Copenhagen and the Best of Denmark

264 Pages·2003·3.738 MB·English

by  Norman Renouf

COPENHAGEN
& THE BEST OF
DENMARK:
ALIVE!
Norman P.T. Renouf
Hunter Publishing, Inc.
CCOOPPEENNHHAAGGEENN
DDEENNMMAARRKK
VV EE !!
AA LL II
NormanP.T.Renouf
HunterPublishing,Inc.
130CampusDrive
Edison,NJ08818-7816
(cid:1)732-225-1900/800-255-0343/Fax[phone]
Website:www.hunterpublishing.com
E-mail:[email protected]
INCANADA
UlyssesTravelPublications
4176Saint-Denis,Montréal,Québec
CanadaH2W2M5
(cid:1)514-843-9882ext.2232/Fax[phone]
INTHEUK
WindsorBooksInternational
TheBoundary,WheatleyRoad
Garsington,OxfordOX449EJEngland
(cid:1)01865-361122/Fax[phone]
ISBN1-58843-355-2
©2003HunterPublishing,Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro-
duced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyform,
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record-
ing, or otherwise, without the written permission of the pub-
lisher.
Thisguidefocusesonrecreationalactivities.Asallsuchactivi-
tiescontainelementsofrisk,thepublisher,author,affiliatedin-
dividuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for any
injury,harm,orillnessthatmayoccurtoanyonethrough,orby
useof,theinformationinthisbook.Everyeffortwasmadetoin-
suretheaccuracyofinformationinthisbook,butthepublisher
andauthordonotassume,andherebydisclaim,anyliabilityfor
lossordamagecausedbyerrors,omissions,misleadinginforma-
tion or potential travel problems caused by this guide, even if
sucherrorsoromissionsresultfromnegligence,accidentorany
othercause.
FrontCover:BaroqueGarden,Hillerød,KlausBentzen
BackCover:QueenLouise’sBridge,Copenhagen,JreneuszCyranek
PhotosCourtesyofDanishTouristBoard
MapsbyToniWheeler, ©2003HunterPublishing,Inc.
IndexbyNancyWolff
4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction
ABriefHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PlanningYourTrip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
WhatToExpect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Copenhagen
ABriefHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
GettingHere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
ElephantsofCopenhagen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
RoyalCopenhagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
SunupToSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
BestPlacesToStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
BestPlacesToEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
CopenhagenInformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Helsingør
ABriefHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
TheCityToday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
SunupToSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
ShopTillYouDrop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
BestPlaceToStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
BestPlaceToEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
HelsingørInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Hillerød
ABriefHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
TheCityToday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
SunupToSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
iv CopenhagenAlive!
ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
BestPlaceToEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
HillerødInformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Roskilde
ABriefHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
SunupToSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
TheRoskildeFestival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
BestPlaceToStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
BestPlacesToEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
RoskildeInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Helsingborg
ABriefHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
SunupToSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
BestPlaceToStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
BestPlaceToEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
HelsingborgInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Malmö
ABriefHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
SunupToSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
BestPlacesToStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
BestPlaceToEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
MalmöInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Odense
ABriefHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
TheCityToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
SunupToSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
AfterDark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
BestPlacesToStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
BestPlacesToEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
OdenseInformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Århus
ABriefHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Contents v
TheCityToday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
SunupToSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
ShopTillYouDrop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
BestPlacesToStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
BestPlacesToEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
ÅrhusInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Ribe
ABriefHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
SunupToSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
JustOutsideRibe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
BestPlacesToStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
BestPlacesToEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
RibeInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Maps
Denmark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Copenhagen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-23
Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Helsingør . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Hillerød . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Roskilde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Helsingborg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Malmö . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Central&WesternDenmark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Odense. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Århus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Ribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
About the Author
NormanP.T.Renoufisaprolificwriter.Hispreviousbooks
forHunterPublishingareRomanticWeekends:TheCaro-
linas&TheGeorgiaCoast;RomanticWeekends:Virginia,
Maryland & Washington DC (both co-authored with his
wife,KathyRenouf);andAdventureGuidetoTheGeorgia
&CarolinaCoasts,co-authoredwithBlairHoward.
About the Alive Guides
Reliable, detailed and personally researched by knowl-
edgeableauthors,theAlive!serieswasfoundedbyHarriet
and Arnold Greenberg. This accomplished travel-writing
teamestablishedtherenownedbookstore,TheComplete
Traveller,at199MadisonAvenueinNewYorkCity.
We Love to Get Mail
Thisbookhasbeencarefullyresearchedtobringyoucur-
rent, accurate information. But no place is unchanging.
We welcome your comments for future editions. Please
writeusatAliveGuides,c/oHunterPublishing,130Cam-
pus Drive, Edison, NJ 08818, or send an e-mail to com-
[email protected]. Due to the volume of mail
we receive, we regret that we cannot personally reply to
eachletterormessage,butyourcommentswillbegreatly
appreciated.
Introduction I
n
t
r
o
d
D u
enmarkismadeupofthreeregions.Muchofthe c
country consists of a group of islands of varying ti
o
sizes.ThelargeislandclosesttoSwedeniscalledZea- n
land (Sjæland), and is the location of Copenhagen,
Helsingør,HillerødandRoskilde.Funen(Fyn),where
Odenseislocated,isasmallerislandwestofZealand.
The largest portion of the country is Jutland (Jyl-
land),apeninsulaconnectedtoGermanyandtheloca-
tionofÅrhusandRibe.
A Brief History
The Rise of a Kingdom
Initially, some 1,000 years ago, Copenhagen – Kø-
benhavn in Danish – was but a small trading cen-
ter, specializing in the plentiful supply of local
herring; it was also a base for ferry services to
ScaniaontheothersideoftheØresund(thesound
between Denmark and Sweden). Copenhagen’s –
andDenmark’s–fortunesrosedramaticallyduring
the 12th and 13th centuries (due in part to the
immense demand in mainly Catholic Europe for
salted herring during Lent), and the era saw many
churches and abbeys founded. Copenhagen’s oldest
seal dates from 1296, and many of its features are
incorporated into the city’s present coat of arms.
Copenhagen’sstrategiclocation–neartheapproach
to the Baltic Sea and the North German trading
townsoftheHanseaticLeague–broughtprosper-
ity, but it also brought problems as a result of re-
peated attacks. During this period, too, the Danish
kings tried to regain control from the bishops. In
1416,KingErikofPomeraniafinallygainedcon-
trolofthetown.ProsperitycontinuedapaceandCo-
2 ABriefHistory
penhagen became so rich and powerful that King
ChristianIV,afterhiscoronationin1596,decided
tomakeittheeconomic,military,religiousandcul-
turalcenterofthewholeofScandinavia.Toachieve
this, he established trading companies with sole
rightstotradeoverseas,andsetupfactoriessothat
Denmarkcouldbecomeasself-sufficientaspossible.
Thekingalsoaddedtwonewdistrictstothegrowing
city,oneofwhich,Christianshavn(Christian’sHar-
bor), is heavily influenced by the Dutch style of
Amsterdam,whichthekingadmired.Fortifications
were extended to surround the new boundaries of
the town. For the next two centuries everyone and
TheSwedishWars 3
everythinghadtoenterandexitthroughoneoffour I
n
gates. Christian IV became famous for his commis- t
r
o
sioning of Dutch and German architects to produce
d
magnificent buildings; by the time of his death in u
c
1648 Copenhagen had been transformed into a city t
i
o
withgrandbuildingsandagrandstyle. n
The Swedish Wars
In 1657, Christian IV’s successor, King Frederik
III,declaredwaronSweden,butthisendedindisas-
ter, and Denmark was forced to cede all its lands
east of the Øresund; this meant that Copenhagen
wasnolongeracityatthecenterofakingdom.Two
years later, despite a peace agreement, the citizens
of Copenhagen only just managed to hold off the
Swedes, who had conquered most of the rest of the
country. These events had many consequences; the
mostimportantwasthatthekingwasabletoconsol-
idatehispoweragainstthatofthenobility.Frederik
IIIwas,in1660,acclaimedDenmark’sfirstabsolute
monarch.
Much of medieval Copenhagen was burned to the
ground during the fire of 1728, and strict rules re-
garding height, choice of materials and architec-
tural styles were applied to the rebuilding efforts.
Out of these efforts came the new Christiansborg
Palace, which the king occupied in 1740; a decade
later the entirely new district of Frederiksstaden,
laid out in straight streets and with the beautiful
palacesofAmalienborgatitscenter,wasbegun.
Rebuilding
The next 50 years brought prosperity; Denmark
avoidedinvolvementinwarsand,asoneofthelarg-
estnavalpowers,continuedtodefenditsworldwide
tradeinterests.Thepoliticalstructurealsobeganto
change. Private citizens were able to compete for