Blogs from Helsingør, Region Hovedstaden, Denmark, Europe

Helsingor's major tourist attraction is the castle of the King of Denmark from Shakespear's Hamlet. As we drove north across the bridge to Malmo we are returning via the "old" route the ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingor. On the crossing we have an excellent view of the castle so skip a closer visit. Once safely back in Denmark we visit the Karen Blixen museum which is at her family house (and where she lived for many years) in the town of Rungstedlund about 30km north of Copenhagen. The museum has an interesting (for me as someone who has very limited knowledge of her life) exhibition, but the house is just as interesting as it has been kept in the same condition as when she lived there, and you are free to walk around most of the ... read more

An interesting day today, Kronborg Castle in Helsingor, aka Hamlet’s Castle at Elsinore. The guide said that Shakespeare was impressed with the 24 course banquets that the King of Denmark, in the mid 1500s, Frederick II, used to hold to show that he was the most powerful king in Scandinavia. It is very imposing, standing as it does on a slight promontory at the narrowest part of the entrance to the Baltic Sea with Sweden just 4 kms over the water. At that time the land across the water was part of Denmark. Frederick made his money charging taxes of shipping that went through the passage. If they didn’t pay he fired cannons and then made them pay for the cannon balls. The cannons you see in the photos still work and are used on ceremonial ... read more

Gestern bin ich nach dem Fruehstueck zum nahegelegenen Kopenhagener Hauptbahnhof und habe ein Ticket nach Helsingor gekauft. Dort steht das Schloss bzw. die Festung Kronborg, welche laut Lonely Planet zu den besten Sehenswuerdigkeiten des Landes gehoert. Die Attraktionen Kopenhagens selbst hatte ich ja schon beim meinem Besuch im Jahr 2008 weitgehen abgegrast. Das kaufen der Fahrkarte gestaltete sich allerdings etwas schwierig, weil an den Schaltern eine grosse Menge Reisende warteten und die Fahrkartenautomaten weder EC- noch American Express-Kreditkarte noch den 1000 Kronenschein, den ich am Vortag vom Geldwechsler bekommen habe, annahmen. Dafuer bekommt die daenische Eisenbahn den Negativpreis meiner Reise. Ich konnte dann doch noch den grossen Geldschein wechseln und mein Ticket am Automaten bekommen und bin dann nach Helsingor gefahren. Unterwegs habe ich in der Naehe des Kopenhagen... read more