Slowly but surely international travel is resuming again. It has been 18 months plus since I last put a foot into an airport. Luckily this has come to an end and I was able to travel again last month.
I haven’t been back to my home country in two years at this stage. As I have been vaccinated since early August, I booked a flight to Germany the end of September to see my friend who is also travel mad. I was staying over for almost four days. So we decided to book a last minute trip to Copenhagen in Denmark on the Sunday. It is only a 45 minutes flight from Berlin which makes it so manageable to spend almost 12 hours over there.
We had an early start. Departure was 8am and we landed in Copenhagen around 9.30am. No passport or COVID cert were checked. Copenhagen is a handy location if you only stay a short amount of time due to the airport being so close to the city (10 minutes on the train).
Breakfast at Torvehallerne
An early start means we needed some breakfast as soon as we got into the city. My friend has been in Copenhagen multiple times before, so knew her way around the city. Our first stop was the food market Torvehallerne. It’s indoors and we enjoyed porridge and chia pudding at Grod, the world’s first porridge bar. The porridge was roughly €10. It is only slightly more expensive than Ireland.
Stroll around Botanic Gardens
Once our bellies were filled, we went for a walk around the Botanic Gardens. Most of the sights in Copenhagen are very much walkable. However we availed of a day ticket anyway will get us anywhere for around €10. as we needed to get back to the airport with a ticket anyway.
At the entrance you will find a cute little flower shop. There is a butterfly house near the glass house which is open during the Summer months. We didn’t go there though and I think it might have been closed anyway.
The day we visited was a warm sunny day. We spent some time at the pond where we were greeted by a dragon-fly, which was happy to have his photos taken. It was literally there the whole time when we were relaxing on the bridge and only left when we left, too. Fascinating little creature actually.
Explore Nordhavn
Afterwards we took the Metro to Nordhavn. Even though it is not as warm in September anymore, you could see people jumping into the water at the harbour and sunbathing along the shore. Apparently this is something the Danish do a lot. There are dedicated areas sealed off for swimming only which is away from the rough water.
The main reason why we came down to Nordhavn was to see the troll Captain Nalle. However there is a lot of building going on at the moment with new apartments being built so we decided to give it a miss.
Walking along the harbour, you can spot the windmills from far away. This is something I would love to do next time when visiting.
The Little Mermaid
Instead of taking the metro back, we walked back to see the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was a gift from Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen to the City of Copenhagen. It was also inspired by the fairytale of Hans Christian Anderson. I read his books as a child.
Reffen Copenhagen Street Food
Along the way we passed the Gefion Fountain and made our way to the yellow harbour bus. This will take you to the other side called Refshale Island.
It is famous for its Street food market. We enjoyed our lunch here. It wouldn’t be a Street Food market without trying many different dishes
The first dish I had on the list that I wanted to try, was the traditional Danish hot dog, also known as Pølsevogn. It consists of a boiled pork sausage, crispy fried onions, remoulade, mustard and sweet pickles. I am normally don’t like onions but this combination was delicious.
For dessert I had a waffle on a stick with chocolate sauce and smarties.
Nyhavn
All stuffed we walked back to the shore to take the water bus back to the other side. We got off in Nyhavn so we didn’t have to walk too far.
Nyhavn used to be the old port of Copenhagen. However now it is being enjoyed by people in restaurants, good food and music. At the port you will also find a few companies that allow you to go on a boats tour.
Walk past the colourful renovated house or stop for a bite to eat. We were still stuffed from our Street food experience. Also the meals here are particularly more expensive.
On our walk around the district we passed Amlienborg Palace where the royal family still resides today. There were a few royal guards guarding the houses while we were there and the flag was up which normally means the family is visiting.
Go for dinner to end your day
Last but not least we ended our day in Copenhagen with some dinner in the centre. There are a good few restaurants you can pick from, whether its indoor or outdoor. They have little flames by each table so even if you were to sit outside you would not be cold.
We dined indoors at a restaurant called Mama Rosa (Italian). As you may know, Denmark has removed all COVID restrictions so you don’t require a mask anywhere and also the requirement of the COVID vaccine cert to dine indoors as also not needed.
It was a cosy little place, though we did find the service was not as good. The waitress was never on alert and we had to ask for the bill multiple times as well as dessert menu and drink top up.
Our flight was back late in the evening and because the airport is so close to the city, we didn’t have to rush at all. The metro was only a five minute walk from where we were.
I liked Copenhagen and definitely will be back and see more outside of Copenhagen. The city is very similar to Hamburg in my opinion.