Category Archives: Trips Out of Town

Planning a bike trip to Ærø

Spring is here and soon it will be more comfortable to enjoy the outdoors more again.

Ærø is a tiny island, around a 3rd of the size of Als, which is part of the South Funen archipelago of islands. It is well connected to Als via a ferry leaving from Fynshav 2-3 times a day. Also, once you get there, due to its small size, it is easily manageable by bike or even on foot (especially with the help of the free bus service). But how would you plan your trip?

Last year we went there for a two day stay. These are two route suggestions based on our trip depending on the time you have. For other routes read the last section.

One day on Ærø (cycle 16km or 36km)

Taking the early ferry at 7:45 ferry from Fynshav (every day except Sundays and public holidays), arriving in Søby, in the north of Ærø at 8:55, means that you can get a decent amount done in one day.

The route is 16km from Søby to Ærøskøbing and if you loop back on the bike it is 36km. If 16km is enough for one day you can take the bus back to Søby.

If you are doing the trip with turist-erria (as we did), grab the picnic lunch from Cafe Arthur just next to the ferry and get on your way.

From Søby cycle down cycle route 90 to Ærøskøbing along the east coast, getting great vistas over the Danish Baltic seas and the Ærø countryside. This is around 16 km and should take 1-2 hours at a leisurely but reasonable speed.

Once in Ærøskøbing park your bike and have a walk around town, to enjoy the town landscape kept intact since the middle ages. Grab lunch here in the centre of town – we had a really good lunch at På Torvet right in the centre of town. If you are not yet hungry (or you’ve had the picnic lunch) but want something sweet, ice-cream from På Torvet or Cafe Aroma by the harbour will probably hit the spot.

After a quiet lunch/snack and a walk around the town, get back on your bike and cycle the 10-15 km to Marstal along cycle route 92. This route is much flatter than route 90 and although around half of it is on gravel road, most of that is really nice to cycle on. Once in Marstal, if you have time, drop in at the Marstal Maritime Museum close to the harbour or, alternatively into Marstal church, which has votive ship models attached to the ceiling.

By now it is probably time to start thinking of getting back to the ferry. The best option to get the most out of your time is to take the bus at 16:08 from the Marstal harbour, arriving in Søby at 17:00, just in time for the ferry at 17:10. If you are using bikes do be aware that the bus will only take 2 bikes on each trip. You are now back in Søby, ready for a restful trip back to Fynshav after a very busy day.

Two days on Ærø

Two days on Ærø will allow you to experience the island at the more relaxed pace the island is probably meant to be experienced. It will also allow you to walk rather than cycle if that is the way you want to unwind.

If on bikes, start the trip as you would a one day trip, cycling from Søby to Ærøskøbing, stopping at pretty locations along the way for a rest, a picnic, or a quick look around the various shops and stalls set up along the way. Once in Ærøskøbing, rather than quickly rushing off to Marstal, we would recommend spending the night in Ærøskøbing, which is the prettier of the two. By now you are probably in need of a well-deserved break, so have a drink and a leisurely lunch, before checking in to your accommodation. We stayed at the holiday accommodation offered by På Torvet in the centre of Ærøskøbing.

Once you’ve had a rest go on an amble around town to get your orientation and learn more about the town. We used the plan as set out in the book Byens Rundt, which took us round most of the streets with information on what we were seeing. If reading all the book and seeing all the sights this will take around 2 -3 hrs, especially if you get distracted by all the shops selling pretty items in town. If it is good weather you can also go for a swim in the beach off Vestre Strandvej. It was May when we went, but we still braved the ‘fresh’ experience!

For dinner you have a number of options. One of the options is to have dinner in one of the restaurants in town. Alternatively, you can do what we did on the recommendation of Gunnar, the owner of På Torvet accommodation, and grab a bottle of wine and a picnic and go see the sunset on the beach next to the beach houses before collapsing into bed for the night.

The next morning buy some rundstykke (Danish rolls) and pastries from the baker in town. Continue as in the plan for the afternoon of a one day trip, with a cycle to Marstal, which should take around 1 hour. During the trip you can make a short detour at one point to see a stone age Jættestuen (burial mound), which we would recommend just for the experience.

Once in Marstal you have the time to properly check out the museum, before having lunch. We had lunch in town, but for our next trip we have our eye on Fru Berg, a fish restuarant on the harbour.

After lunch, grab a bus back up to Søby harbour, even though it is still a while till the ferry is meant to leave. From Søby cycle up to Skjøldnæs lighthouse, which is around a 5 km trip. This is the first thing you see on the ferry when approaching Ærø from Als, so is a fitting way to finish your trip. Once there you can go up to the top to see the views all around. The lighthouse is in a golf club and, if lucky, you may be able to buy an ice-cream or coffee from the club house.

Cycle back to Søby where you can grab a hotdog or ice-cream at Cafe Arthur if you haven’t managed to buy one at the lighthouse and enjoy the last few minutes of relaxation before the ferry arrives.

Our trip to Ærø was sponsored by Ærø turist (ferry ticket), turist-erria (picnic pack and books on Ærø) and På Torvet (accommodation and lunch).

Strandhotel Glucksburg

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To relax before the arrival of a small addition to the family in the next few weeks we decided to take a relaxing overnight stay at Strandhotel Glucksburg. The hotel is situated right at the water edge on the German side of Flensburg Fjord, across from the Okseø islands and Annie’s Kiosk in Kollund. This gives the rooms on the water side (called Premier rooms) great views across the Fjord.

The rooms

We stayed in a Premier Room overlooking the water. Our room was located on the fourth floor, which meant that we had to walk up stairs from the 3rd to the 4th floor. This is something to keep in mind if stairs is something you struggle with. However, the views over the water were well worth the climb, even if it was very grey, wet and windy when we were there!

The room itself was quite spacious, with a sitting area on entry, quite a bit of storage if required, and a bed situated to look out over the water. I found the bed very comfortable, though Michael thought it was a bit soft. The linen, however, was some of the nicest I have ever used, particularly the duvet covers! I really need to find where I can buy some of it!

Going on to the bathroom, again relatively spacious. We had requested a room with a bath and even though we had booked only a few days before for what appeared to be a full hotel, this is what we got. The soaps/shampoos etc provided were also quite nice to use (which is not normal in hotels), though no hair conditioner was offered (body lotion was instead).

Dinner

We had dinner in Restaurant Felix in the hotel itself. For some reason our reservation couldn’t be found, but we were anyways shown to a table (after some time of trying to figure things out). We were offered three 3 or 4 course menus, from which we could then choose individual dishes if preferred, as well as dishes prepared on a lavagrill. Both Michael and I opted for lavagrill dishes, with Michael going for a Husumer rumpsteak and I opted for a lamb fillet. This was then followed by a Valhrona chocolate dessert for Michael and a marzipan mousse dessert for me.

The food was well prepared and the portions were nicely proportioned. The highlights of the meal for me were definitely my lamb… it was very tender and very tasty… and the Christmas ice cream served with the chocolate dessert. This is not to say that the rest was not good, but that these 2 things were exceptionally good!

Throughout the meal the service was also very good… not intrusive but present, and everything done with a smile. All of the servers seemed like they were enjoying what they were doing, which always makes for a pleasant meal out.

Breakfast

Breakfast in the morning is again served in Restaurant Felix. As the previous night, the service was really friendly, and the food was good. There was a wide selection of items, from warm food (3 types of eggs, sausages, bacon and meat balls), good selection of cheeses and hams, toppings, yoghurts, pastries, bread, cereals and juices. There was also a make your own pancakes station!

My absolute favourite thing at breakfast was the home-made muesli porridge offered. To be honest it didn’t look like much and I was going to skip right over it. However, the name intrigued me so I decided to try it out. The home-made muesli is made into a porridge and served with fruit inside (I could distinguish apples and grapes at the very least). It was surprisingly really good… good enough for me to take another portion rather than opt for something else! The pancake station was a hit with Michael, although very few people seemed to be making use of it.

Wellness

Strandhotel Glucksburg is known as a wellness hotel. As such it offers a variety of saunas for use by the guests, as well as treatments. Unfortunately for me it is not recommended that I use saunas at the moment so we didn’t make use of the wellness facilities at the hotel. However, we did go to have a sneak peak and were very graciously offered a tour round by the receptionist there. Definitely something to check out in more depth next time we are there.

Things to do

We took it easy while we were at the hotel, went for a short walk along the water and went for a swim in nearby Forde Therme. Close by is the beautiful water castle Schloss Glücksburg that we have visited on another occasion. If you are into royal matters this is the ancestral home of the House of Glücksburg which includes the current royal Danish family and many of the other royals in Europe like Price Philip of Great Britain.

Overall Impression

The hotel is not cheap, but if you are looking for a relaxing place it is something to consider. We thought the price was worth it for somewhere close by where we could go to relax. The service was also great all around. What we need now is to have another opportunity to use it (and find what linens they use! They were divine… so if anyone knows, do let me know).

Where would you like to fly to from Sonderborg?

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This is a guest post by Iulian. When local Alsie Express made a one-off offer of a weekend to London him and his girlfriend were quick to buy tickets. And the trip got Iulian thinking…

In April this year, I was one of the happy customers of Alsie Express for the flight to London. I always thought they deserved more than my likes on facebook, so this article is going to praise them to the sky :).

But this company deserves it – they offered really good services again.
As usual, their airplanes have super huge leg room. They offered us a lot of on-board snacks, beverages and fruit. The boarding was fast. We had a lot of information even before we bought the ticket: where exactly we land (it was a charter airport terminal), what cabs can we take, what were the prices for the connections, and so on. It was excellent service all the way through. We landed on Luton charter area, at Harrods Aviation and the personnel there was really high class. We felt a bit bad because they were dressed in suits and we had jeans and t-shirts.
The schedule for the flight was very well thought out: leaving Friday around 16:00 and arriving around 18:00 on Sunday.

After this nice experience, I wanted to find out some insights of the company and I managed to talk with Peter Høgh, the CEO of Alsie Express. There were some rumours about the real reason for the flight and I was curious about it. He confirmed that the plane was booked for a charter flight and was flying anyway to this destination. He did not reveal any other explanations, saying just that “due to internal conditions” this is all the information he can give at the moment.

He also said that we should expect this happening again, when there will be destinations interesting for leisure. When I asked him if Alsie Express has any initiatives towards international routes, he replied that these are very interesting but for the moment they are focusing on turning the Sonderborg – Copenhagen project into a profitable one.

I asked Peter to tell me some insights that nobody knows yet, and he has revealed that they are considering some vacation destinations like “Beer Munich Festival” or one – two weeks to ski destinations in the winter season. One more thing is that they are working hard on software challenges to establish the partnership with SAS. The main thing about this partnership is that luggage will be transported on its own in the CPH airport, without your need to pick it up.

I then asked him, if he believes that is possible that 50 people could book the airplane for specific destination, for destinations similar to London, and he seemed open to the idea “depending on the destination and the aircraft schedule.” That gave me a spark in the eyes.

So, what do you say, readers? Can we gather 50 of you to travel somewhere ? 🙂 Or does it sound good only to me?

Let’s do something crazy, let’s book a plane, Sønderborg.

Come on, where would you like to go?

Please spend one minute to fill this survey if you just like the idea of flying somewhere else from Sønderborg. Your minute could influence the decisions in a company. Doesn’t this sound good already ?

Survey: Where would you like to fly from Sønderborg?

*Disclaimer: This article does not represent the company view in any way.

A cycling holiday on the island of Ærø

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Denmark has more than a thousand islands but the neighboring island of Ærø in the the South Funen Archipelago is something special. For a long time we have had our eyes on making a trip over here and looking back I don’t know what took us so long to make the short trip to this pocket of charm. We spent two days in Ærø and this is the story of what we did.

Off to the bicycle island

We put our bikes on the back of the car and drove to the ferry in Fynshav, the port of the east coast of Als. We left our car behind and brought our bikes on the ferry.

If you are not bringing your own you can rent a bicycle so it’s waiting for you when you arrive to Ærø by ferry.

Bike or hike

The island of Ærø is best experienced on foot, by bike or by the free public busses. Bringing a car on the ferry is relatively expensive so a lot of tourists choose to come here by other means. That also means that once you hit the roads in Ærø you meet very few cars on the secondary roads.

The tour operator Tourist Erria organises a package deal similar to what we got – so everything is sorted from home. The one-day package they sell included ferry, bike rental and a picnic for the road. So all you have to do is show up, cycle and enjoy it.

From the ferry the first sight we got of Ærø was of the the Skjoldnæs lighthouse as we rounded the nothern tip of the island.

When we arrived in Søby on the northern tip of Ærø we walked over to the harbour cafe where Kaj, one of the local men hanging out on the pier, was helping out the cafe’s owner and giving us our packed lunches.

Kaj bid us a safe journey and off we went on the road following the marked bike route.

There are three signed bike routes on Ærø that are easy to follow. Route 90 (16km) goes from Søby to Ærøskøbing, route 92 from Ærøskøbing to Marstal (13km) and route 91 from Marstal back to Søby (31km). There is no online version available of these routes but a paper map can be bought on the island.

You can buy also buy a PDF version of a cycle guide books with turn by turn descriptions of five bike loops of various lengths here. (In Danish there are two books available)

Enjoying the view

On our trip from Søby to Ærøskøbing we had varied scenery. There was almost always the view of the sea to one side. On the other side there were cute houses, an old water mill, art galleries and a valley with cows grazing.

The road was mostly paved but there were a few sections with gravel road. There was some hills and dents in the landscape that meant that a few times we had to get off the bikes to walk them up the hill. But none of the hills are long and once you are on the top it has to go downhill again – weee!

After about 45 mins of cycling we got too curious about the content of the packed lunches and we settled down in the grass outside a small gallery with view over the fields and the water.

The packed lunch from Cafe Arthur was two delicious sandwiches that really hit the spot.

Onwards and upwards we went and after another stretch of about 45 min we reached Ærøskøbing.

Going back in time

Many of the houses in central Ærøskøbing date back to the Middle Ages. The small one-story houses in a wide variety of colours ooze character. If walls could speak I bet this town would tell you many tales.

We cycled into the center of Ærøskøbing and settled down on the town square outside a cozy cafe called “På Torvet” for a well deserved break and a beer from the island’s brewery.

We met Gunnar the owner of the cafe who told us about how him and his wife had fallen in love with the island and recently started the cafe/apartment rental business. Just behind the cafe they have a number of newly remodeled apartments and one of these was going to be our home for the night. The apartment was bright and spacious with a big bathroom and a fully equipped kitchen so we could cater for ourselves. Here’s a wobbly 360 of our room:

We dropped off our luggage in the apartment and went down to get lunch. The lunch for me was a delicious assorted plate which had some interesting things like garlic-herring, broccoli muffins and brie with fig jam – nomnom!

After lunch we were ready to go out and explore more of Ærøskøbing – and there are many nooks and crannies, quirky shops and museums to explore.

For the evening Gunnar had given us a hint. Go to the beach outside of town, bring a bottle of wine and some snacks, take a seat next to the beautiful boat houses and watch the sunset. It sounded like a great idea so that was how we ended the day, watching the sun sink into the South Funen sea.

Maritime Memories

Next day we cycled over to the next town, Marstal, the biggest on the island. We came across signs for a “Jættestue” and decided to check out what it was.

Around the island there are a number of ancient burial mounds, some of them dates back to the stone ages. The one we came across – “Kragnæs jættestue” is from around 3200 B.C. and was a chamber built in stone covered in a mound. It was used as a burial site used for many generations by the upper layers of society.

If you are like me and interested in sail boats and their history the Maritime Museum in Marstal is the place to see. Marstal was for a long time a big player on the worlds oceans as the artifacts and stories can tell in this museum. There are dozens if not hundreds of model ships of different ages and proportions, all either built on Ærø or sailed by Ærø people.

On the pier of Marstal the maritime theme continues in the cozy fish restaurant Fru Berg.

We felt we had cycled enough so after lunch we grabbed a free bus back up to Søby harbour, even though it was still a while till the ferry was meant to leave.

You can bring your bicycle on the bus – also for free. However do take note that there is only room for two bikes on each bus, so if you are on the island in a busy time you need some luck to get this to work out.

From Søby we cycled up to Skjoldnæs Lighthouse, which is around a 5 km trip. This was the first thing we saw on the ferry when approaching Ærø from Als, so is was fitting way to finish our trip.

You can go to the top of the lighthouse and see the grand views all around. The lighthouse is in a golf club and, if lucky, you may be able to buy an ice-cream or coffee from the club house.

We set our wheels in direction of Søby for the last strech. However, we had to make one more stop as in the middle of nowhere stood a shiny golden cow in a field. We stopped to check it out and we came across a beautiful sculpture garden on the other side of the road belonging to a skilled stone mason.

Back at the harbour in Søby we had time for a last ice cream. Our little island adventure was about to come to an end. Soon the ferry arrived, opened it’s mouth and swallowed us with our bikes. It dropped us off back in reality on Als – refreshed but with slightly sore behinds.

Learn more

The American travel journalist and tour operator Rick Steves that hosts travel shows on public TV and radio in USA has a tour of the best in Scandinavia and the Danish section visits Copenhagen, Roskilde – and tiny Ærø. Read or see more of Rick on Ærø.

If you want to get some of the island history before you go to Ærø do pick up Carsten Jensen’s novel We, The Drowned.

If you can read Danish there is an excellent book by Allan Harsbo called Ærø Bogen which in great detail and with humour tells about the geology, nature, history and culture of Ærø and its inhabitants.

The island is a bit challenged by its name with the Danish characters. Which means there are several ways to write Ærø in English. The official website calls it “Visit Aeroe“. But you can also find people refer to it as Aero or Erria.

Disclaimer: Our trip to Ærø was sponsored by Ærø turist (ferry ticket), turist-erria (picnic pack and books on Ærø) and På Torvet (accommodation and lunch).

Getting around Sonderborg with public transport

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If you are staying in Sonderborg for a longer time, you might want to explore more of the region than you can cover on foot.

Public transport in Denmark is in general fairly comprehensive and you will most likely be able to find a way to get from A to B with public transport. However if the two points are not along major traffic arteries the journey might take you a long time.

In Sønderborg there are town busses, local busses, regional busses and intercity trains.

Small town but two stations

Sønderborg is mainly located on the island of Als, but the train only goes to the Jutland side. So if you are arriving by train you are not getting dropped off in the center of town but by Alsion, the main campus area.

The train station is called typically called “Sønderborg St.” and the bus station “Sønderborg Bus Station”. They are 1,1km apart or a 20min walk.

Finding your connection

In order to plan your route from A to B I would suggest you use the website Rejseplanen if you know the address or names of your origin and destination.

Use Google Maps if you are more map oriented and want to see your options.

If you have a smartphone both Rejseplanen and Google Maps have good apps.

Town buses

There are five bus lines that loop within the city limit of Sonderborg. They all depart from the bus station in Sønderborg and make loops.

Local and Regional buses

There are about 30 bus routes that cover the municipality of Sonderborg. Most of them are local routes but there are also regional buses in the direction of Aabenraa-Toftlund-Ribe-Esbjerg and Aabenraa-Haderslev-Kolding-Vejle.

For the list of lines check Sydtrafik’s website. In order to find which route will take you to your destination check Rejseplanen or Google maps.

Night Buses

Fridays and Saturdays there are three night bus lines departing from Sonderborg in the direction of East (Nordborg-Kegnæs), West (Broager-Gråsten) and Aabenraa.

Trains

Trains arrive and departs on an hourly basis towards Copenhagen. The train stops in Gråsten-Kliplev-Tinglev-Rødekro-Vojens-etc. In order to go south you need to change train in either Tinglev or Rødekro.

Train tickets must be bought before you enter the train. There is no ticket office but a machine at the train station that takes cash and credit cards.

Bus tickets and prices

Prices are based on the number of zones you are travelling. To see what a trip will cost from A to B you can click on the Zones i Sydtrafik in the example below a trip from Sonderborg to Flensburg shows the that there are 7 zones and the price for adults (Voksen) is 70DKK. As of writing each zone costs 10DKK.

On the buses you can pay cash when you enter.

Another cheaper option for paying is Rejsekort which is a credit card size card you top up with credits and then use on most public transports in all of Denmark.

If you are staying long-term it makes good sense to get a personal Rejsekort once you have CPR number. If you are here on vacation it might not be worth it.

The card tourists can buy costs 80DKK and you need to top it up at least 170DKK. Read more here.

Relive your Childhood at Legoland

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Getting there

The park is around 1.5 hrs drive from Sonderborg. This makes Legoland a good day trip from here.

Tickets

Keep your eyes open for coupons, especially for kids. Coupons can be found in newspapers, on cereal packets and similar. Also, if you buy the ticket online you can get a discount.

What to do

I am not the biggest roller coaster fan, so I was a bit apprehensive on the first rides! However, once I relaxed, it was good fun. My favourites are probably the Viking ride, the Adventure land ride (which was the last, and had relaxed by then) and the canoe ride. Besides the thrill-seeking area, there are also other more relaxed things that should be checked out, including the ride in the top for panoramic views of the park and the airport, and the boat ride around the lego-buildings. Oh – and don’t miss Atlantis, the aquarium! The information about it is pretty skimpy, such that we had no idea what we will find inside, but there are actual real-live fish, sharks and huge crabs.

Some Tips

If you are there in the morning, start from the back of the park. That way you escape the crowds for the beginning of the day as the rest of the crowds slowly filter to the back.

You will get get wet, so take some waterproof clothing.

Parking can be had close to the park for 50 DKK (buy the ticket in the park on your way out) or further away fro free. What you choose depends on whether you are more concerned over budget or over comfort.

Kieler Woche

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Kieler Woche, or Kiel week, is the largest sailing event in the world combined with one of the largest town festivals in Germany, attracting over 3 million people every year. Events are organised all along Kiel Fjord, with most of the cultural programme focussed on the inner parts of the Fjord and the sailing events focussed around the Olympic harbour (Schilksee).

Every year Kieler Woche falls on the last week of June, with the events starting on Saturday 22nd June and ending with a fireworks display on Sunday 30th June this year (2013). We made it down there on the opening Saturday to get my first ever taste of Kiel.

Getting There

Driving from Sonderborg to Kiel takes around 1.5hrs. However, Kiel week is particularly crazy, with parking being a big issue. For a more relaxing arrival and departure, leave your car in Flensburg and take the train from Flensburg directly to Kiel. There are trains every hour during the day, and running into the night (extra trains are organised at night on this route during Kiel week). If you are 2-5 people in the group, a Schleswig Holstein group ticket is your cheapest offer.

Getting around

An issue with Kiel week is that the events are spread all over the Fjord. Good walking shoes are a must, but even those will not be enough to get you from the central harbour area to Schilksee for the races. There are two options here: buses (if you have a Schlewsig Holstein ticket you can take a bus from the train station to there for free) or the more scenic option, a ferry. Buses 501 and 502 run from the train station (bus stop A1) to Schilksee every half an hour (3 €) and takes around 45 minutes. The ferry (4€) takes around 1.5 hrs but is a good way of resting your legs on the way back after a day of walking.

What to do

Where do we start? There is plenty to do, and having been there only once we don’t dare to even think that we figured out half of what is going on. However, a good plan if this is your first time is to arrive at the train station and have a walk around the harbour area. This area is mainly full with food stalls. From there, walk along the water to the Kiellinie (harbour promenade), where there is more food, fair ground areas, but also other stalls e.g. by the University of Kiel.

At the end of Kiellinie your main next destination is Schilksee to see some races. We took a bus back to the train station, where we grabbed some lunch and jumped on a bus to Schilksee. This is probably not the best option. We later discovered the ferry: so what you can do is either back track a bit to Reventlou bridge or walk a bit further to Bellevue bridge and take the ferry from there to Schilksee.

Schilksee is the area where most of the sailors are located. It is nowhere near as busy as the inner harbour area. There is also a beach right next to it if a swim is what you are looking for. Having enjoyed Schilksee you can then take the boat or bus back to town, where you can grab some dinner and enjoy the atmosphere.

To know what is going on in Kiel, you can also download the Kieler Woche app to be able to quickly look through events.

When to go

Kieler Woche, as the name implies, is on all week. However, the weekends are the busiest so if you’re going for the atmosphere that is your best bet. We also arrived in Kiel around 10:30 am (it should have rained later and wanted to get in as much as possible before it arrived). In the circumstances, the rain didn’t arrive, so 10:30 was a bit early. Arriving around 11-11:30 is probably a good idea, especially if you want to enjoy the night life of the place.

If you want more information, a good website we found for planning our trip was this one.

Day trip to Odense

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Odense, situated on Fyn (or, as I like to call it, the middle island), is Denmark third largest city. However I had never been there before (unless you count passing through it on the train, or a visit for work where I did no sight seeing). So with great weather promised for Saturday, we asked for suggestions on how to spend the day. Putting all that together this is our suggestion for your first visit to Odense.

Hans Christian Andersen Museum

Hans Christian Andersen is Odense’s most famous son. Having grown in poverty there he grew up to write fairytales that are known in most (if not all) countries around the world: Little Mermaid, Ugly Duckling, Princess & the Pea. So how better to start your day than a visit to this museum (which is located on the site where it is thought he was born). My favourite part of the museum, besides learning more about this man (who was much more than a fairytale writer) was the Cabinet of Curiosities in the basement, where items that were owned by Hans Christian Andersen, such as his hat, are found. 1.5-2 hrs.

Street Market

Every Wednesday and Saturday up to 1pm a farmers market sets up on Black Friar’s square, close to the museum. You can find plants, fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as pastries, cheeses and fresh fish. Wander around the stalls enjoying the bustle of the place and, grab a taste of whatever catches your eye. 15-30 minutes.

Walk along the River

Odense river is a 7.5 metre deep canal, dug from 1796 to 1806 to give access to the town’s harbour from Odense fjord. From the street market walk south to reach the river, from where you walk west. You will pass through the ‘HC Andersen Garden’ and reaching the park around Munkemose, from where you walk north to the main walking street. A delightful walk, especially on a warm and sunny spring/summer day. 30-45 minutes.

Lunch

By now you have probably earned your lunch. There are numerous places just off the main street in pretty little passages for you to try out. On the day we were visiting there was a Caribbean-style steel drum group playing in one of these passages. A good break after all the walking in preparation for the second part of the day.

Brandts Gallery

Brandts gallery is actually 3 museums in one: Brandts gallery, Photoart museum, and Media Museum. You can decide to either do one of them or all three. We opted for the three in one option, which I think was a good idea. Due to the variety of materials on exhibition (from art installations to photographic exhibitions) there is probably something for everyone, and I didn’t get tired by the end of it as I sometimes do in a single media/subject museum. The exhibits are continuously changing, so do check what will be on when you are visiting. 1.5-2 hrs.

By the end of all this we were an exhausted but happy couple of tourists. I fell in love with the city, the quaint little houses and streets combined with the hustle and bustle of a bigger city. I was particularly envious of the farmer’s market! We will definitely be back, as there is still so much to see in this town. Next on our list are Odense Zoo and the Railway Museum. Have you been?

Hedeby – a Viking town

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Hedeby, also known as Haithabu and variants thereof, was once Northern Europe’s largest Viking settlement, growing largely due to its strategic position at the end of the Schlei fjord. Due to the distance this fjord goes inland into mainland Germany, this point was the narrowest part of the Jutland peninsula. Going round Skagen, at the far north of the Jutland peninsula was a dangerous proposition for seafarers in the past. Therefore they preferred to cross from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea at this point using the rivers connecting the two.

Having control of Hedeby meant that you had control of the North Sea-Baltic Sea traffic, and helped in the development of Hedeby as a major trading town. It was first mentioned in 804 AD and grew significantly in economic power in this period to 1000 AD together with the increasing power held by the Vikings. It was, however, burnt down in 1050 during conflicts between the Danish and Norwegian kings. This was the start of the end for Hedeby.

Over time, the location of the site was lost, until the 1900s when excavation work started in the area. Since the area was never built on and was preserved in waterlogged soils, a significant amount of material survived to the present day. This material is today found in Hedeby Viking Museum, which sits close to the original location of Hedeby, on which there are now a number of reconstructed Viking houses.

We recently visited the museum on a cold winter day. The main museum inside is open, the reconstructed houses outside are not open until spring. You can walk over to the site of the houses and walk along the semicircular mount surrounding the site of the town and made our way back.

The museum is worth a visit in its our right. I have visited quite a number of museums and would say this is one of the better made exhibitions. I liked that, although most of the text was in German, we were given a booklet with the relevant text in English (or Danish). Things were very well signposted with easy-to-follow numbers, meaning that I could spend my time actually looking and reading rather than finding my way around.

Besides excellent explanations there are also some gems of exhibits. I particularly liked the visual exhibit in the first room showing the development of Hedeby from its founding to its downfall. For this exhibit you can select between speak and text in English, Danish and German, for the explanatory text. I thought this was very nicely made, and allowed me to take a break from reading from the booklet.

Another exhibit that deserves special mention is the rune stone. I appreciated the fact that as the text on the stone was being recited, the relevant areas on the stone were highlighted, so you could follow the text on the stone. I always thought that rune stones are read in some complex way, so it was fascinating to realise that the way they are read is not much different to how I would lay text out if I was inscribing words on a stone.

On the day we visited there were also two men dressed in costume in the last room holding a big ship. If you visit and they are there, do go have a chat. They were extremely friendly and happy to explain that they have been building a replica Viking boat. They were sewing the sail on the day we visited. After that, all that is left is to build the mast, yardarm and mast-fish and they are ready to go. The plan is that the boat will be ready for sailing this summer.

It seemed to me that there is a lively community around the Hedeby site, actively striving to improve the experience of the visitors. Schleswig and the museum is just an hours drive from Sonderborg making it within easy reach and well-worth the trip!

Expect to spend two hours for the inside of the museum (if you read the displays). And another hour or two to explore the site and houses outside on foot.

Map of Jutland peninsula with Hedeby by Caravaca

Take the Flensburg-Glucksburg ferry

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Sonderborg lies in a region of islands and fjords. Water is a dominant feature of the area, making travelling by boat a realistic and practical, not to mention pleasurable, proposition.

A pleasant ferry ride in the region that is less about the transport and more about the pleasure goes from Flensburg to Glucksburg. The ferry M/S Viking, leaves from the Flensburg pier and arrives in Glucksburg, close to the Strandhotel. From there you can decide to either laze on the beach or walk up to the castle, around 20-30 minutes away.

On the way from Flensburg to Glucksburg the ferry takes you around the ‘Okse’ islands, close to the Danish side of the fjord while the way back is along the German side of the fjord. I have only done the Glucksburg-Flensburg part of the trip, following a visit to Glucksburg castle, but look forward to doing the Danish side of the trip!

The ferry ride costs 6€ one way/9€ for a return trip. You can also take your bike along to explore the area around the fjord for 3€. Tickets are simply bought on the boat so don’t worry about finding a ticket booth before hand.