ZEALAND (DENMARK)

Having spent a few days looking around the more interesting regions and centres of Jutland I briefly passed through Denmark's 'middle' island, Funen, before continuing east towards Zealand. Odense, the major centre of Funen was a nice enough town with some beautiful churches and gardens but unfortunately not a great deal more. Whilst the town also prided itself on being the the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, it really didn't have alot going for it.

Zealand, the most eastern of the contry's islands was undoubtedly the region of Denmark I found most interesting, with my favourite sights being the castles located in the island's north and the wonderful city of Copenhagen. After looking around Odense for a day I headed to Hellsingor, where I visited Kronborg slott, the castle of Hamlet. I wandered around the castle perimeter twice so as to fully take in its grandeur. The entire complex was quite captivating and given its location right on the ocean's edge, the surrounding windswept vegetation gave the place a really unique feel. During my time in Hellsingor I also visited a number of impressive churches and the busy harbour used to ferry people accross the 1 or so kilometer of sea between Denmark and Sweden.

My next destination was litterally just down the road in Hillerod where the single attraction was another magnificent castle. Although I had seen pictures of Fredriksborg slott before, the complex was still absolutely incredible and probably the single most impressive place I visited in the whole of Scandanavia. It was difficult to take it all in and the the beautifully manicured gardens, blue lake surrounding the castle and 'copper-green' roof of all the buildings made photos taken trully amazing ! I spent a great number of hours exploring ever inch of the estate before finally heading to the nation's capital, Copenhagen. Immediately it was obvious that this city was different to other cities I had visited in Scandanavia. For a start there were big youth hostels full of other travellers, something that I had certainly not experienced throughout much of northern Scandanavia. The other big difference between this city and others such as Stockholm and Oslo, was that Copenhagen felt considerably more 'European'. Whilst in some ways it was like any big city in that it was quite busy and the majority of people were concerned only with their everyday business and kept mostly to themselves, there was enormous diversity within the city - the people, the architecture and just the general vibe. I met a number of nice locals who were more than happy to offer advice about what to see and do, which once again gave me a good feeling about the city.

My stay in Copenhagen lasted almost 5 days in Copenhagen and during my time there I spent countless hours wandering around various regions of the city. My favourite areas were undoubtedly Cristianhavn and Nyhavn - the colourful, waterside suburbs where locals flocked on weekends to enjoy the sun, music and a great number of restuarants. Copenhagen I discovered is also known as the city of churches and after my visit there I understood why as around every corner there seemed to be another church or impressive and ornate Cathedral.

Other highlights from my visit were the 'alternative community' of Christiania, the many wind turbines situated just off the coast and the city centre, which despite being rather crammed with ornate buildings and offices was full of culture and history. Unfortunately I developed a rather negative opinion of this area, mainly because it was so damn hard to take a good photo without there being powerlines or some building obscuring the view of the site of interest (not exactly the best of reasons !).

The last noteworth site I visited in Copenhagen was the Carlsberg brewery, where for about AUD$5 I managed to look around both the Carlsberg museum and visitors centre which provided a detailed history of the company and brewing facilities along with a detailed explanation of everything to do with making beer. Also thrown in with this package was a beer sampling extravaganza, 3 pints of great beer with a more than healthy alcohol content. I must really learn to appreciate the benefits of being a 'student'...

Photos 1&2: Krongborg slott (Hellsingor).
Photos 3-9: Fredriksborg slott (Hillerod).
Photos 10-21: Various shots from around Copenhagen.
Photo 22: Display at the Carlsberg brewery.