Our travels 2008

Saturday 16 August

We were up in plenty of time and drove down early to make sure we got a spot on this ferry. When it came it was really big, so not too much worry. We had to ask where to get off as we were not too sure but the man going down the cars cheerfully told us we needed to go to Forsand.

This turned out to be more a cruise than a ferry ride along the Lysefjord. The whole journey took over two hours and they put up a commentary along the way for all the sights. At one point we passed closer to the side where they said we might see seals, although one head was all we were lucky enough to see. Looking back up at the high Kjerag mountain and it’s sheer cliffs almost made my legs shake to see how high we were. It is also just possible to see the little Kjerag bolt way up high above as well. Along the way was also an impressive waterfall and we got our first view of Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), which is our destination for today.

It was about a 45 minute drive from Forsand along the road to the Priekestolen carpark where the walk starts. We wanted to go up for sunset and as the walk is only about two hours and we arrived at the carpark about 3 pm we decided to delay for a bit as we expected it would be too crowded to go up at that time. We went down to the café and got some food instead as we were quite hungry. We are not keeping to a neat three meals a day at all on this trip so breakfast and dinner are really the only sure meals we eat.

We set off about 5 pm. This walk is much easier than the one from yesterday, to our relief. The whole way up we were just constantly passing people and a few big groups as well. How crowded it must have been up there today! The walk up was quite pleasant as we got some incredible views out to the west and the islands. There was only one more difficult spot up some boulders but, again, compared to yesterday this was easy. We passed a couple of little lakes where people swim in the warm weather. We were hot but not very tempted as the temperature was dropping as evening fell, but it would have been nice earlier in the day as today has been our warmest day in Norway.

When we got to the flat top of the Pulpit Rock there were still quite a lot of people around but we were in no hurry. We took a few photographs and then climbed up on the rock above for views down to it and then walked around the hills for a view across to it. It is quite incredible for its rather flat top and the way it juts out from the cliff sort of by itself. Our informative ferry cruise this morning helpfully told us that there is a large rift between the “pulpit” part and the main cliff but then encouragingly said that experts have said it won’t fall! Standing up there at the top, it is rather unnerving having this information. We took lots of photos, mostly trying to imitate the postcards of standing on the edge (but not too close!). I did at one time feel brave and lay down to have a peek over and the drop is rather disconcerting so I didn’t look more than a second.

We stayed until the sun was setting then worked our way around. We couldn’t really see across to the west from where we were but could see the sky was quite pink. As we came around with a better view we were astounded by the colours. The clouds were a deep purple with pink around the edges. Unfortunately we could not capture this in a photograph. We hurried along to try and get to a better viewpoint, but thinking that it would soon go. Surprisingly it got brighter first, before settling in to a duller pink. We got all they way around to the view back over the islands and the colour was still there. It was so incredible and we could only feel that God had given this amazing sunset as a special conclusion to his Sabbath. It lasted for about 1 hour in total before really fading away! Of course once the sunset had gone there was not much light and it took us another hour of walking in the dark to get back down to the bottom. But this was no problem as we had taken torches knowing this would be the case and the track was very clear and easy to follow.

We were not allowed to stay in the carpark so we drove away and back around to where we needed to catch a ferry towards the road to Stavenger. We were fortunate again as the carpark right by the ferry terminal did not have any “No camping” signs so we were able to stay there. It was such a relief to get to bed!

Friday 15 August

We started our walk early this morning, getting up at 6:00 am and driving back to the carpark. There were a few other people out as well but not many. The walk is graded hard, which we soon discovered is not exaggerated. The first part is climbing straight up rocks and they have put in poles and chains along the way to help pull yourself up. The climb is steadily uphill most of the way, although it does go down a bit. The first climb is one of the hardest (as the start of the walk I guess) before doing the final climb up to a height of 1020 metres at the Kjerag mountain.

The main purpose of this walk is not just the incredible views of the fjord and the sheer drops at the edge but to pay a visit to the Kjerag Bolt. An amazing rock that is somehow wedged between two sheer cliffs 1000 m above the fjord below. The challenge for all visitors is whether they are brave enough to make the step onto the boulder. I would like to say that I stepped out there by myself but that would not be true. It is not difficult to get to it but at the last minute I chickened out so Dave stepped out first and supported me as I went out to him. A kind man had offered to photograph us. He took lots of photos and my knees started to shake after a little while so I was very glad to step off. Unfortunately the sun was shining rather brightly on us while the boulder is in shadow so the photos did not come out too well. I later took some of David out there when the sun went behind the clouds but could not bring myself to step out again. My brain would just not overcome the thought of that long drop below. I was pretty impressed with Dave for stepping out more than once!

As we were there quite early there was not many people about and it was a really nice friendly atmosphere of people. I think it was partly the sharing of a scary experience (at least among most of the girls!) that brings people together. As the day got busier I assume that would have stopped with the crowds.

David saw a spot out on the end of one of the cliffs and was determined to walk around to it. There was no specific track out there so it took us a bit of time and bouldering to get there. The view out over the fjord was good but not quite the angle we expected. From there we could see over to the proper looked marked by a cairn though that we had neglected to visit at previously in our hurry to get to the bolt. It took us a while to walk back around (although rather quicker than getting out there) and Dave wanted to go up to the other lookout. My feet were killing and I was not feeling so well so I waited for him to do that. Dave came back saying that it was indeed the very best viewpoint to go to and I should have gone with him. So it was a shame that we had walked all the way around to the other one as we really hadn’t needed to.

The trip down was extremely difficult. Because most of the time we were just going over large stretches of rock that were very steep it was very slow going. Much easier to go up that sort of terrain rather than down. We made it to the bottom thankfully. On enquiring in the shop when the ferry departs from the town below we were told 6 pm, so because it was almost that time we had already missed it.

We drove down the very exciting hairpins to the town of Lysebotn where we stayed at their campsite for the night to catch the first ferry tomorrow at 11:30. (Only two per day.) There was a bit of excitement in the campground on sunset when about 20 or so basejumpers went off the overhang up near the Kjerag summit and all arrived in the front area of the camp.

Thursday 14 August

In doing our detour yesterday, we had missed driving through the town of Heddel so we have decided to drive back to it this morning as it isn’t far and there is a really good stave church there. The church is actually really big and not so square as some. Although it has been largely restored there is still 25% of the original 1600 church there, most of which is the wooden planks inside with the original paintings of that time of swirls and patterns. Just underneath can also be seem of traces of even older paintings. The carvings around the doors on the entrance to the church are based on originals and very good. Inside is a bishops chair that is very well carved and dates to the 1300s. The bell tower was built a little to one side and built in 1870 something when they first attempted to restore the church (they botched it up though, which is why it needed re-restoring in the early 1900s).

We took most of today driving again. We did pass by some beautiful lakes and are really getting into the scenery of Norway. Part of our drive took us over a high mountain pass that was very barren and just had large boulders everywhere covered in green moss. We drove along the top for quite a way before starting to go back down. We marked a potential campground and carried on down to the visitor centre and where the start of the walk is that we intend to do tomorrow. There were signs saying we could not park overnight but they did have a map of the walk and a description which we looked at. An additional bonus is that they also have showers there so we took advantage of that to save again the cost of campgrounds (which are very expensive in Norway).

From the visitor centre we could look down on the fjord below and the town of Lysebotn. The is an incredible road leading down to the town below with something like 28 hairpin bends and is quite new, built for (or by) the people who established the hydroelectric plant near to the town. This we get to tackle tomorrow. Can’t really see the bends clearly from here but we have seen pictures in postcards. We drove back up the road a little way to the flat spot we had seen and fortunately no-one else had found it. There are a lot of sheep around and select ones wear bells around their necks so we can hear regular tinkling from them around our van.

Wednesday 13 August

Very sad to leave our peaceful spot by the marina but lots to do today. We drove around to the Viking Ship Museum, around near where we had been yesterday. This museum has three model ships, two in incredible condition. They were used as burial ships for what appear to be a queen and a chieftan so were well preserved in the clay. The first boat has the beautiful carving that is imagined in a Vikingship with the curling head of a snake at the bow. It is thought that this was probably a ceremonial boat used only on calm water as the side only went above the water by about two planks. The other boat was much more of a seagoing vessel. High sides and the rowing holes could be plugged up for when sailing. The third ship is only displayed as just the bottom of the hull. Most of the gold and valuables were stolen from the grave by graverobbers but there is still a display of what was found. One ship (I think the richest one) had the wooden burial chamber and two smaller boats. There were also sleighs and bits of practical materials like cooking and hunting items.

We have considered visiting the Norse Folk Museum but decided that it was probably not really what we wanted to see. We drove around the back though and got a glimpse of their big ornate stave church that has been relocated from a town in Norway (the town has since built a replica there though).

After we left the museums we drove up to the Holmenkollen Jump Tower and Ski Museum. The top was in cloud when we arrived but fortunately cleared away. We walked around below marvelling at the steepness of the grass where the jumpers land. In summer the bowl at the bottom is filled up and used for swimming so we did not get the complete idea of how far to the bottom. There was a small jump into the water and a couple of boys were practicing their freestyle skiing but going over the jump and doing flips and things and landing in the water. They did this over and over again and I admired their dedication as each time they had to swim back to the side and walk up to the top again in their ski boots.

By this time the weather had cleared so we decided it was time to go up the tower. To get to the tower though we had to pay to go into the ski museum. It follows the history of skiing for over 4000 years to the present day, and has some interesting exhibits. To get up the tower there is an elevator to the old top level and then stairs to the final point that has been extended up and out from the old one. It is a little bit unnerving to know that there is no solid base underneath. The look down the ski jump is also quite incredible. It is so steep and such a long way down it baffles me that people are able to push themselves off of it. The jump has changed considerably since 1985 when the first one was built here and it was only a 35m high jump on a ski run. Now the jump is over 200 m high and the landing area much steeper of course so that is why the records for jumping are always increasing. This ski jump is also about to change again as it will be completely demolished and a new one built for the 2011 Winter Olympics that better meets the international standard.

We looked around the museum then at the various types of old skis and some paraphernalia of various explorers. An impressive site is an improvised boat that was made from the canvas of a tent around a wooden frame that one had used to row himself and his companion 90 miles to safety at the beginning of winter as they were attempting to reach the north pole. Amazing that the thing even floated. They also had an exhibition of the royal family, who are great skiers. There was a cute picture of the current king aged about 3 or 4 holding some skies that were considerably bigger than he was!

Our goal for today was to get to Lysefjorden, which is east and a little south of Oslo and a very long drive on Norwegian roads. Our satnav decided at one point that the most efficient way was to leave the large main road and go on a silly small road with lots of bends, and rejoin the main road some time later so we lost a lot of time because of that as we didn’t realise until about half-way along the road so we have not reached our destination after all.

We have stopped for the night just before this road reconnects with the main road again and have pulled off in an area amongst the trees. There was a good swampy area a little further back that we thought would be good for moose (as according to all the souvenirs and postcards they should be around) but though David went looking at sunset there did not appear to be any there.

Tuesday 12 August

Our parking spot was ideal as this morning we drove just around a little way to catch the ferry over to the town centre. It was a very pleasant journey over and it drops the passengers off by the Radhaus (Town Hall). The town hall is quite controversial as it is quite modern red-brick building with all square edges. David didn’t like it at all but I thought it was ok.

We walked again past the National Theatre and outside the university was a huge crowd of people and a choir was singing. We stopped to listen and afterwards was a lot of announcements and we realised that it was an induction day for all the new students. We walked around to the National Gallery, which had some very beautiful landscape paintings. A few things that I didn’t like and one exhibition on the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, who is probably most well-known for his “scream” painting (at least that was the only one I knew!). The gallery is fairly small, only one floor so we went around fairly quickly.

We then went to the palace. It is situated at the end of Karl Johans Gate and easily seen. It has a very open area in front of it with a statue of Karl Johans himself. The changing of the guard takes place at 1:30 and is quite quick as it was all finished by 1:45. The guards are quite nice though and don’t mind people taking photos. They have a funny hat though with a feather that drops down and practically covers their right eye. Seems strange as it means they are blinded on that side so have to constantly keep turning their heads around.

Our tour of the palace was at 2:00 pm. The group was very large, it seemed they did not like to turn people away from those that had lined up to get in. We had to wear slippers over our shoes to protect the floors. Our tour guide was excellent and gave us a very good historical background about the current palace and the current royal line, which came from a Danish prince who was asked to become King of Norway after they parted from Sweden and had no King of their own. Norway is similar to England and others in that the King has no real power and the country is overseen by a parliament and a Prime Minister but the Norweigan people seem very attached to their royal family. The palace is beautiful. The rooms are incredibly grand. We were shown where the cabinet sits each week, then were shown into the exquisite suit of rooms where important heads of state stay when in Oslo. The room is lovely and very grand. They have a rather impressive guest list with Queen Elizabeth II, President Clinten and more recently Nelson Mandela. We carried on and saw the view of the city from the balcony (although only through the doors and windows), which is very impressive. Once a year on assention day the King and Queen appear on the balcony and watch all of the kids marching past and they stand there and wave for three hours! We then went through the path of guest going to a grand ball or dinner and we visited the ballroom and dining rooms. There are also lots of paintings all around of the royal families and these were all explained to us in great detail.

After finishing our tour we went back to the ferry terminal and caught the boat back out to Bygdøy. We had some extra time before some museums closed to payed a quick visit to the Kon-Tiki Museum. This was an amazing experience for me as I had read Thor Heyerdahl’s book “The Kon-Tiki Expedition” where he sailed from South America to Polynesia on a balsa-wood raft to prove that the craft was seaworthy enough to get there and that it was possible for the tribesmen to get there as this was much disagreed when he first presented his theory. Well he succeeded and seeing the craft is rather an incredible experience. It certainly doesn’t look very sea-worthy, and I don’t think that is just the damage down when they hit a reef off the island they eventually reached after 101 days. It was not very big for four people to stay on for all that time.

Also on display is the reed boat Ra II which he used to prove another point about how well these boats could travel and that the Egyptian/North African people were probably more well-travelled by sea that previously realised – against common perception that the papyrus boat would sink. The first one, Ra I did not go so well but the problem was the loss of the proper building techniques and the second boat is the success story of that venture across the Atlantic and it is the one, Ra II that is on display. An impressive boat and I thought rather handsome it has a very unique look with its reed base and small shelter built on top. It had a large square sail as the Kon-Tiki raft did as well. I had purchased this book really cheap second-hand before leaving the UK so now I can’t wait to read it and hear the full story.

After this closed we went to the Fram Museum next door where the Fram is housed as it closed half and hour afterwards. The Fram was an incredible wooden boat that survived three years frozen in the ice and floating towards the north pole. They never quite made it that high but it has certainly gone down in history as the strongest wooden ship ever built and had travelled in both north and south pole waters. They actually let us up onto the boat and to look around inside. It had a crew of 12 and all arrived back to Norway safely, including the two who had set off on foot to reach the north pole. It is really huge but walking around below decks the little cabins look very cramped and small to spend three years in not knowing what might happen.

Outside of this museum is a replica of the boat Gjoa which was the first to sail through the north-west passage. As I am very interested in real historical books I have also read a few about the journeys of these crazy explorers as they searched for the north-west passage and other artic adventurers so seeing all of these ships was very exciting for me.

As if this wasn’t enough for one day, we decided that there was still enough light to fit in one more activity, and that was to visit the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Amazing statues carved from bronze and stone are the display here, all by one artist. The crowning glory is a huge column that has been carved with hundreds of people in all levels of life from childhood to old age. It is just an incredible piece of work and just unfathomable how someone could even create the idea for it, never mind actually carve it. The artist had an amazing knack for capturing not just accurate human forms but also human emotions. So many of his carvings and statues seem so real in their expressions and emotions. Entering the park we walked up over a bridge lined with bronze statues to come to a huge fountain that is a bowl being held up by giants. Then ascending the steps we reach the huge stone carvings and the huge columns. Kids mostly just use these huge sculptures as things to climb on which I found a bit sad but maybe that is ok as they two enjoy them.

After this is really was time to call it a day so we went back to the same parking area as the night before. Dave did a little work on the weeds growing up so we had a much clearer view of the marina than before.

Monday 11 August

We had found a lovely spot to pull up one an island just offshore. It was a perfect camping spot. Nice and flat, off the road and wonderful view. The nearest house appeared to be a holiday house as we had not seen any lights on during the night.

We drove on up to Oslo, arriving after lunch. Parking in Oslo is pretty much non-existent on the street and of course we do not fit in the undercover carparks. After a good hour of driving in circles we finally found a spot not too far from the central waterfront area.

We walked to the visitor information, passing by the classical old National Theatre. We spent a bit of time in the tourist office to get some details and then they told us that tours for the palace are only booked through the Post Office or online. So we walked to the Post Office to book a tour for tomorrow. The tickets can be hard to get so it is usually recommended to buy in advance than hope to get one at the gate. Then we had a snack (fries from MacDonalds, oh dear!). By then our parking meter was up so Dave went back to refill it while I went to visit the walk-in clinic to have a quick chat to the doctor there. It was raining a lot again today so I did get concerned that David was taking a long time to come back but he was just waiting for the heavy rain to stop – which took about half an hour!

After this we went down to the Akershus Fortress area. There was a huge cruise ship at the harbour that seemed to be getting ready to take off. I was very impressed by their expensive suits at the top with big balconies and the smaller ones below. We walked around the fort enjoying the grass and the views out over the town. The castle itself is rather dull to look at and seems to have very little inside judging by the photographs so we are not going to bother looking in there. When we finished walking around we watched the cruise ship make ready and pull in its ropes and reverse away from the dock. It had an incredibly loud whistle which it blasted before leaving and almost shook us off the ramparts.

We walked back through town past the interesting parliament buildings with yellow bricks and rounded rooms on the sides. The rest of the evening we spent in the internet café for David to sort out work things and look up a few options for out time here. It was very late when we left and hadn’t eaten but fortunately there was a place nearby which had a cross between calzone and pasty with pesto and vegetables which was very nice.

The next dilemma was where to sleep. David was ok with staying where we were but I wasn’t happy with that so we drove towards the Bygdøy Peninsula which has some museums and beaches. We were fortunate and took a side road that brought us beside a marina that made a very good place to spend the night.

Sunday 10 August

We took it easy this morning and didn’t hurry off, making use of the (expensive) electricity connection and doing a bit of tidying up. Besides, it was raining anyway. We decided to make the most of being right by this castle, Bohus Fastning and went up for a look. It has very impressive walls on the outside and a bit of history on a board that said it had been besieged 14 times but never taken so we thought it best to go and see this impenetrable castle.

It actually turned out of be extremely interesting. It was initially built when that area was actually on the southern border of Norway and only because Swedish in 1658 when the Roskilde Treaty was agreed and has been through so many wars. Amazing that no-one has been able to get in. The final one in 1700 something was very difficult and they were held by Norwegians for two summers but eventually were rescued by reinforcements. The damage to the castle was really bad from that and it took many years before it was rebuilt. Unfortunately it was eventually considered unnecessary and left to ruin.

Our main goal for today was the island of Marstrand and we did get there. We drove out to the town just across the water where we parked and then caught the ferry over. It is very close, only takes a few minutes on the ferry. The large fortress dominates the whole island, which was built after the Roskilde Treaty again when Sweden took over the area. It is huge and most of it is opened up to visit with lots of rooms and even secret tunnels to look into. Plus we could climb up the tower with awesome views over the island. Marstrand is not very large an island but it is very picturesque here with so many little islands dotting everywhere. It took us a couple of hours to explore the whole place and eventually had to leave because it was closing. We had a little walk by the waterfront and then went back to the van (buying an icecream on route – its been a couple of days since we last had one!) and started driving towards Oslo, stopping for the night just below the Sweden/Norway border.

Saturday 9 August

It is very refreshing to wake up by the ocean to the sound of the waves. We had to get going reasonably quickly so as to avoid paying for the carpark so we drove up to a nearby town for breakfast in their park. It was very busy with lots of people arriving so we thought we would go and have a look and found their Saturday morning market. There were lots of stalls with food and crafts. We found an older lady making lace in the method called bobbin weaving. She was making a very intricate pattern and had lots of bobbins with her, most of them under towels and she was only working on one side. The pattern is held in by pins and looks very difficult. She spoke to us in very good English about her work, which is displayed behind her. We asked how much they were and she said that she does not sell them, but she does teach people how to do it so I guess the idea is to learn how to do it yourself! She had a little example of the beginner one and I would be very interested to learn how to do it. She had very beautiful works behind her so it seemed almost a shame not to be selling them, but looking at the time taking to do just one I guess it is impossible to put a price to them. We asked how long it had taken to do the 20 cm or so already completed and were told she did not know, but just worked on it slowly when she had a half hour here or there. She was very nice and seemed like she was doing more socialising than weaving as there seemed to be lots of people stopping to chat. Further along we also saw a man making rope and he had just finished a length and was weaving a loop into the end. The park also had some bird aviaries and a few other animals so looked like a very pleasant place to spend the day.

We kept driving to another small town recommended by the guidebook along the way (whose name I have forgotten) that sounded like it might be interesting so we pulled in. The slot was rather unimpressive on the river and the guide had also mentioned the old gate and with a bit of trouble with one-way streets eventually got to it but it was very plain and not at all interesting.

Our main stop was the town of Varbourg and its incredible fortress. We had lunch here up on the ramparts and had a good time exploring around the fort, which is all open access. Very nice on the ocean. There is a museum there whose highlight is a medieval man found in a bog in excellent condition. We didn’t pay to go in but there are photos of him with thick red hair around a skull. He was reportedly found with three stakes in him (a superstition to stop his soul entering the next world) and fully dressed.

We wanted to keep pressing north so drove on a bit further towards Gothenburg but got distracted by a town with an interesting castle and pulled off the road and conveniently there was a campground right nearby as part of a hostel. There were a crowd of annoying noisy people but we were able to get a spot a bit away from them fortunately. We went into the town and made it to a Coop just before closing to re-stock up on some food as we were running low again.

Friday 8 August

Leaving our fortress we drove to the town of Hillerod to visit Fredericksborg Castle. An awesome castle surrounded by a moat and has turrets and a rather fairytale feeling and also large gardens and park area. We did the visit inside through the rooms, which are set up as exhibits as a national history museum so as well as some of the beautiful old palace items there is also historical stuff as well. There is a lovely old chapel which the ornate royal box for Christian IV and the Grand Hall is also another highlight. We walked through the beautifully manicured garden looking back at the palace.

We drove from here in a bit of a hurry to get to Hellsingor and Fredensborg Slot, which is a World Heritage site and also said to be the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. We arrived just after the one hour before closing to buy the complete ticket but convinced the lady to let us try. So we went through the royal apartments, which actually turned out to be very sparse and not so interesting as we had expected. Then looked into the royal chapel and went through the casemates. The casemates were a very long network of tunnels that went out underneath one of the bastions. Then we finished our tour in the maritime museum with lots of model ships and climbed up the tower with views across the channel to Sweden. I was surprised at just how close it was, I think it is about 4 km at that point. So we had done the whole tour in about 45 minutes.

We walked around the outside of the castle as well. It is build in a square with a central courtyard and surrounded by earth fortifications right on the edge of the ocean.

The ferries go every 20 minutes over to Sweden and no booking is necessary, it is just a matter of choosing the company and driving up. We chose the cheapest one. It is only a 20 minute journey over (and most of that navigating in and out of the marina) so went by really quickly. It is still strange to think that we have arrived in a new country. In comparison to Denmark’s strict camping rules Sweden is the other extreme and it is actually legal to camp anywhere for one night unless stated otherwise.

We walked around Hellsingborg and admired it’s lovely town hall and walked up to the keep, which is all that is remaining of the town’s castle. It is built right up on a hill and though we couldn’t climb the tower it was still high enough to look over to the ocean and Denmark.

We spent the night in town in the carpark by the marina.

Thursday 7 August

Initially we were going to leave today but David wanted to see a couple of museums so we went to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket, which has many sculptures and some paintings. The sculptures were very interesting. We also went to the National History Museum. We got there a bit late though and didn’t have too much time before it closed so wizzed through the “Stories of Denmark” exhibition that went from 1600s to 2000.

We then drove up to a campground that is based at the Charlottenlund Fort. The camping area is actually inside the fortifications, which was really awesome. We ate our dinner up on the ramparts looking out over the water.

After we had eaten we drove back to visit the Little Mermaid at about sunset. It is a very good sculpture and we had learned through information that she has been decapitated twice (once in 1960 something and again in 1998) and also lost an arm so they have filled her with cement to make it more difficult if someone decides to try again. There were a surprising number of people about still getting photographs. I got up on the rock beside her and she does look very sad looking out waiting to be able to enter the world of man. There is also a fort nearby that we had hoped to look at but it was too late and they had shut the gates.

Wednesday 6 August

Today we had quite a set idea of what we wanted to see. To save our legs (I have inherited a blister on one of my toes too) we caught a taxi to Christainsborg, which was relatively cheap, and arrived just after 10 am. We had some time to spare so went down into the ruins underground of the old Bishop Absalon’s palace (who first founded Copenhagen) and the original Copenhagen castle. The exhibits explain the two different palaces and the history. We rushed through and got to the doorway of where the tour starts at ten minutes to 11 to find a note on the door saying the tour was sold out (but the door also says it only opens 10 minutes before the tour so this seemed impossible) but they were doing tours in English every hour today instead of just two.

So we went back down to the ruins and the kind lady let us back in so we could look more slowly. We then got back to the doorway and this time got in to the tour at 12. It was certainly worth it. The rooms are very grand. We had to put on slippers to protect the floor and then climbed the grand staircase and visited the throne room where the queen receives her visitors. She does not sit on a throne though as that would suggest absolute power but she does not have that (like the English Queen) so she greets her quests in the middle of the room and the old thrones are there just for show. We walked through all the galleries that the guests to balls and banquets walk through with paintings and portraits along the way and into the grand hall. A huge place that will hold 300 seated guests. The grand hall has some new tapestries that show the history of Denmark through 1000 years that were given to the queen in the year 2000. They are very bright and modern, although the picture of the queen and her husband depicted as Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden we were a bit perplexed about as it shows the queen holding an apple to her husband with a snake whispering in her ear. We thought that this seemed like an insult rather than a nice gift but dared not say anything as the tour guide did not want to see it that way. The walls are painted to look like marble (there is real marble above and below) and the artist was very clever and has put pictures in the marble pattern, including a very good profile outline of the queen herself. We were also shown the “small” dining room that holds only 50 people and also the protective glass where the Prime Minister works. Also some history is that this current place is the third Christiansborg as the other two were both completely burned to the ground. I would have thought they had learned their lesson after the first one but despite many extra precautions they still lost the second. After the second one burnt the king moved to Amelienborg and the third palace was built to hold the reception rooms, the Prime Minister and the Supreme Court.

I missed out on seeing the stables, which are the only remaining thing from the first palace and the pictures show the horses surrounded by marble columns and paintings. Seemed a little excessive but the original palace must have been spectacular if that was just what the horses lived in. Sadly, they are only open to visit on weekends.

We walked around next to the Arms Museum. This is a weapons-buff’s dream museum. The lower floor is full of guns and cannons dating from quite recent to very, very old. There were some lovely crafted cannons. Upstairs was rows and rows of guns and swords with the odd suit of armour thrown in. Rather overwhelming in all!

I had a quick look around and then left Dave to go at his own pace as he finds these things so much more interesting than I do. I went back to the domed church to get there in time to climb the dome. This was really awesome. We climbed up a large staircase to come out on the gallery above the church (I believe it is a whispering gallery but we didn’t get to try it), then up a tiny spiral staircase and then was in the roof which is all wooden supports around the smaller inner dome of the church itself. We went up the wooden stairs her and then came out of a trapdoor and had the most incredible views over the city. It is one of the highest points and also being a little way out from the other towers has unobstructed views in all directions.

I met Dave again at the Round Tower. Fortunately we had no trouble meeting up again. The tower is very easy to climb as most of the way there is a spiral ramp and just a few stairs near the top. The views are very good but there are a lot of buildings around near to its height and it is not so tall as the dome I had climbed earlier but it because it is in a different part of the city it gives a much clearer perspective.

After climbing the tour we went to Tivoli, the old pleasure gardens. We decided to pay the 200 kr for a multi-ride pass, although at the time was not too sure if there were enough rides to go on. We did find it worthwhile though as the main rollercoasters all cost 60 kr per ride. As we were both very hungry we first go something to eat at a specialised restaurant that just served smorrebrod, the Danish open sandwiches as we were yet to try this. They were very delicious too.

After that we tried out the rides, starting at the simplest roller coater and working our way up to scariest. They were all fun. There was also a water ride but no getting wet for that one. The rollercoaster of the train was fun as it went around its circuit 5 times so going full speed through the “station” was exciting. We stopped for a bit to get some nachos as we were still quite hungry. Then we went to the “Demon” the very new roller coaster with a loop and a couple of twists. Amazingly we got to get right on the front as the people in front of us didn’t want to go that far forward except for two so I dragged Dave to the front row as soon as I spotted it (to his surprise!) and it was great. We went on it again it was so fun (shame it is so short). A few of the rides were just too crazy. One of them were like little swings that went out in a circle and were held there by just thin little chains and it lifted up really, really high so I refused to try that one as I thought I would get dizzy. Some of the others were far to motion-sickness inducing as well, but we did go on the ferris wheel. They also had some shows happening, like pantomimes and bands and a boy soldier marching band. The atmosphere at night is lovely. It started to rain which was a bit annoying but stayed light and was sort of off and on. At 11:30 they have “Tivoli Illuminations” on the lake which is all done with smoke, lights and the fountains to music and is really good. The ground closes at midnight and it was for this that our campground was really good as it was about a 25 minute walk back.

Tuesday 5 August

Well, the rain did not let up all night – in fact, it just went on and on quite heavy. This was quite de-motivating to get up but it had to be done. After enjoying the fact that we did not have to pay for the hot water and it did not turn off every three minutes I felt much better (and the rain had stopped for the moment!). We also had the good fortune that a few campers had left so we were able to move ours into the main part and right next to the electrics.

We decided to brave the distance and walk into town as we were told by the campground supervisor that it was not too far. It took us about half an hour to walk to the edge of the old town so not too bad. We were going to stop in to the visitor information but it was terribly crowded and with the “take a number” system we were 30 people to wait. So we hurried along to get to Amalienborg Palace by midday for the changing of the guard, the most direct way being the pedestrian shopping street called Stroget, which is one of the longest pedestrian streets in Europe I believe. We arrived with 15 minutes to spare!

When the queen is in the guard is accompanied by a band but not today. The police were there to keep the people in order for when the guards came by. It was rather dull though as they just stood around outside for ages while something was happening inside. The interesting bit was when they marched around the square to change individual guards. They were not shouting orders but make a kind of “psst” sound to turn around, which was kind of amusing (as when a few people imitated them). Amalienborg is set up as four palaces around a central square, which used to be owned by four noblemen before being bought by the king. Currently one building is covered in scaffolding, which we learned is where the Crown Prince and his family is to move into.

After the guard left we wandered to the water edge to look over at their new opera. Very modern and not terribly exciting. We then went to the Frederiks church, which has a round dome (said to rival St Peter’s in Rome – but it’s certainly not as big as that) and inside is round as well. Beautiful mosaics. They give access to the dome but only twice a day at certain times and we had just missed it and didn’t want to wait around so carried on our journey.

Next stop was the lovely gardens leading up to Rosenborg Palace. It is very pretty with turrets and is surrounded by a moat. Here is where they keep the royal treasurers, including the crown jewels. We paid to go into the museum and saw so many incredible things. They had one room just full of beautifully crafted ivory pieces, including an incredible model of a sailing boat that had very delicate-looking ivory sails. We then went downstairs to the “treasury” and were greeted by even more expensive-looking items and of course the crown jewels. I was particularly taken by an old crown that is covered with jewels, it is not one of the coronation crowns though.

From Rosenborg we wandered back down to the square of Kongens Nytorv to admire the outside of the old theatre, then we carried on to Nyhavn. Nyhavn is a beautiful canal that is lined by colourful buildings, and reminded us a bit of the streets of Burano near Venice (I think they were more going for Amsterdam though). Here we went on a cruise of the harbour, which went around the navy areas, out to the Little Mermaid, past the free city of Christiania and also around Christiansborg Slot. The tour was guided in Danish, English and German. We also saw the royal yacht in the harbour.

After the tour we walked by the Stock Exchange, which has a fascinating tower made as four dragons with intertwining tails, the into Christiansborg Slot and checked out the tour times for the royal reception rooms and the arms museum. From there we walked back to our campsite.

Monday 4 August

Well, it rained all night and didn’t want to let up this morning either. We delayed getting up because of it but not too long as our parking spot was turning into a carpark for people working in the toll booths so we went back to the services carpark to get some milk for breakfast. When the rain did stop for a brief reprieve (although not the wind) we went back to the base of the bridge for a photograph.

We drove to the nearby Trelleborg Viking Fortress. A very good example of the circular Viking Fortresses all built up of earth, it has a huge circumference and has four gates, marking out each quarter. There is also a large moat around this and an outer area that does not seem to have been finished with another moat as it only goes part-way around. The centre has reconstructed a gate over one entrance to show how it probably looked when in use. Nearby they found a whole lot of graves, and a couple of mass graves. The bumps are still visible on the ground. A re-creation of a Viking village is also near the centre with thatched huts or grass-roofed buildings.

We carried on to the town of Roskilde, a very important place in Viking history. I had read of an interesting medieval clock in the church but when we arrived just on 2:00 pm, they were closing early for the day. So we went instead to the Vikingship Museum. Here they have the remains of five ships that were excavated from the bottom of the fjord near the town where they had been sunk as a barricade from approaching enemies. There are two trading boats, two warships and a fishing boat. It took over 25 years to have them put back together after excavating them from the ocean floor. In the harbour there are reconstructions of these boats. David dressed up as a Viking warrior with shield and battle-axe and posed in a re-constructed Viking ship.

We have ended our day in Copenhagen in a place called “City Camp”, basically just a big parking area that they charge people to park there campervan for the night and provide toilets and showers. It is absolutely packed and we have been relegated a spot outside of the main area with lots of others who don’t fit inside – seems they don’t turn anyone away! Unfortunately the campground where we wanted to stay, which was inside an old fort right on the ocean was completely booked out this whole week. One advantage though of this spot is that it is beside a massive shopping centre and very close to the centre of the city.

Sunday 3 August

We spent the day at Egeskov Slot in the southern part of Funen. A very picturesque castle built in the middle of a lake – they had to chop down a whole forest to built the stands for it! The whole park is a full days outing. They have lots of different themed gardens and something like eight museums to visit. There is a museum of agricultural implements with everything you could imagine for farming in there, a horse-drawn vehicle exhibition, incredible selection of old motorcars and even some aircraft, followed by two sheds worth of a motorcycle collection, then an exhibition on old fire engines and rescue vehicles. There was also a separate collection of dolls houses in another area.

Along with all of this there is also a tree-top walk with five swing bridges, the highest point about 15 metres above the ground and there are also three mazes. We did not plan our day too well because we did most of the inside stuff first and then when we got into the bamboo maze (not made of bamboo any more but was originally) got drenched by a sudden and heavy downpour. The rain certainly made us work fast to get into the middle, which was covered over!

We initially were not going to visit the inside of the castle but decided to go anyway as it was open quite a bit later than usual for August. Going inside we were greeted by a huge hunting gallery, with all of the hunting trophy from the third duke back. There was a lion, leopard, tiger & cheetah hides, lots of heads of various other animals and even a cape buffalo. Oh, and I almost forgot the two huge ivory tusks. The rest of the rooms open to visitors were set up in period futniture. Once of the highlights inside is the Tatiana, the Queen of the Fairies miniature house. It was made in England and took 15 years to build, for the daughter of the builder. Legoland has now purchased it but holds it at Egeskov as they have no-where to exhibit it. The detail is incredible. There are mosaics on the roof, real jewels and everything is very grand. Upstairs in the attic is an incredible collection of old toys from as far back as 1895 and a selection of old housekeeping items – including the place-setting from the current Duke’s wedding. Also in the attic is a wooden doll lying under the rafters and tradition says they can never remove it or the house will sink into the lake on Christmas Eve.

After visiting the house we crossed the huge Storebaelt across to the island of Zealand. The bridge is incredible, covering 18 km of distance, although divided near the middle by an island. The last 8 km or so is over a massive suspension bridge. It was very strange to be driving so far and being completely surrounded by sea with the land so far in both directions.

We drove into the town of Korsor and got a pizza for tea and ate it by the marina with a good view of the bridge. For the night we found a carpark near the base of a bridge that didn’t seem to have any restrictions on overnight parking.

Saturday 2 August

We drove firstly to the town of Fredericia. It was originally a military town and its key attractions are the huge ramparts that protect the non-seaward sides. We walked along these ramparts and along by the water. The streets are not so interesting as they seem quite new and almost rather industrial except for the few shopping and restaurant places that we found. We went to their museum, which has a little of the town’s history in English and has reconstructions of old houses – a little bit boring recently.

So we drove on over the bridge that connects the peninsula to the island of Fyn into the town of Odense, birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson.

We stopped to visit the Domkirke, which is rather average on the outside but has a rather fascinating altar piece all of gold leaf and wood carving and a nice organ but everything else is painted white. From original drawings from 1840 or so it used to look much different with box seats at different levels rather than the pews we see today (the organ is the same though). Its key attraction from the crypt, being the bones of Knud II. He was originally killed on the steps of a church but for some reason (not clearly explained) he was made a saint some time later so now his bones are treated with respect. Kind of creepy to look at them. Next to his coffin are more bones, said to be those of his brother Benedict. This was also the church that Hans Christian Anderson was confirmed in.

Nearby was a much more interesting church with spire and gabled roof, but we did not look inside of there. Also nearby was the town hall (Radhus, I guess called because all town halls seem to be red as the literal translation is Red House.)

We went next to the Hans Christian Andersens Hus, which is a museum built around the house where they believe he was born (although that is not known for sure). It is quite detailed with descriptions of his life story and various memorabilia. One room shows his numerous drawings and paper cutouts that he did. The actual old house is part of the museum and they have set up a couple of rooms as they expect a poor person’s house to have looked. Downstairs there is also an exhibition of some of his personal effects such as a hat, his inkwell and pen and a rope that he kept with him to escape from hotel rooms in case of a fire. They also had some recordings of some of his stories and a room full of books of his works in various languages (in this room was also a world map showing all the countries marked and 144 languages that his work has been translated to).

We had a little walk around the streets but everything was closed and being too early for dinner everything was extremely quite. So we have come back early to the campground to do some much-needed washing and to relax.

Friday 1 August

Today we spent the morning at the campground using their wireless internet – a great addition to an already good camp site.

We went to the Islander Centre, arriving about 15 mins late for their requested arrival time 45 minutes before the ride and then stood around for a while trying to find out who was in charge. Everyone was busy with a horse and we couldn’t work out if they were workers or if everyone grooms and tacks their own horse. We finally found one of the staff and he at first said we were too late but we argued that he called the office and they said to let us ride so with great impatience he got us horses and left us to get them ready. Rather unconventional that is for sure! We didn’t do to bad and only left 10 minutes late for their scheduled ride start.

The ride to the beach took about 50 minutes as we rode across to the other side of the island, doing a lot of tolting along the way. Rather bouncy and I was feeling a bit shaken but settled in to it after a while. My horse was very enthusiastic and wanted to go fast and David’s was as well – I am starting to think this must be an Icelandic Horse trait. When we got to the water’s edge we had an incredible gallop along the sand (we had been crossing sand for a little distance before getting to the water). My little girl kept up with everyone at full speed, passing two horses that just couldn’t keep up despite this not being recommended. When we stopped though she could hardly catch her breath poor thing. We got of and stopped for a while and our leader gave out little orange juice boxes and the horses could catch their breath again. When we went back I got more into the front and the incredible horse kept up with all the galloping again and was still quite eager as we crossed the sand. David’s horse fell behind as he seemed to be getting a bit tired. We had one last canter along the way back and this was quite a long one winding through the trees and was lots of fun. The canter was so smooth. It rained on us though on the way back so we arrived very drenched then had to untack the horses and clean it (wand they have the nerve to get us to pay to do all this work!), give the horses their food and put them back into their paddock. My mare had a foal so they were very glad to be reunited – it was so cute!

Dave and I then snuck into the campground opposite to clean up a bit before heading back into Ribe. We wanted to climb the church tower and we got there with 15 minutes before closing. We said we could be up and down in that time so they let us up with about 260 stairs to climb. The climb was interesting as we could stop and visit the gallery looking to the church (painted walls and nice organ but not much else) plus passed by the working part of the clock and the two big bells. The view from the top was stunning, a fabulous 360 degree all around as the top is all open and everything is so flat. A teenage boy came up right behind us and said it was closed and nicely gave us a little chance to have a look around before going down behind us and locking all the doors (very nice of the adults to send the young one to do that job!). We walked past the bell promptly at 5:30 and it did it’s two gongs, which was rather loud in such a confined space.

We wanted to get a little start ahead to the next town on the edge of the Jutland peninsula so carried on. Free camping is almost impossible in Denmark as there is signs everywhere that it is not permitted so the only place that is ok are the motorway parking places, which is where we are tonight.