Copenhagen is often called the “City of Spires”, and the architecture is one of its defining features. However, we fell in love with the overall charm of the city created not only by the spires but also the canals, cobblestone streets, traditional cuisine, and most importantly the Danish people. For a capital city, Copenhagen has more of a “village” feel to it. How cute is our neighborhood!
These pictures were taken from our balcony in Christianshavn while enjoying dinner one evening.
Happiest Place on Earth
Denmark always ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world, and we found the locals of Copenhagen to be friendly and laid-back. We especially enjoyed the cheekiness of the waiters and waitresses. So many of them gave us a hard time about one silly thing or another but always had a smile on their face. And speaking of smiles, just walking down the street, most Danes were smiling even during the morning commute. To the point where we wondered, are they all high? We were living a block away from the freetown of Christiana, so there’s that (more on Christiana below). But, then we looked around at the roads during rush hour.
Where are all the cars!?!? More people were riding bikes to work than driving cars. No road rage here. During our 10 days in town, I think we only heard one car honk and one police siren. Both times, we were startled because the city is so calm and peaceful. The Danish have definitely figured out this whole quality of life thing. We can easily see why Copenhagen is consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world.
Aside from the beautiful architecture and fabulous cuisine (which I will get to later), the city is a leader in green initiatives, has a stable economy with a high level of education and social safety, and has even created an environment where alternative lifestyles can be embraced in a constructive way. The freetown of Christiana is an interesting place that showcases this liberal attitude. This small area in the center of Copenhagen is technically its own entity and not part of Denmark or the EU as proudly displayed on the back of their entrance sign.
In 1971, the original inhabitants established squatters’ rights in an abandoned military barracks, and today, the freetown still represents a lifestyle of peaceful, non-materialism with the local slogan being “only dead fish swim with the current”. The people of Christiana are free-spirited, and the other entrance shows this colorful nature with large murals decorating the walls.
They only have nine laws, such as no guns, no hard drugs, and no cars. But, walking down their main street (appropriately named Pusher Street), the sale of marijuana in numerous roadside stands is totally acceptable and open to the public. Just no photos allowed on this street. We wandered through the neighborhood and found it to be quiet and peaceful with a beautiful lake, walking trails, and spots to hang out (well…get high for most people).
Just like any neighborhood, they have a playground for kids, bikes with decorated carts, homes with gardens and bikes for transportation, and colorful shops.
Okay, maybe most Copenhagen bikes aren’t quite decorated like that. But, you can see throughout Copenhagen, not just Christiana, that everybody has embraced the cycling lifestyle, and as a cyclist, I was impressed with the infrastructure and pleased to see how bike-friendly the city was. Before Copenhagen, I’d never seen special ramps to help cyclists get their bikes up and down stairs. Pretty cool, huh?
We thought the bikes with the small cart in front to tote around the kids and pets were pretty clever. I had to look it up for the appropriate term, as I never knew “cargo bikes” were a thing.
We even saw entire families going about their day this way with the mom sitting in the cart with a small child or multiple children. I was really hoping to find time to rent a cargo bike and pedal Jimmy around town. But, alas, that never came to fruition.
To make Copenhagen even happier while we were in town, our trip happened to coincide with the annual Copenhagen Jazz Festival. All throughout the streets, you could hear the smooth sounds of jazz. All the locals flocked to the canals and famous squares to hear the free live music.
Oh, and since I titled this section “Happiest Place on Earth”, I can’t exclude a quick discussion of Copenhagen’s famous amusement park, Tivoli Gardens, built right in the middle of the city in 1843, making it the world’s second oldest amusement park. The famous fairytale writer, Hans Christian Anderson, was able to attend the opening, and his statue now sits approvingly outside one of the gates.
For a minimal entry fee, locals and tourists alike can enjoy live music (we got a great Jazz band, of course), theater, a water illuminations show, AND fireworks.
We also spent time strolling through the lovely gardens and playing in silly mirrors. We couldn’t resist a selfie of the lanky Lovgrens with peanut-sized heads.
An inexpensive night of fun in downtown Copenhagen is just one more reason this city is one of the “happiest places on earth.”
Spires, Canals, and Castles
Aside from the fact that Copenhagen has such a high standard of living, the Danes have even more to be proud of. You can’t help but be in a good mood with all the beautiful architecture and sparkling waterways throughout the city. We spent the greater part of a day just strolling through the historic core and marveling at the elaborate buildings, spires, and canals.
Canal view near our neighborhood to start out the tour
Radhus, city hall
Sankt Peders Church spire (17th century brick chapel)
Gammeltorv, old square, with the Fountain of Charity provided drinking water for locals since the 1600s
Statue of Copenhagen’s founder, Bishop Absalon
Christiansborg Palace, the seat of Danish government today
Dragon-tail spire of the historic stock exchange building
Nyhavn canal with rows of colorful 17th century buildings
Church of our Savior spire, a 17th century baroque church
View of our neighborhood from the top of the Church of our Savior spire
Frederik’s Church, or the Marble church, known for its rococo architecture
Gefion Fountain from 1908 in Kastellet Park
After a long day of touring, we were even rewarded with a beautiful sunset on our Christianshavn neighborhood canal.
A tour of Copenhagen architecture would not be complete without a stop at Fredericksborg Castle, one of the grandest castles in Scandinavia, often called the “Danish Versailles”. Technically, the castle is about 40 min outside Copenhagen in a small town called Hillerød. From the town center square, the castle can be seen dazzling on the opposite side of the lake.
Built from 1602 to 1620, Frederiksborg Castle was the creation of King Christian IV. The Fountain of Neptune decorates the entrance to this grand, mostly Renaissance-style, castle.
The gardens behind the castle were a wonderful place for a picnic, and we were impressed that the castle grounds were kept free to the general public for families to enjoy the beautiful, green spaces. This was true of the gardens around Rosenborg Castle in downtown Copenhagen as well. So many places to relax, spend time with the family, and be happy in this city.
Along with so much public green space, the canals are another wonderful place to gather with friends. Many people meet up with friends for a picnic or some beers while sitting on the edge of the canals. Drinking outside is totally acceptable, and many people even rent little “party boats” with tables to be able to drink and eat while cruising the canals with their friends and family.
Cuisine
Copenhagen is known to be a foodie town. However, one thing we didn’t realize is that this is because of the wave of top-notch international cuisine and the fine dining “New Nordic” restaurants. We actually found it more challenging to find traditional Danish food. After striking out the first few days in town, we were pumped to run into a food truck near Fredericksborg Castle selling two traditional sandwiches, frikadeller (pork and beef meatball) and flaeskesteg (roasted pork with some crispy pork rind).
We knew Denmark was a meat and potatoes kind of country, like Germany, but we still felt the sandwiches were uniquely Danish and quite tasty. Traditional toppings include a delicious remoulade, pickled onions, and pickles. I normally hate pickles, but Danish pickles aren’t too pickly…more cucumber-like…so I really enjoyed the sandwich and felt like the toppings were a nice complement.
On a different touring afternoon, we also found a little café serving the traditional smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches). No menu and no choices. We were just brought out a variety of 6 mini sandwiches to share. But, we were pleased to be able to try a small sampling of so many traditional Danish sandwiches – pickled herring, steamed potatoes with creamy dill sauce, pork liver pate, and others.
We were surprised when the waitress told us that she sends her son to school with the liver pate sandwich many days. I can’t imagine any kid in the US eating a liver pate sandwich. However, the liver pate sandwich and the salami with remoulade and fried onions were our two favorites.
On our mission to find traditional cuisine, we were fortunate to be living a couple blocks from a popular bakery, Lagkagehuset; however, not indulging in a Danish pastry (wienerbrød or “Vienna bread”) every day was a huge challenge for our miniscule willpower. The spandauer is the round pastry with cream that most Americans associate with the word ‘danish’. But, with a long history of baking (Copenhagen established a baker’s association in the 1290s), the variety of wienerbrød is quite overwhelming. One of the most popular that we absolutely loved was the snegle.
The snegle (or “snail”) is similar to an American-style cinnamon roll but made with a different dough that creates a flakier pastry, more like a croissant, than a soft roll. Inside the flaky, cinnamon swirls is an extra-sweet and gooey middle. The variations include the kanelsnegle with white icing and the direktorsnegl with a chocolate icing.
Two blocks in the other direction from our apartment was another test of our will power…Copenhagen Street Food. We were wrong to assume that heading there would give us an opportunity to try traditional Danish cuisine. Instead, we found a party atmosphere with locals indulging in wine, beer, and cocktails while enjoying the summer weather along the canal and listening to the DJ spin the hottest tunes.
Although we were bummed not to fulfill our quest for Danish cuisine, we found rows and rows of impossible-to-choose international cuisine. We both went for the pulled duck burger and pulled duck fries.
Copenhagen Street Food was a fun place to hang out with the locals for weekday happy hours or all-day/all-night fun on the weekends. Yes, one day we actually went twice to check out the afternoon scene and then the late-night dance party. (But, in all honesty, we were looking for late-night munchies even more than the dance party and were disappointed that only the alcohol vendors stay open late.)
After spending a week in Copenhagen, we were starting to worry that we weren’t going to get a traditional Danish meal in a restaurant. But, thanks to some recommendations and a bit of planning ahead, we finally made it happen at the oldest restaurant in town.
Det Lille Apotek opened its doors in 1720 and hasn’t changed the interior decorations in 150 years. Most of it was quite charming, but somehow I got stuck with the creepy clown watching me eat.
Getting over my fear of clowns was totally worth it for the amazing, rich Danish cuisine that we were served. Jimmy and I shared two traditional dishes, Flaeskesteg (roasted pork) and Stegtflaesk med persillesovs (fried pork belly with a creamy parsley sauce). Stegtflaesk med persillesovs is considered the Danish national dish.
Both pork dishes were great, but the fried pork belly was set apart from the roasted pork because of the rich, creamy sauce. Oh, and don’t get me started on the boiled potatoes drenched in the sauce. The dish is a bit heavy but so good and worth every calorie!
After only 10 days in Copenhagen, we could totally see ourselves living in this “life-is-good” city, except for one detail that doesn’t seem to bother the Danes. This place is cold and windy! To be able to eat dinner outside on a beautiful plaza in the summer should not require a blanket and a heating lamp.
I can’t believe that this is summer here. Dressing for the weather requires layers, but even that gets annoying because we would get hot if the sun was shining and then cold as soon as the sun went under a cloud. So crazy! Nights got pretty chilly, especially because of the wind, so we often needed 3 layers. I guess we just need to embrace the Danish attitude of hygge. Hygge is a feeling of warmth, friendship, contentment, and peace in our surroundings. Snuggling up with a soft blanket and a good book is hygge. Enjoying a coffee or glass of mulled wine with your friends is hygge. Essentially, hygge is the warm and fuzzy feeling you get when surrounded by friends, family, and good food. We all need to embrace the power of hygge in our lives and learn to live a laid-back, contented lifestyle like the people of Copenhagen.
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