Denmark

Vallø slotToday I have a list of castles I want to see, starting with Vallø slot. The castle is not open to the public but as I said before my interest is mainly the outside of the building (I call it a profession deformity) The building is in scaffolding (my luck) The architect and/or the client could not seem tochoose between round or square towers and so it has become one of each, I think it's both ugly and beatiful (now I can't seem to make up my mind)

On to Helsingør, Kronborg Slot. It is said that the people of the Swedish city Helsingborg (across the water) name the view on Kronborg as the cities biggest plus. Shakespeares Hamlet takes place here and it's an Unesco site.Kronborg - lighthouse towerAs I,m only planning to walk around it I paid parking fee for an hour, that turned out to be only just enough! You can walk all the way around on the outer fortress which takes away a bit of the view of the inside castle, maybe I should have taken more time and visit the inside as well but I'm on a strict schedule today. As the castle is situated on the water front it has a lighthouse on one of the towers, but as it's built in the same fashion as the other towers its not immediately stand out as being a lighthouse. It's a really nice combination of the robust fortress on the outside and the stylish castle on the inside.

As I said only just in time back at my car and on to Hillerød for Frederiksborg castle and its beautiful gardens. I arrive there at lunch time but on the map at the parking the 'you are here' dot is missing so I'm not really sure on which side I am. Just start walking and after a bit I can see the castle appear in the distance. First I walk all the way to the castle, there Is a restaurant near the main building so I first go for something to eat and wil check out the gardens later. It's busy at the restaurant (Leonora) but I can get a table (for 4) and order a smørrebrød with fried herring with a soda named Hyldeblomstdrink, I asked for something like lemonade and the waitress suggested this very tasty drink. The smørrebrød was also very nice. Since I was taking up 4 spaces by myself and I saw people getting send away due to no more room, I offered to share my table with the next couple, the gesture was appreciated. After lunch I took my time in the gardens, they are really beautiful! And then off to Copenhagen [Copenhagen-travel-guide-921103].

I already been to Copenhagen before but I couldn't remember more than having seen the little mermaid so I decided to just do it again while I'm in Denmark. Driving through the city (any city) is not my favorite thing, too much of everything all around, I was really happy to have a navigation system in my car, otherwhise I might have given up and turned around. I parked in a underground parking right in the citycenter. Expensive but I don't care today. I walk to Nyhavn but it's very very crowded, specially on the sunny side of the canal. From Nyhavn I walk to Kastellet, the fortification with the nice park. Since I'm close to the statue of the little mermaid I pay her a visit as well, I still think it's small but last time there were much more tourists at the spot. I walk past st. Alban's church and I take a look at Amalienborg to realize I've been here last time watching the change of guards. I forgot a lot of that last visit but hey, it was just a few hours in the city and the rest of the 5 days at Roskilde [Roskilde-travel-guide-922435] festival. Frederik's church is on my way back to the parking garage but I just take a quick picture and head back to the campsite.

Sadly the weather was a bit foggy so the seaside view could have been better. I drove along the coast to the isle of Møn but first stopped to take a look at Femmetofte kloster, I'm not sure if it's possible to visit the inside but I'm interested in the architecture not so much the interieur and I had the day fully planned. On the isle of Møn I stopped at Keldby kirke, it had the touristic attraction logo so I had to find out what's so special about this church because it doesn't look much different from other Danish churches from the outside. Well, the attraction is on the inside, paintings on the walls and ceiling, really beautiful. Elmelunde kirke has the logo as well but I safe this one for later.

I parked at GeoCenter Møns Klint, best place to start a hike according to my guidebook.Møns Klint (beach route 4, maybe not)It has the description of a route looking a lot like route 4 & 5 of the folder combined. It discribes walking north (route 4), going down the stairs, walking south (4 & 5), going up the stairs and walking north back to the Geocenter. I had planned to do this hike but since I couldn't see much of the cliffs from the top I decided to start by going down to sea level. Good choise! Route 4 on sea level is gone (or you have to swim) so I started walking south on route 5. Some parts are quite narrow and the crashed tree with still some green leaves on it are not very comforting but the route is beautiful. The stairs up are not so much fun, but they had benches to rest every now and then. The route through the forrest is very nice, some parts are close to the edge and you can enjoy the view, but most part you have no idea the world ends in just a few meters.

Back at the Geocenter I bought a big drink and sat on the terrace for a bit. Then on to Liselund Slot. It's a beautiful little castle/outhouse with beautiful gardens surrounding it. The grounds are right on the Cliff edge and in 1905 it got a lot smaller due to a big landslide. I walked around the gardens, peeked through windows. I don't want the guided tours of the interiour but I am curious sometimes.

I spotted a grave field (I think Bronze age burial mounds) on the way to Liselund and wanted to take a closer look. Apperently these things a quite common in this area so no sign, no place to park (I stopped on the side of the road to take pictures) and no path leading up there. I drove a bit further up the coast and tried to walk to the cliff edge from there but I think I took a wrong turn so after a while walking through the forrest I just turned and went the same way back.

Elmelunde kirke was already closed when I arrived back there but the sign said it's beautiful painted walls and ceilings again. The other special thing about this church is the Bronze age burial mound on church grounds, I always thought they were considered heresy in the old days.

Rødvig Havn beakon (Rødvig Flintovnen)As I had the ferry fare earlier than planned, and putting up my tent goes faster every time, I had enough time to go sightseeing at Stevns Klint. At Rødvig havn I got hold of a flyer with all the sites around the cliffs and started following the coastline to the first on the list (or actually the second if you count the beakon at Rødvig havn), Boesdal Kalkbrud, an oldlimestone quarry wich is nowadays used for events. Building works for such an event are ungoing and since I wanted to visit the church at Højerup wich closes at 17:00, I decided to come back later to take a good look around. Next on the map the cold war museum Stevnsfort, if I had more time I would have visited it but it was 16:30 and I really wanted that church. What's so special about it? Well, half the church dropped in the sea in 1928 when a part of the cliff collapsed and took half the building with it.Højerup Gamle KirkeI parked my car, paid the fee and went up to the church. The parking fee actually also includes entrance to the museum where they explain more about the reason this area is a Unesco world heritage site, the gray layer in the cliff which is evidence of the asteroid impact which is probably the reason why the dinosaurs went extinct.

The church was build right at the cliffs edge and after the landslide it became an attraction. They reinforced the remaining edge and build a balcony on the spot where part of the building broke off. In 1928, when the collaps happened the church was already abandoned and a new church was build further away from the cliff edge, so nobody got hurt. After visiting the inside of the church and standing on the balcony enjoying the view I went down the stairs to sea level. The asteroid layer is clearly visible as a dark line in the cliffs edge. The beach at the cliffs bottom is all dark pebbles since the limestone dissolves in water this is all that's left behind. You can go fossile hunting here but I think there are better places for that (the quarry maybe)

Then on to the lighthouse, the visiting tours have ended allready but the site is still open. The sign at the entrace speaks of two lighthouses but I see only one. Untill I've walked further up the site that is. After taking some pictures I decided to go back to the quarry and take a closer look there before returning to my tent.

I started my trip on wednesday the 7th september with a five and a half hour drive (lunch, coffee and toilet breaks not included) My car fully packed with camping stuff (the extended versions, not the backpack stuff), big tent, table, comfy chair, gas cooker, camp bed, sleeping bag fit for minus 10 degrees celcius, a big (real) pillow, electric coolbox (who said camping is back to basic? Not me!) and all the other stuff I can't do without. In my big camping guide I picked Seecamp Süsel, located about 1,5 h from Puttgarden [Puttgarden-travel-guide-405534] where the next day I have my pre-booked ferry ride to Rödby Denmark. I hate to be late for anything so I didn't risk the ferry crossing after such a long drive. strangely the night in Süsel didn't feel like vacation yet, yes I had to put up my tent and stuff but since I've been to Germany so many times (I have family living there) it somehow still feels like my trip hasn't started yet.

Next morning I had lots of time to get my tent and stuff back in the car, have breakfast with fresly brewed coffee, but I got that 'I'm gonna be late' feeling. What if there's a traffic jam or something. So I started my drive to Puttgarden a bit early. Result, half an hour early at the check in. I just drove up to the booth with the personal service (just in case) and presented my pre-booking form. No problem, no questions, the man just gave me my vouchers and said: second lane. There were only a few cars in my lane where the other lanes were full so I thought I might have to wait there untill my original boarding time. So I got my camera out of the bag and took a picture of the waiting cars in front of me, and as I did that lane 2 started to move. I quickly put the camera away and got moving.

The ferry ride is about 45 minutes, just enough for a coffee and a sandwich. It's a special kind of ferry, the first of his kind, a hybrid ferry (more info https://stateofgreen.com/en/profiles/scandlines/solutions/scandlines-hybrid-ferries [https://stateofgreen.com/en/profiles/scandlines/solutions/scandlines-hybrid-ferries]) Nice to know this fare is ecological responsible.

On my way to Rødvig I was looking for the Change/ATM sign on the roadsigns, but no such luck. When my route left the highway I decided to try my luck at a town centre so I drove to the first church tower I spotted. No luck here, but while I'm here I might as well take a look inside. The next town looked not much bigger so I drove to my next camp site and asked directions to the nearest ATM there.

I first installed my home away from home, then drove to Rødvig Havn where a ATM is. Then I had enough time left to go sightseeing at Stevns Klint.

To make sure we would be in time for the ferry we booked a night at the Radisson hotel in Frederikshavn [Frederikshavn-travel-guide-919938], exactly oppositefrom where the ferry leaves. From the hotel we could see the ferries arrive and leave. It's an 10 hour drive from where I live, we strted our drive at around 8 in the morning and we were in time for dinner in Frederikshavn Denmark. Nice dinner, lots of seafood at the buffet. Coffee at the bar was less nice, instant coffee. We went to sleep pretty early because we have to get up at 7 and the whole day driving was tiring as well.

As we got up we could already see the ferry, it would leave at 10 but seeing it there made me worrie it might just leave without me. Breakfast at 7:30 and an hour later we got in line to go on the ferry. We thought we were early but we were not the only ones, there was already a long line of cars waiting. I thought it would take a long time to get on the ferry but as the line started to move it was only a few minutes before our car was in place and we could go and explore the boat.

We installedourselves on the front deck, here we could see the rest come on board. During departure we could see the harbor disappear from view. We then got on to the palm bar, sitting in the sun with a drink, napping a bituncomfortable on a wooden bench.Did some reading, my book and the travel guide.

The last part of the journey we got back on the front deck to see land again. There was a huge thunderstorm over Oslo, but that droveoff just in time.
In customs control, we were picked outagain, trunk open, cold dog nose against my ankle but everything wasokay and we could enter Norway.