Some places are easily associated with a colour. The blue seas and white houses of the Greek Islands are familiar to many. I always think of Florence, Italy with its orange roofs and the white, green and pink of the Duomo. But when we were walking around Copenhagen I saw colour everywhere – yellows, blues, reds, greens – and I loved it!
I visited Copenhagen for a long weekend at the end of May and Kate, Johanna, Emma and I decided to start with a long wander around the city, spotting some of the sights and drinking in the sunshine. I loved Nyhavn’s multi-coloured houses and beautiful old yachts and launches.
From stumbling on Florentine Saint’s Day parades to discovering delicious tapas places in Barcelona, one of my favourite things about simply wandering a city is that you never know what you’ll see around the corner! We wanted to check out the royal family’s winter palace, Amalienborg, and happened to time it perfectly to witness the changing of the guard. Due to the palace’s design of four imposing buildings around a central courtyard, we got up close and personal to the guards, who paraded around, before stopping for a quick chat about the weather (maybe?!) and a march back to the mess room for those coming off duty.
An easy stroll from Amalienborg is Kastellet, a star-shaped fortress that’s now home to a beautiful park and also where you can find The Little Mermaid!
We followed our feet to the Botanical Gardens via a stop for a delicious take-away lunch at Aamans, home of amazing smørrebrød (more on this soon!).
Emma, Kate and Johanna enjoying the sun
Pro tip: you’re not allowed to sit just anywhere on the grass in the Botanical Gardens – shortly after this snap we got moved on (very politely!) by a caretaker. Make sure you look for the little silver guy below to figure out where you can lounge, or sit on one of the benches instead.
Beautiful serenity in the Botanical Gardens
From one park to another as we strolled through the Kongens Park, which is home to the gorgeous red-brick of the Renaissance-Era Rosenborg Castle.
Indulging my inner kid!
Rosenborg Castle
As always, it was time to get a real view, so we climbed the Rundetårn in the city centre. We could see all the way to the Øresund Bridge which links Denmark to Sweden!
Can you spot the bridge in the centre of the background?
The tower had a “fun” feature – a glass cover over a well so you could stand on it and look down! I’ve done the same thing in Auckland’s Sky Tower but found this one particularly unsettling – maybe it was because it was so small. Still, always good to get the adrenalin going a bit!
This beautiful sunset topped our day of colour off!
The next day we continued our wanderings by heading to Christiania, a place that has a lot of cultural as well as physical colour! In 1971, a group of Copenhageners occupied disused military barracks, and the area was declared a freetown. It is now regarded as a large commune, but has its own special protective laws. Photography is forbidden within due to a multitude of activities more associated with Amsterdam than Copenhagen, but it’s also a beautiful area to walk around as it is located next to a river and has lots of street art and buildings to admire.
The golden sun on the beautiful Rådhus was a lovely end to our day. More posts to come on some of the other colourful sights – and food! – that we saw in Copenhagen!
I loved spotting all the colour in Copenhagen. What places do you associate with a particular colour or colours?
