Blogs from Denmark, Europe - page 13

We watched our ship reverse in and parallel park in a small inner harbour on the Baltic Sea side of the northern tip of Denmark, then receded down to brekkie. After that we were off on our Voergård Castle and pastry tour. Along with 2 other coaches. Voergaard Castle was originally built by a bishop, to give him somewhere to meet up with his lady friend when he was visiting this part of the country. It was confiscated from the church by the crown after reformation, and changed hands many times over the next 200 years - at one stage it was one of the largest estates in Denmark. In 1955 it was bought by a Danish man who’d been living in France since 1906 and had married a countess. Her title didn’t not transfer to ... read more

This morning we bid goodbye to Casa Corner B&B and Aalborg. While located close to the town centre the room we had was really stuffy and Denmark's weather has been really hot and the Danes are just not equipped to weather more akin to Brisbane. We did say farewell to the Danish couple that we met earlier in their stay and they wish us safe travels. Our taxi was booked for 8:30 and at 8:28 we went outside just as he pulled up, perfect timing. The taxi was a VW people mover, enter through a middle sliding door. The driver asked Wayne to let him know when the coast was clear so he could reverse out on to the busy main thoroughfare in to the South of Aalborg. When Wayne give him the good to go ... read more

Another day of trekking through the beautiful town of Aalborg awaits us. First we met up with the Danish couple we spoke about yesterday and then the new arrivals, a couple from The Netherlands that were only staying here last night as they were off on a cruise to Norway at lunchtime today. After breakfast we walked in to the town centre to get a bus to Lindholm Hoje (pronounced Lind home hoy) a Viking burial site dating back to AD400, nearly 1,400 years before Captain Cook discovered Australia. To get to the town centre we walked through the park at the rear of the Cultural Centre called Kildeparken. It is said to be the oldest park in Aalborg, over two hundred years old. The park is beautifully kept and manicured and basically free of rubbish ... read more

Last night we went for dinner at our hotel, the AC Marriott Bella Center, at their Basalt Restaurant. Their food is all cooked on charcoal priding themselves on fire and their use of local produce a lot of which is grown for them directly off the farm. The meal was outstanding, a shared piece of Nordic Beef cooked on the charcoal and desserts and coffee were equally outstanding. The amusing part was our waiter, for the sake of this blog let's just refer to him as Manuel as in the 70's television show Fawlty Towers. While our Manuel was not Spanish, he was in fact born in Greece but has lived extensively throughout Europe. His mannerisms were classic Manuel, fluttering from table to table without actually achieving anything. He did recommend us a beautiful Italian Sangiovese ... read more

In Höjer sind ausser dem Wasserturm, der zur Besichtigung freigegeben ist, auch die wunderschönen Reetdachhäuser sehenswert. Interessant sind die zwei Schleusen die gegen das Wattenmeer gerichtet sind und die hohen Wasserstände bei Sturmfluten zurückhalten sollen. Auf diese Weise wird das Hinterland, eigentlich wie in Holland, von den Wassermassen geschützt. Zusätzlich wurden natürlich auch Dämme errichtet von denen man die herrliche Aussicht auf das Wattenmeer geniessen kann. Die ganze zusammenhängende Küste gehört zum UNESCO Weltkulturerbe. Uns wurde angeraten in Tönder, kurz vor Sonnenuntergang, die Formationen der ziehenden Stare zu beobachten (sog. Schwarze Sonne). Die "Wolke" der ziehenden Vögel war allerdings nicht sehr gross. Einzelne Gruppen kamen wohl vorbei, zusammengeschlossen haben sie sich allerdings nicht. Trotzdem war es ein schönes Naturschauspiel. Die anschliessende Fa... read more