Copenhagen Part 1

Originally delighted with our cheap £32 return flight to Copenhagen with Ryan Air, I was a shocked to discover that the train fare from home to the Airport was double the price!  I’d also forgotten the Ryan Air scrum at boarding!  Fortunately, we were at the front of the scrum.  After a Ryan Air landing which bumped its way along the run way, we were relieved to be in Copenhagen and in just 15 minutes after jumping on a train, hoping that it was going in the right direction, we found ourselves in central Copenhagen.  The old Danish style train station is beautiful in its own right and John was particularly pleased with the free salami sandwich on offer if he signed up for a raffle prize to Bologna.

It is interesting that right outside the station and in the centre of town is Tivoli fun park which is like having Chessington World of Adventures in the middle of London.  It was however a good landmark as we only had to look into the sky to see the Chairoplanes or Rollercoasters to locate where we were in the city.

We were due to stay with Servas hosts ( Servas Britain | it's a different way to explore the world) and I had chosen a couple who lived close to the city in an interesting area called Humleby  which used to be the old working class area but now these rows of little terraced houses are very desirable.  En route we passed to a district known as Vesterbro which worryingly seemed to be the red light district at one end but much to our relief, more trendy and attractive at the other end. We arrived and greeted our hosts and were then told that they would be taking us to their summer cottage in a remote island outside Copenhagen – Surprise!

Although wondering what we had let ourselves in for as we approached the Island Oro via a car chain ferry, the island seemed isolated with a few cottages scattered here and there and we learnt that there was a population of around 500 people on the island.  Arriving at our hosts summer cottage we were taken aback by the beauty of this wooden cottage set amongst a huge green lawn and with stunning sea views to both the front and back.  Within 1 minute we could walk to the water’s edge.  Yes, this was a good choice after all.

After a good night’s sleep in one of the most silent places we have stayed, we ventured out to discover the island on foot.  The nature is the main thing to explore here and as we walked along the coast and through fields we took in the sights of flora and fauna including cows, swans, birds, horses, rabbits, deer and even a camel!  Also enjoying the nature was the local naturalist group who had taken over the campsite and it seems much of the island as we were told that some Islanders had objected to the nudists turning up to the 1 inn on the island and sitting naked in the restaurant area to eat their meals! 

We spent 2 nights here and probably saw the entire island in that time but were lucky enough to have amazing weather, beautiful views and learnt a lot about Danish life through our Servas hosts.