72 Hours in Copenhagen
Freshly full of delicious Danish pastries, we departed for the airport a few days ago knowing that we would miss Copenhagen very much! In our brief time there, we discovered that this city was a constant and evolving mix of interesting juxtapositions: where a small-city feel meets large metropolis, where traditional architecture meets modern, and where a proudly Dutch sentiment meets worldly melting pot. It was no small feat to learn all this, and I only feel qualified to describe it so because of our intense three days on the streets and canals.
Having been cooped up in planes for the past 15 hours, our legs were begging for some exercise. Almost immediately after settling into our Airbnb and meeting our host Mie and her friendly cat and dog, we hit the streets in search of food and found some hot dogs (pretty traditional fare in Copenhagen, actually) not far from the apartment. We dined and left with no particularly specific agenda except to walk as much as we could that day. Now this city is extremely pedestrian friendly, but you could argue that it is even more bicycle friendly! The bikes whizzing by took some getting used to and I’m so surprised none of them took us out!
Well we could have used bikes when finding dinner – our target was the appropriately named Copenhagen Street Food area in the north part of the city (about 2 miles away). Nonetheless, the channel-side walk made for a great way to spend the afternoon. Here, vendor upon vendor coexist beside each other in a massive warehouse with no shortage of food options. It took us two trips around the place just to decide what to eat! I found some yummy spicy Korean chicken and curry while Juliette enjoyed some Asian chicken kabobs. This was definitely a really cool area to eat dinner and we highly recommend it if you are traveling to Copenhagen!
We started walking back towards our area of town with a few pit stops; most notably, our first glimpse of Nyhavn harbor as the sun set — this is likely what you think of first when imagining Copenhagen. After some ice cream and window shopping later in this commercial area, we found ourselves back at the Airbnb for some much needed shut-eye. We were exhausted but very excited about the full day to come.
The next morning started late but with coffee at Coffee First! We were still quite groggy from the time zone change and hardly any sleep the last two days. We hightailed it by train first to see the famous Little Mermaid statue and walk around the Kastellet citadel.
Next, we wandered to Rosenborg Castle where they house the Danish Crown Jewels and then found a place nearby to plan our heist eat lunch.
We explored the beautiful Copenhagen Botanical Gardens, conquered Rundetaarn Tower, and then went to the Tivoli Theme Park as the sun began to set.
Now a quick bit of history: The Tivoli park is the second oldest theme park in Europe, has the oldest wooden roller coaster in the world, and served as inspiration for Walt Disney to create Disney World. It was a magical place and very different from the theme parks we are used to. First, the park was compact and situated right smack in the middle of downtown. Every bit of space inside was used creatively and efficiently to deliver a park with a dragon roller coaster, terrifying plane ride, haunted house, and many other attractions. Not to mention, the whole place was decorated for Halloween! This was such a neat place to roam around and ride a few rides while enjoying the cool fall weather, and makes my list of favorite theme parks — even dethroning (in my opinion) Epcot!
Having accomplished much during our first two days, the third was a piece of very windy cake. We started at the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and learned that he was once voted most important Dane, wandered back to experience Nyhavn in the daylight, made our way back to CSF to eat the most delicious Moroccan flatbread, snapped some quick pictures of a famous church, and then explored Christiania Freetown, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous district inside the city limits.
Well THAT was a mouthful! We wined down (pun intended) at Peter Beier Chokolade near the apartment and then spent about an hour trying to find Chinese food to fulfill some mighty vicious cravings. However, we ended up with authentic Mexican tacos at Hija de Sanchez restaurant, which were actually excellent and a great accompaniment to the Notre Dame football game we watched later at our Airbnb.
All in all, we had an absolute blast in Copenhagen! This city has always been high on my list to visit for a myriad of reasons, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I still like to picture it as the quaint fishing village I originally pictured in my mind’s eye, but I now know that there’s so much more to it.
Catch us next during our first leg of Spain in the Asturias region!
-GP