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DENMARK 2007 - København |
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Dull rainy weather plagued our 3 days in Denmark's capital city, København. Despite this, Absalon Camping, 15 minutes from the city centre by S-Tog, the suburban rail network, proved an excellent base for our visit. The spacious site does get muddy in wet weather but the staff excelled themselves in hospitality and helpfulness. Nothing was too much trouble and they went out of their way to answer our many questions about opening times, visiting arrangements for the Danish Parliament and public transport arrangements and timetables. As always on arrival at a new city, getting your head around public transport is all part of the challenge: by the 3rd day you are a seasoned traveller boldly going where 2 days ago you hesitated to tread as a naively bewildered tyro. But København's S-Tog and Metro took the prize for idiosyncrasies: the network is divided into zones and tickets are priced according to the numbers of zones travelled through. Tickets are valid for one hour on buses or trains, and for any number of journeys within the zones paid for. You needed your wits about you and mistakes could be costly: ticket inspections are regular with £50 fines for invalid tickets. Single tickets are expensive and the most economic means of travel is the Klipperkort, 160 kr for 3 zone travel and valid for 10 journeys; we could both use the same discount card providing 2 stamps were cancelled at the validation machine for each journey. OK so far? It took us the whole of the first day to master the system! Absalon Camping is just 5 minutes walk from Brøndbyøster station (or 'Brandybuster' as we nicknamed it, making it sound like a Hobbit's surname) on the S-Tog B-line, and the journey into København Central station took 15 minutes. The trains were modern with helpful illuminated displays indicating journey progress, but despite Denmark's image for cleanliness, even here unsightly graffiti along trackside fencing betrayed a less seemly side of Danish society. As always
on emerging from the station on the first visit to a new city,
everything was totally bewildering; in stark contrast to the comfortable
provincialism of other Danish towns, the capital inevitably seemed so
overwhelming. Like so much of the rest of Denmark, there's an awful lot
of water in København which is criss-crossed by waterways and canals;
you can never be sure which island you are standing on. We felt
therefore Back across the main harbour, the boat threads its way under the low canal bridges around Slotsholmen island (Photo 4), the historical heart of København where in 1167 the warrior-bishop Absalon founded the castle which became the nucleus of the future city. And it's been the seat of Danish rule and government ever since. Seen from the canal tour, the island is now dominated by the austere grey bulk of Christianborg Slot (castle), home of the Danish Parliament, Royal Reception Rooms and Supreme Court; this was a place we had to visit on our walking tour.
Dodging
the hazards of speeding cyclists, we set off on our walking tour of
København; it's the only city we've seen where the demand for
cycle-parking exceeds that for cars as evidenced by the massed cycle
racks by the railway station. Our first stop was at Christianborg Slot,
the historical centre of Danish government for
The south
wing of Christianborg houses the Danish Parliament, the Folketing, where
a guided tour in English takes place at 2-00 pm on Sundays; places are
limited and tickets are available only on the day from 9-00 am. For an
example of modern democracy at work, a visit to the Danish Parliament is
a must. The Folketing official who showed us around explained the
significance of Denmark's 1849 Constitutional Act which brought an end
to 200 years of absolute monarchy and introduced parliamentary
democracy. The original parliament had 2 chambers, the Landsting
non-elected nobility, and the elected members of the Folketing. The 1849
Act was subject to 2 fundamental amendments in 1953: the abolition of
the second non-elected chamber, and the
opening of the royal line of
succession to females which allowed the present Queen Margrethe II (Margrethe
I 1375~1412 was only regent) to inherit the throne from her father
Frederik IX in 1972. Denmark's parliament is now unicameral (a lesson
here for Britain, but then how would
Across the
city, the streets of Frederiksstaden are lined with grand neo-classical
We concluded our time in København at the highly promoted and extortionately expensive micro-brewery restaurants in Vesterbrogade. These were clearly the places where the trendy set drank after a day in the city. But the unashamedly explicit displays of affluence verged on the offensive, and we crossed to Central station to catch out train back to the campsite. The station's seedy forecourt revealed a wider cross-section of contemporary city society than the bryghus bars across the square: here there were drunks, vagrants rummaging through litter bins, brusquely mannered travellers, indifferent staff and a high proportion of 'non-ethnic Danes' - how's that for award-winning political correctness. This all felt too uncomfortably like contemporary UK, and far from the Denmark we had come to admire. We should be thankful to be leaving the tourist infested metropolis tomorrow to return to the more tranquil rural areas and provincial towns seemingly a world away from city hustle. Join us again soon as we explore wider Zealand. Skål ... Sheila and Paul Published: Saturday 29 September
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WEEK
3 NEWS - København, Denmark's capital:
that the best introduction to the city was to take a canal
tour around the harbour area; be sure to choose one of the Netto boats which
at 30 kr for the hour-long tour are far better value than the DFDS
boats. The tour starts from Nyhavn, the picturesque harbour extension
into the city's heart created in 1671. The northern side is lined with
brightly coloured gabled houses and bars with equally picture-postcard
wooden sailing boats moored in the harbour (Photo 1). Across the
choppy waters of the main harbour, you pass the city's new Opera House,
opened in 2005 and financed by Denmark's richest man, the Maesk shipping
magnate. Like it or not, the glass and concrete building is an
undeniably stylistic addition to København's waterfront (Photo 2).
The boat trip passes along the more peaceful waterways of Christianborg
island, nicknamed 'Little Amsterdam' for its attractive canals, cobbled
streets and Dutch-style houses. There's clearly wealth here nowadays
judging by the sleek yachts moored along the canals (Photo 3).
Having
seen some of København's sights from the waterways, another inspiring
view was from above, from the 112 feet high viewing platform of the Rundetårn (Round Tower) built by Christian IV in 1642 as an astronomical
observatory. The tower is climbed by a spiral ramp and gives extensive
views over the city; the challenge is to identify key sights especially
in dull weather. Nearby is the lively area of København University
founded in 1475. Busts of distinguished academics grace the neo-gothic
main building including that of the Nobel prize winning physicist Niels Bohr (Photo 5).
1000 years. København's
first fortification was built by Absalon in 1167 to ensure Danish
domination of Baltic herring fishing and trade through the Øresund
channel. The subsequent castle on the site became the seat of medieval
Danish royal rule and was later aggrandised into an illustrious
royal palace to rival the splendours of Louis XIV's Versailles. The
Christianborg Palace was twice destroyed by fire, the last time in 1884
and the complex we see today was only completed in 1928. It was to have
been shared between Royals, Parliament and Supreme Court, but when the 3
parties failed to agree the design, the Royal Family moved their official
residence to
the Amalienborg Palace (to be visited by us later) where
Queen Margrethe now lives when in København. Government and Courts are
now housed at Christianborg, but it is also the Queen's workplace for
royal receptions and official occasions; her offices are next to those of
the Prime Minister! The Royal Reception Rooms are certainly worth a
visit: the guide enlivens her commentary with salacious anecdotes about
the goings on of the succession of Frederiks and Christians who have (mis)ruled
Denmark for the last 500 years. She leads you through a succession of
sumptuously decorated and chandelier-decked salons lined with royal
portraits the most impressive of which shows the huge family gathering
of King Christian IX who ruled from 1863 to 1906, and was dubbed
'father-in-law of Europe' for marrying his daughters into the
royal houses of Europe, including Alexandra the ultra-tolerant wife of
Edward VII of England. The Grand Hall state dining room is lined with
modern tapestries portraying 1000 years of Danish history, a 60th
birthday present for Queen Margrethe.
Labour Party benefactors be
rewarded without the House of Lords?) The Folketing has 179 members
including 2 each from the dependent territories of Greenland and Faroe
Islands. The present government coalition of
Liberals,
Conservatives and Danish
People's Party, led by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, controls
94 seats, just 4 more than the 90 seats required for a working majority.
The guide showed us through the Lobby and committee rooms lined with
portraits of former prime ministers and Speakers, but the crowning
moment came as we entered the Folketing chamber itself (Photo 6).
The electronic voting system, with results displayed above the Speaker's
chair for all to see, may seem less traditional than Westminster
divisions with ayes and noes counted by tellers but it is so much more
efficient. We learnt much from our visit to the Danish Parliament; it
was a real privilege. For more on the Danish Parliament, visit the Folketing official web
site on 
By the
monolithic Italianate Rådhus (City Hall), a statue of 2 Vikings with
curving Lur horns stands aloft; legend has
it that their horns only sound when a virgin passes beneath. During our
time there, we have to report a resounding silence! But nearby, we had 2
other visits at opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. Tivoli Gardens is
regarded by Danes as the place to go on a Sunday afternoon, so of
course we did; when in København ... But the so called pleasure gardens
proved to be an extortionately expensive non-pleasurable experience:
stomach-churning rides and roller-coasters, endless fun-fair stalls and
over-priced fast-food stands did nothing to entice; yet the place was
packed with Danish families eagerly shedding their kroners. At the
station later, you could identify those who had spent the afternoon at
Tivoli: kids with balloons, mums with candy-floss and dads looking
forlornly at their empty pockets. To compensate for our disappointment at
Tivoli, we dodged the hurtling cycles to walk around to the National
museum, only to be greeted with disappointment here also: the extensive
collection of prehistoric and Viking remains was closed for renovation.
But the treasure we particularly wanted to see was still on display:
the Sun Chariot (Solvogen), a miniature horse-drawn chariot beautifully
crafted in bronze around 1350 BC by sun-worshippers, was found in a peat
bog, the sun represented by a gilded disk which the chariot pulled
across the sky by day.
mansions, many now foreign embassies or corporate offices, and suddenly
you come to a large open square with an equestrian statue of Frederik V
(1746~66) gracing its centre. This is Amalienborg Slotsplads, surrounded
by the 4 wings of the Amalienborg Palace, the Danish royal family's
official residence. It's all delightfully informal and Københavners
cycle past under the palace windows as along any other street in the
city. Apart from the restrained grandeur, the only other distinguishing
features are the royal standards when the Family is in residence and the
bearskin-hatted Livgarden sentries performing their rather casual
walk-about at the corners of the Square. And behind the palace rises the
magnificently domed Marmokirken (Marble Church) (Photo 7).
If you
continue beyond Amalienborg, you reach the grassed over fortress area of
Kastellet which failed to stop Nelson bombarding København in 1807.
Beyond that down by the harbour-side, you'll notice from a distance an obvious
group of tourists all trying to outdo one another in silly antics. A
little closer and you'll see that their cameras are all pointing to a
small and insignificant statue perched on a rock at the water's edge. It
is of course Den Lille Havfrue, the Little Mermaid. Created in 1913, the
rather forlorn bronze figure has become a money-spinner for the mass
tourism industry and ipso facto the iconic emblem of København despite
the isolated setting against a semi-industrial backdrop (Photo 8).
The statue was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, wealthy head of Carlsberg
Brewery, after he had seen a ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen's
fairy tale of the Little Mermaid. The face is that of prima ballerina
Ellen Price who refused however to pose nude, so the body is that of the
sculptor's wife. Well with such a good yarn, we had to go and see her, didn't
we!
