18 March – Oldest Town in Denmark

Weekend Pictures from Denmark III

It was a weekend of solo-exploring Denmark’s west coast. It all began with an 8:30am departure from the Helnan Marina Hotel. My first weekend here, you may remember I went to Silkeborg (remember the petrified Tollund Man?) and was drooling at the store windows. Since Silkeborg was on my way this weekend, I decided to stop there to check out their Saturday market. Wow, it was great. They had a variety of vegetables (mostly roots… potato, carrots, beets, etc), even more flowers (bulbs… daffodills, tulips, etc.), and a plethora of cheeses on the cheese trucks. Yum! The stores were fantastic too, though I had a long schedule that day so I didn’t hang out for too long.

Next stop, Ringkøbing at noon. There was only an hour left before the stores closed up shop. I was able to see most of the downtown quaint buildings and cobblestone streets. There were even some decent deals to be had so I bought a stylish shirt that is outside my typical closet purchase. Lunch was tomato soup & greek salad at a back alley café. The soup was great, the salads here are all the same. They don’t seem to be into fancy dressings, nor well-themed salads. They are all plainly done, like out of the plastic bins at a Subway joint.

It began to sprinkle and the shops were closed; it was now officially dreary. I headed back to my car, flipped through the Denmark tourist book on the off-chance that there was something Frommer’s thought was worth seeing in the area. Remarkably, this small town was in the book. They admitted the town was not previously recommended until a rainy night with car trouble they were stranded here for the night. They confirmed the quaint town, old historic buildings, and importance of the old trading harbor. I motivated myself to get re-wet and cold to see this harbor. The harbor wasn’t anything spectacular, however what caught my interest was a campus of “danish design” buildings that bordered part of the harbor. It turned out to be a Vestas campus, the largest wind power company in Denmark. They had office buildings as well as a production facility. Their production parts were scattered about the warehouse parkering area. I was surprised at how big the parts are when you’re next to them, and how small they look when they are operating at the top of the pole. See the pictures for what I’m talking about. This facility would look neat from google earth, I look forward to looking it up.

After wearing out Ringkøbing, I drove as far west as possible, then headed south on a long strip of dunes with the fjord on one side, and the North Sea on the other (though the dunes are so tall, you can’t see the ocean when driving). The beaches along the coast of Denmark have cement Nazi bunkers from WWII. I found a couple when I stopped and took a beach walk. They are in various conditions, however one of them was accessible and it was sure spooky to be inside!

At this point it was 4pm-ish, raining, cold, barren, and lodging prospects looked bleak. Half of my conscience was trying to talk me into going back to the known warmth, comfort, and familiarity (my hotel in Grenaa), while the adventurous half was encouraging me to forge ahead and go into the dismal unknown. The map deemed a good data point for decision making. Once I re-looked at where I was, and turned beyond 1 page of the surrounding area, … wow! I’m only 1 ½ pages from Ribe! Done.

Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark. In fact, big plans are underway for 2010 as that will be their 1300th year anniversary!. The US finds it a big deal to celebrate 100 or 200 years…. try 1,300! Being a medievel town, it has castle remains inside a mote, a striking cathedral that has been renovated over the years, the oldest & 2nd best hotel in all of DK (Hotel Dagmar), waterways going around and through town, and gorgeous old buildings. The shopping looked to be the most unique & absolute best I’ve seen in all of Denmark (the stores were closed so I was limited to peeking in the windows). It looked to beat out much of the US shopping as well.

Upon arrival, first step was getting a roof for the night. After requesting the price at Hotel Dagmar and being slightly dismayed at the price (apparently you pay to stay in the antique four-poster beds and originally painted ceilings from 200 years ago), I went across the street to Weis Stue Restaurant where they have rooms available upstairs. It’s a (crooked) half-timber home from 1600 that is right on the main town square (torvet) next to the cathedral. It has 6 rooms on the 2nd story, with one hallway bathroom. There was one other room occupied that night, a couple from London that were also there just for the night, so there were no bathroom waiting troubles. I could only imagine it in the summer though! To get an idea for the size, my hair touched the room’s wooden ceiling beam’s when standing. The rest of the ceiling was maybe 6 ½ - 7’. The doors (right down to the key hole) were right out of Alice-In-Wonderland. So quaint… what an experience.

I had a warming dinner & did a evening walk around the cobblestoned blocks. It seemed some bars were just getting started on their evenings, so I anticipated some of the late night noise by choosing a room on the main square. It was not too bad though. Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery juice (even the back-ups were dead) so I had to drastically limit my picture taking… probably for the benefit of you!

Sunday morning was started at the local bakery (almond marzipan crossiant) and continued with a very long walk up and down all the streets, quaint bridges, and through the beautiful cemetary. The cemetaries are incredible; they resemble English gardens. In my opinion, the florists here are much more talented then American florists. They do amazingly simple, tight, small yet striking arrangements using more than just flowers. They use twigs, mosses, leaves, baskets and sometimes small classy statues. Impressive.

Ribe occupied my Sunday for about 4 hours. Around noon I headed out for my last true adventure to Mandø Island before making the returning trek. Now, when I say “adventure to Mandø Island” it shall be taken literally. Mandø is an island 6 miles off shore for 6-18 hours a day depending on the time of the year. Yes, I’ll give you a minute to re-read that last sentence. Okay, ready? At low-tide there is a gravel road that goes out to the island, at high tide, 4 miles of that gravel road is covered by sea water. You are understanding where I’m going with this “adventure to Mandø” in the rice box rental car. Let’s just say, a 4 mile road that is within 6” of calm sea water is not visible more than a mile away. The only reason I could tell the road was open was I could see little humps (think a ladybug) moving along the horizon. That confirmed there were cars ahead of me driving on the road. So, I went for it. The rice box grunted & swished in the puddles down the gravel road. Wait, did I say puddles? Those are not puddles, they are the sea water below the gravel, rising up to say HI. Anyways, totally weird driving experience and was worth it.

Then it was an afternoon drive home while eating a huge cookie from the Ribe bakery… that’s my personal fuel for these weekend return drives. American bakers could learn something from these Danish bakers! The American danishes & pastries never taste as good as they look. Danish danishes & pastries always taste better than they look.

I think that is plenty by now. Im sure I’ve put you all to sleep!