Last Monday we drove to Jutland from the island of Funen, arriving at Billund (home of Legoland) around 11am. Our friends dropped us off there, as admission is $80 CA and they have been many times. We arranged to be picked up in a few hours, and off we went to see as much as we could! Miniland was a highlight, with miniature Lego displays of familiar buildings, cities and landmarks. They all had moving parts and sound effects as well. Each display had information on who constructed it and how many blocks it took!
We managed to see quite a bit during our time, and it was great fun. They encourage people to take their own food into the park, and provide picnic areas, which makes sense for the families with little ones.
After getting picked up by our friends, we drove to the west coast to see some of the scenery before checking into our bed and breakfast which was in the middle of nowhere! Although the Danish children are back at school now, there are many Germans who come to Jutland for a beach holiday, so it is still quite booked up in the popular towns. This B&B was ok for one night, and at least we had access to the kitchen so could eat our own food for supper. Breakfast turned out to be decent too.
The next morning we headed north, stopping several times along the way to have breaks and see the villages. We had coffee in a place called Klitmoller, nicknamed "Cold Hawaii"!!! Pretty little seaside village full of surf shops and kids walking around in wetsuits. I think I prefer the "Warm Hawaii"....In Northern Jutland it is common to see the old houses with thatched roofs, and some of them were lovely. After stopping briefly at Denmark's largest moving sand dune, the Rabjerg Mile, we headed to our destination of Skagen (pronounced Skane), where we would stay for two nights in a very small two bedroom apartment. Skagen is famous for its picture perfect yellow houses with white trim, complete with white picket fences! It also has great shops and restaurants, galleries etc, so it was full of tourists. The cruise ships stop there as well. One of the must do's is to go to the beach at Grenen, just norh of Skagen, where you can walk to the northermost tip of Jutland. There are two seas that come together at that location, and you can wade out into the water and have one foot in each sea. According to our friends, it is always very windy there, but we were incredibly lucky, and it was a warm day with absolutely no wind. It was fun looking for amber on the beach, but we were not successful.
Skagen also has a wonderful art gallery, with famous works from 1870-1930 produced by local artists. One of them, P.S. Kroyer, was particularly good at capturing the light during the "blue hour", the transition from day to night.
Our last destination in Jutland was Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city. We spent several hours at the Old Town, which is an open air museum of 75 half-timbered houses which were brought there from all corners of Denmark and reconstructed as a market town from the era of Hans Christian Andersen. It was fun to come across little shops amongst the houses on display, such as a bakeries, soap shop, bookstore, kitchen supplies etc. The proprietors were dressed in authentic costumes and were selling the merchandise. We sampled some cookies from the bakery.
Downtown Aarhus is a vibrant place, and we spent some time just enjoying the people watching while we had coffee. Again, there was a cruise ship in town, so there were lots of tourists.
Friday was the day we had a long drive back to our friends' home in Hillroed, but first we wanted to see the Moesgard Museum, 10 km south of the city. This prehistory and anthropological museum reopened in 2014 in a spectacularly designed modern space, and the main attraction is the Graubelle Man, the 2000 year old man whose well preserved body was found in 1952 in the village of Graubelle, 25 km west of Aarhus. His body is remarkably preserved due to the chemical and biological properties of the peat bog in which he was found.
Aside from the Graubelle Man, the museum does a wonderful job of bringing various eras to life, from the Stone Age to the Viking, and we were wishing we had a whole day to spend there! The interactive displays contain so much information, and it is presented in a way that appeals to all ages.
Tomorrow we head to Prague for a few days, so we're looking forward to that.
Photos to follow....
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