"DENMARK - welcome to Scandanavia!" a Denmark Travel Page by mtncorg

Denmark is a very pleasant country in which to ramble about in. If you like big cities - there is Copenhagen with its spires, palaces, avante garde Nyhavn and the shopping along the Stroget; there is Hans Christian Anderson's Odenses on the neighboring island of Funen (though truth be told, HC spent most of his life in the more happening capital!); Aarhus with its proud churches and reconstructed Danish village, Den Gamle By; and Aalborg with its aquavit. A lot of the Danish heart is to be found in the countryside - a fairly flat landscape with a much emptier feel than the rural scene to the south in Germany (of course, it feels defintely 'crowded' compared to a ride in the countryside of Norway to the north).

I have had the opportunity to visit Denmark a few times and have always been pleasantly surprised at what I found. Denmark, outside of Copenhagen, is not very high on the average tourist's radar screen, so when you do go, you will make many interesting discoveries. The pages here are taken from photos from a bike trip I took which looped through much of southern Denmark - with the help of the occasional ferry. Denmark is a great country to see from the saddle of the bike. The bike system is nowhere near as extensive as the Dutch, but the countryside is much calmer in comparison to the much more frenetic scene in Holland. There are plenty of small hotels = kro - to stay at, so you only need to haul rear panniers with some clothes. Those of you who sail should find Denmark ideal - 420 islands separated by lots of navigable sounds and passages. See VTer Weissdorn for ideas of a marine sort. Biking questions of all sorts can be directed to a fine Danish resource, VT's own bicycling football (the round type of football ;-\ ) addict, cachaseiro. I know he'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have on his very inviting country. Remember, prevailing winds come out of the West, though when you are on a bike, sometimes the wind seems to be coming out of any direction in which you are heading:-l

Meteora (Greece) or any number of sights in the Alps or or or. Denmark is the type of country that slips under your skin almost imperceptably. I have one of the posters from the Danish Tourist Bureau that illustrates that. The poster - an illustration - shows an island cliff jutting into waters that meld with the sky. The land portion of the picture only takes up a small part of the whole. It will touch a chord within you if you take a few Danish ferries - and if you travel very far in Denmark, you are bound to go aboard one or two.

Watch 'Babette's Feast' or 'Pelle the Conqueror' before you go to get a flavor of the late 19th century Denmark. Danes can be a bit proper at first glance, but it doesn't take too long to discover a very warm people underneath. A more recent movie to watch is 'Italian for Beginners', which still will give you a good feeling for Danish angst. There are many fine Danish authors to read, of course HC Anderson and Isak Dineson/Karen Blixen, but others too; Herman Bang and Peter Hoeg are two other wonderful examples of Danish literary art.

But for now, it is time to hop on a bike a visit a few place in Denmark. A great web-beginning point for bicycling in Denmark would be: http://www.dcf.dk/touring/cycho-gb.htm My tips are given in order of how they were seen on the ride - none particularly more important than the other. Off we go then!