Copenhagen and Helsingor in Winter

During the 1994 Winter Olympics, a friend and I reached Lillehammer in Norway by train, passing of course through Denmark, where we stopped only to change trains in Copenhagen. We travelled mainly at night on the Danish stretch, so we saw practically nothing. We had entered from the border between Jutland and Germany, and we left by crossing at night the narrow channel between Helsingor and the Swedish Helsinborg. On the way back from Norway we crossed the aforementioned channel again, this time on a grey morning, returning to Denmark. Having got off at Helsingor, we visited the historic centre with its old houses covered for the occasion by a blanket of snow, then we moved by public transport to the nearby castle of Hamlet, made famous by the Shakespearean tragedy.

The manor appeared to us rather gloomy with its dark surrounding walls, the abundant snow, the absolute absence of visitors and a building site in progress. Back at the station we took the train to Copenhagen. Arriving in the capital, where I had been in summer years before, I had the chance to see this city from another angle, the winter one, in which, gripped by the general winter, it is nonetheless fascinating. Wandering among its main monuments clad in snow feels like getting lost inside a fairy tale by Andersen. We see the Town Hall with its tall tower, Christiansborg Castle, the Kastellet fortress, the strange Spiral Tower, Charlottenborg and the octagonal Amalienborg, seat of the Crown, whose perspective is closed by a domed building that makes the complex resemble St Peter's Square in Rome.

Here we are lucky enough to witness the changing of the guard in front of the Royal Palace. Although the symbol of Copenhagen is the famous bronze statue of the Little Mermaid, jutting her profile out over the sea in memory of the namesake fairy tale by the Dane Andersen, the place that exudes the most charm, even in winter when it is frozen, is certainly the Nyhavn canal, lined with colourful half-timbered houses and where old sailing ships are moored. Right along the canal we have lunch in a pizzeria. We did not visit the Tivoli amusement park, probably closed, of which we limited ourselves to seeing the entrance. I did, however, treat myself to seeing, inside a park buried in snow, Rosenborg Castle, which I had not seen the previous time. In the evening we took the train home. We left Denmark from the border between Jutland and Germany, continuing on towards Italy.

I have been to Denmark on two other occasions (see the relevant itineraries).