank with a real ship-wreck and sharks. Go there when it's feeding time and you can watch the divers feed them. They also have a basin with orphaned seals, every child's delight ;-).
Onwards, to SKAGEN. Skagen used to be an artists' colony about 100 years ago, as the light there is very special (and makes for some nice photographs, too). Still nice is the small marina and several very good seafood-restaurants.
About 5 km North of Skagen is GRENEN. This is the northernmost point of Denmark, where the Baltic and the North Sea join. Stand and watch the Oceans meet, it's fascinating.
Soooo ... still think Copenhagen is Denmark and Denmark is Copenhagen? Most definitely not.
*Travel*
Aha, but the places I have described require a lot of driving? Well, yes and now. Depending whether you are staying in one place or camping in different locations, the journeys are not too long. Just think, to get from Esbjerg on the West Coast to Kolding on the East Coast, it takes little more than a two-hour drive.
Also, the train-system is well developed and where trains don't go, buses will. The biggest airport is in Copenhagen, but there is also a small one in Billund and a larger one in Aalborg.
*Where to sleep*
All the camping-grounds I have seen were placed in beautiful locations, often very close to the sea. They were clean and spacious and camping there was extremely enjoyable. Wild camping is forbidden. Most of them offer - apart from space for tents and caravans, also little log-cabins, called hytter, where you can spend the night cheaply.
Denmark has a good deal of hotels and youth-hostels (vandrerhjem(met)), you can find them on the internet.
*The language*
The language barrier? There is none. You will find that most Danes have an excellent command of English. I have always found them very nice, friendly and helpful, even to complete strangers.
*Conclusion* I think that you cannot find "real" Denmark in Copenhagen. "My" Denmark, in any case, are those flower-borderd, cobble-stoned streets in the smaller villages, the Danish Flag against a bright blue sky, and those very blonde, very friendly people.
Vi ses i Danmark! C Heksen 2003
(an older version of this opinion can also be found on Dooyoo)
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Great review, summing up the Denmark I love.
One thing, the new motorway between Esberg and Kolding has cut this journey time down to less than an hour - the roads are great there, I don't think they know what a traffic jam is!
herbb 21.03.2003 12:26
I´ve visited Copenhagen, Roskilde and Helsingborg, Jylland I crossed to come back from Römö to Sylt....crazy Danes, they swam in the 17° North Sea!
Kingseany 20.03.2003 15:46
Nice opinion, will be off to Denmark in the next few years, maybe even this year, as it's "only down the road" from us.
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Advantages: Not as expensive as expected, friendly people, easy to get around, great beer! Disadvantages: More expensive than the UK, gets ignored when thinking about a short break
moose 18.05.2001 (31.07.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of General: Denmark
Advantages: Location - easily reached by car and public transport Disadvantages: Cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired, expensive rooms and substandard service
Mar 18th, 2003
very helpful by (100%):
