Copenhagen started in the 10th century as a Viking fishing village and later became the capitol of Denmark in the 15th century. However, it really put itself on the map in the 17th century under the reign of Christian IV who established it as an economic and cultural hub of northern Europe. The city's location between the North Sea and Baltic Sea allowed it to be a cross roads for Scandinavia, northern Europe and the United Kingdom.
In 2012 Copenhagen was third in the rankings of richest cities in the world in terms of gross income. And the prices of just about everything match that wealthy income. This has been the most expensive city we've visited on Travel in Sandals so far. And the city is not just rich in money, it's rich in education as well. The University of Copenhagen has consistently been rated among the best universities in Europe and is a major partner university for many institutes across the U.S.
Being our first full day in Copenhagen we figured it'd be a good idea to do a tour to give ourselves the lay of the land and to check off a handful of sites in one swoop. We opted for the boat tour through the canals and around the harbor. We also ventured along the harbor walk and discovered a pretty amazing soccer viewing setup.
Danishes in Denmark, seems appropriate
Danishes in Denmark are a bit different from those in the U.S., but at their core they're basically the same - they're layered pastries with sugary fillings, perhaps some nuts, and some seasonings like cinnamon...however they're constructed, they're tasty!
We'd make terrible vikings
We made our way to the Nyhavn area, which is a waterfront canal and entertainment area in Copenhagen
The Nyhavn is lined with outdoor restaurant cafes and bars as well as colorful residential buildings and boats
Although the boat tour is touristy it was very informative on the basic sites of Copenhagen, so it was useful
Not all of us found it useful for learning about Copenhagen...Greg used the hour-long tour to catch up on some shut-eye
Christiansborg Palace is the location of the Danish Parliament, the Prime Minister's office, and the Supreme Court
The Copenhagen Opera House is a recent addition to the city's harbor side. It was completed in 2004 and is the national opera house of Denmark and among the most modern opera houses in all of the world. It's also one of the most expensive with a $500 million price tag.
Canal views from the boat tour.
The boat tour wrapped up around 5pm which was perfect timing for us to head over to an area along the main Copenhagen harbor that we heard would be showing the 6pm Netherlands v Mexico match. With our SoCal ties to Mexico and our recently developed love for Netherlands, we wanted to be somewhere fun to see the match.
All caught up on sleep, Greg was spry and ready to go for the evening
We made it to the Islands Brygge area on the north-western part of the city's harbor where they had a great setup of big screens, bars, and food stands
It was also the home base for the local sports channel (basically the Danish ESPN) for their World Cup coverage
We made it there for the kickoff of the Netherlands v Mexico match
It was a packed house of both Dutch and Mexican fans
Mexico fans were there in full force especially after going ahead 1-0
Keeping it American with a Budweiser
The match ended around 8:30pm - Dutch topped El Tri 2-1 in a stunning game - so we headed back to the hotel to change, shower and get ready for dinner. We found an Italian pizza spot called Mother as well as a beer bar called Fermentoren in the up-and-coming area of Copenhagen that literally is called the Meat Packing District. We feasted on some pizza and then had a few night caps at Fermentoren while watching Costa Rica beat Greece in a shoot out.
The kitchen at Mother normally closes around 10pm, but they were kind enough to stay open an extra 30 minutes for us. We're still not used to the early closing time of the Copenhagen restaurants.
It was a long productive day in Copenhagen. We tried some local cuisine, saw a variety of historic sites, watched some footie with a beautiful backdrop, and sipped on the local brews. Great day all around. Monday will be a bit of the same, but with new sites, more soccer matches and hopefully lots more local food.
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