23 December/Christmas Eve
Well, this year I decided to do something completely different for Christmas and fly off with the family to spend it in Denmark’s beautiful capital, Copenhagen. With a population of over 600,000, Copenhagen lies on the coastal islands of Amager and Zealand and is linked to Malmo in Sweden by the Oresund Bridge. Its historic centre is called Indre By and is home to the royal family’s Amaliensborg Palace and Rosenborg Castle. The beautiful Rosenborg Castle actually houses the Crown Jewels. We stayed in a lovely apartment just outside the centre near to Amagerbro metro station, which was about a ten-minute metro journey into the centre and just under 20 minutes to the airport. The apartment was conveniently located for getting out and about to all the sights of Copenhagen.
Christmas is a great time to visit this amazing capital city, as the area is alive with sparkling lights and festive cheer, but otherwise free from the summer crowds. There is surprisingly quite a lot to do here over the festive season with many attractions being open and the weather, although a little chilly, not into big minus figures like it was when I visited Krakow. The only day that was completely closed and quiet was Christmas Eve, as this is the day the Danes, like many other European countries, celebrate the imminent arrival of baby Jesus. From around 6pm onwards family meals are enjoyed, and present opening commences, followed by midnight mass to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
So, we arrived on the 23 December in the late afternoon and bought a pass for the metro at the airport to cover our days in Copenhagen. The pass was good value at under £30 per person, and the metro ran freely across the festive period.
A short walk through the snow-covered streets from the metro station was our apartment and, once settling in, it was an important trip down to the local Lidl to get some supplies in for the festive period. We also decided to have our Christmas Day on Christmas Eve, like the Danes, as many places were going to be closed that day and a somewhat rainy day was forecast.
After depositing the shopping we took the metro into the centre, which was full of festive magic, especially with the snow on the ground, and had a wander around before going to get something to eat. In the centre, we saw the lovely Stork Fountain which was apparently a present to Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Louise in 1894 for their silver wedding anniversary. It has actually been a tradition since 1950 for all newly qualified midwives to dance around it – I’d love to see this!
The inner city is full of a mixture of charming old buildings and new architecture with tiny streets and large avenues. There are picturesque canals, a modern harbour, castles, squares, and parks. There is also Stroget, which is a pedestrianised shopping area and one of the longest in Europe where most of the buildings date back to the 19th and 20thcentury. This popular tourist attraction is home to some of the top clothing and accessory brands, such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, and Prada. On the less extravagant side there is also the likes of Zara and H&M. Everywhere looked amazing with all the Christmas lights on.
We had then all worked up a good appetite and so went off in search of somewhere to eat. We had a lovely meal in a restaurant called ‘Tight’, which was open until quite late. Our meals consisted of Hake in lime, roast duck, and steak, followed by a wonderful blackberry and apple crumble with a pecan ice cream – all lovely and well recommended!
