Monthly Archives: July 2014

Impressions of Sonderborg

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Now and then people email us with questions about Sonderborg. We are happy to answer (to the best of our abilities). Sometimes we can turn our answers in to blog posts, so feel free to send us your questions.

Ed Yandek from Ohio, US was heading to Sonderborg for a conference and his wife came along. They spent a week in town and we had an email correspondence before their trip. After they got back to Ohio Ed sent us his impressions and thoughts.

Hi, Michael—
We have been back in Cleveland now for one week but are still having very fond memories of our visit to Sonderborg. We had a nice room at the Comwell overlooking the water and that was also the meeting site, so it was very convenient to walking all over town. We found the people very friendly, especially when I would ask questions, such as why all the young people had nautical looking caps– found out it was for graduation, and then we saw them running all over the city celebrating. Weather was really fine as we came prepared with jackets and umbrellas. We had mostly lovely weather that week, except for the very wet evening of the bonfires. The Castle museum was amazing and we learned a lot about the history of that region. We also went to the mill museum and the military museum across the bridge. It was a nice walk. It made some of the old history lessons I had many years ago seem more real, since Americans really are not very knowledgeable about the Danish-Prussian issues of that period. After a week there we can see why it is a popular town for visitors. I think it would make a nice staging point to explore the larger area with a car some time. I assume there is a local rental place in the city somewhere?

 

We had only been to Copenhagen before and liked it a lot, but find we are more and more liking smaller towns like Sonderborg when we visit in Europe.

 

One thing that surprised me was how prosperous everything and every one appeared yet I would say that from an American point of view the cost of living is pretty high. Mainly it seems due to the tax structure. But, I suppose this is part of the social history and wanting to elevate the standard of living for everyone. It does seem to be successful, at least for a country such as Denmark…

 

Anyhow, we enjoyed your country and town immensely and I want to thank you again for your tips, which were all very helpful.

 

Kind regards–
Ed

 

The email is published with Ed’s approval. If you have travelled to Sonderborg we would love to hear your story or see your pictures.

Restaurant Review: Curry Leaves

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Over the past few months the restaurant scene in Sonderborg has seen some changes. First there was Danish contemporary with the opening of Huset Blom close to the new year. This was followed by the opening of the Japanese Niso Sushi close to Easter. Now that the summer is close, it is the turn of an Indian restaurant: Curry Leaves.

Curry Leaves, Sønderborg new restaurant

Curry Leaves opened on the 4th of July close to the harbour (where there used to be an Argentinian Steak House up to a few months ago). We visited Curry Leaves with some friends of ours on the Saturday to see what the restaurant will offer.

First of all I would say I quite liked the decor. Quite Indian/South East Asian without being over the top in your face all the time. Also, the space was bigger than I imagined the restaurant to be looking in from the outside.

For the first week the offer was that rather than ordering from the menu you could get a free mango lassi welcome drink followed by a buffet of a variety of dishes. I thought this was a great way of introducing the people to a wide variety of dishes they might want to try at a later point, as well as encourage them to be adventurous with their choices; if you don’t like it you can try something else.

Curry Leaves Buffet

Although the buffet worked well from a selection point of view there seemed to have been some problems with supply. It could be that there were more people than they expected, with the restaurant being quite full. This meant that items constantly had to be replenished. They were doing a good job on the replenishment but, we were doing a much better job on the eating.

Curry Leaves Sonderborg buffet

Nevertheless, the food tasted good. I particularly liked the butter chicken and the pallac paneer (a spinach dish). I would have liked the food to be a bit more spicy, especially the vindaloo, which I expected to be super hot. However, considering that they were trying to cater for so many different taste buds (including kids) I think it was a good compromise. They also promised us that when it is a regular restaurant from next week, you can ask for spices to your taste level.

So some teething problems, especially with the buffet concept they had on for this one week. However, we should probably return after they have settled into the serving restaurant concept in a few weeks time and see how they perform then. After all, the food was tasty (if not spicy enough for me). Oh, and if you go, do try the mango lassi! It was an inspired idea to offer them for free in the first week as I am sure many people will have them again and again on future visits… including me!

Impressions and photos from “Kampen om Als”

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This is a guest post by Iulian who has lived in Sønderborg for three years and has a blog in Romanian about social media for non-profits.

After spending the whole weekend surrounded by gunpowder smell and a lot of soldiers from a century and a half ago I think it might be interesting, for those of you that didn’t participate, to see what happened and why you shouldn’t miss it the next time.

First of all, is the night battle. Around 2:30 in the morning the things start moving in the camp. People gather close to the water where the Prussians are expected to attack. Boat movements, cannon fire, rifles and a lot of tension in the air. This happens in semi-darkness, only enough for the human eye to distinguish the flow of the events. During all the events, there is a narrator that makes the things even more interesting by giving background insights.

Then I remarked the authenticity. The people are dressed in the old costumes, they live in the army tents, they eat and drink from the old dishes and food is served by the army regiment from an army car attachment. Some of the cooking ladies even have an old outdoor stove or a fireplace in the ground for preparing the food. What’s the interesting part is that you can also be part of the people living in the camp, taking part in all the activities.

There are often demonstrations of the weapons, military activities and costumes. You can see cannons firing from 2 metres, battle simulations with a big number of soldiers, different weapons in actions, costumes of the people from that age, horse presentations. It seemed that there is always something happening there.

Besides the activities, there are also small exhibitions with the equipment and tools used at war. If you’re a fan of old weaponry, this is the right place to come. Not only will you get to put your hands on the old rifles (by the way, one was around 4 kg) but you can even talk with the owners and they can astonish you with some nice stories. I could see old weapons and aspects of the military but there were also exhibited utensils used by paramedics, showing the progress that medicine has made in 150 years.

The people scale the event. As I said, they are very happy to exchange some words with you. For example, this man from Norway was amazing. He explained for hours to all the curious people what was “his” purpose in the battle. How technologically advanced was his weapon. What equipment did he carry, what are the symbols on the hat that made him recognizable as part of a specific regiment, what is the decoration on his collar and how year by year he needs to regain it. There were also some Czech guys that were in the party mood and they seemed to have some prohibited alcohol in the camp, without their commander knowing it. That was probably the fun of taking part in the event as a participant and not only as a spectator. And they seemed to have the most of it.

After such a long tour of the camp, before going home a bit smokey from the fire and gunpowder, you can try the desserts in one of the tents. This old style sweet, made without cooking, was very good. Don’t miss it next year! And if you have proofs that you’ve been around the events, just post them here.

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