A beautiful view of the city
27th of February 2022
Copenhagen had been on my bucket list for quite some time, so when I saw flights for 15€ I immediately bought the tickets. I asked a few of my friends whether they wanted to join me and luckily one of them agreed.
We landed at the airport just a couple of minutes after sunrise. The first thing that struck me the most was the price of public transport tickets - the City Pass cost about 25€ for 72-hour period. The second thing which surprised me, and I had long forgotten that it was even possible, was that no one wore face masks on the metro. Denmark had revoked the mask mandate about two weeks before my arrival.
We checked in to our hotel and got a free upgrade which I later realised was thanks to my Genius Level 2 at Booking.com. I didn’t know it at the time so it was a pleasant surprise both to my friend and me.
After taking a shower and having a short nap we got on the metro and headed straight to the city centre. We were starving and the restaurants weren’t open for another 30 minutes. Instead of walking around aimlessly, we checked the opening hours of the Round Tower and it turned out it was open.
The tower was built in XVII century and on top of it you can find the oldest functioning observatory in Europe.
There are no stairs, instead you simply go up a spiral path made out of bricks. On your way to the top you can find a small entrance to the core of the tower, which is hollow but luckily you won’t fall down because of newly-put glass floor. From the top you can see the whole city and if you look close enough you can even see Malmo.
The time went by quickly and we finally were able to eat in our restaurant of choice, Pizzeria Luca. Both of us really liked it.
With our stomachs full and high energy levels we visited Nyhavn - the iconic, picturesque canal with those colourful buildings which everyone recognises. We took a couple of pictures and spend a few dozen minutes walking around. The place was charming and had a nice, positive vibe which I find hard to describe. If you have the chance, make sure to check it out.
Also, Hans Christian Andersen, a famous Danish author used to live here.
The next place both of us wanted to see was Amalienborg, which is a square where the Danish royal family lives. We also went there on Day 3, and this is where you can read more about it.
While we were chilling out around Amalienborg, it started raining and since we were kind of tired we went to Lidl to do some grocery shopping for the evening and headed back to the hotel.
We woke up early (yes, 10AM is the definition of early for me), had breakfast, did the usual things people do in the morning, put on a more carefully thought out outfits and walked to the Amager Beach. To say it was very windy is a huge understatement. Or maybe it’s just me and this kind of wind is normal for Danes - I’ll never know. A small part of me wanted to take my clothes of and have a little swim, however this could have ended rather badly so I didn’t proceed with the idea. February is not a summer month and I had never done winter swimming (unless swimming in Malta in December counts).
With our hairstyles completely changed by the wind we agreed to go to Nyhavn again and have a little ride on one of tour boats, which take you around Copenhagen and there is a tour guide who talks about different landmarks as we pass them. I found the tour interesting, the guide was very witty and made the whole experience even more pleasant.
Later we started exploring the north-western part of the city, starting with the Red Square (no, we didn’t teleport to Moscow) and then the Black Square. Both of those squares contain various objects from all around the world, such a big Москвич sign from Russia and a huge black octopus from Japan.
We finished the second day by trying to find different illuminations spread around the city. Every year in February Copenhagen is hosting a Light Festival. The illuminations look much better in person.
The night before we did some research and it turned out there were much more interesting places in Copenhagen than we initially thought. With only one day left, we carefully planned everything and set our alarm clocks to even earlier time.
The morning was surprisingly sunny, we quickly got ready and took the metro straight to the Botanical Garden. The University of Copenhagen is responsible for it and the garden is known for its palm house and historical glasshouses.
We took a long walk in the garden and afterwards visited the palm house. I was impressed by the sheer number of palm trees and how healthy they were.
Every day, at 12PM there is a change of the guard at Amalienborg. That day it was Sunday and on Sundays the change is accompanied by the Royal Guards Music Band. I’m glad we got to experience it, I loved the music and the guards did everything perfectly in sync.
Later we headed straight to Christiania - a commune in the centre of Copenhagen. In the past it was a military base, nowadays it has become home for a lot of hippies and people who live an alternative lifestyle. This place has an interesting history and if you want to learn more I recommend reading the Wikipedia article.
Our list of places to visit still had one landmark left, which we definitely had to see - The Little Mermaid. On our way there it started raining but we couldn’t give up on checking out one of the most iconic things in Copenhagen.
And just like that, our trip has ended. Copenhagen is now one of my favourite cities, despite not being able to pinpoint the exact reason why - the city simply has a magical atmosphere and feels refreshingly laid back.
If you have any questions or need advice, please drop me an email at contact@mtthw.net