Having spent a day and a half walking the streets of Copenhagen we felt we'd seen a fair bit so planned a day trip to the Fredericksborg Slot, one of the greatest Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and home to the Danish monarchy for over 200 years.
We could pick up a direct S Train from our local station and the journey should take about 40 mins. Except when we got on the platform, there were signs of engineering works and no trains appeared to be going as far as we wanted.
So a quick change of plan and we headed for a "normal" train north to Helsingor to visit the World Heritage site of Kronborg Slot - Hamlet's castle of Elsinore.
The train journey was very pleasant and gradually the rain stopped and the sun broke through. Kronborg Castle is visible as soon as you leave the station, although the view is somewhat marred by what appear to be modern buildings.
The walk takes you past the ferry to Sweden (Helsingborg - 20 mins) and apparently at the weekends the place is heaving with Swedes over on a cheap booze cruise.
The walk takes you past the ferry to Sweden (Helsingborg - 20 mins) and apparently at the weekends the place is heaving with Swedes over on a cheap booze cruise.
The castle itself was fairly boring in comparison with the others we'd seen and there were actors around doing excerpts from Hamlet.
We made the obligatory climb to the top of the tower and the views were lovely. The modern structures we'd seen turned out to be old naval buildings, albeit re-roofed.
The Marina with Sweden on the horizon.
The Marina with Sweden on the horizon.
According to the Copenhagen Card there was a ferry giving short cruises out to sea to view the castle from the water, but there was no sign of it and someone working on his boat said he hadn't seen it at all this season. The cultural centre was an interesting building.
This fish sculpture is made from plastic waste found in the sea.
The Little Mermaid's brother "Han" erected 2012
Originally when we'd been planning the day we had thought of trying to visit both slots in one day, but online train timetables inferred it was a long journey between the two. However having spent so little time at Helsingor we decided to try and fit Fredericksborg in too. In actual fact the journey was only about half an hour and we actually got to speak to a railway employee (the first we'd seen) checking tickets. He was able to confirm that whilst there were engineering works on the line, there was a shuttle running between some stations and all we had to do on the way home was change platforms.
On arrival at Hillerod we picked up a local bus to the slot (I think there was a shorter way to walk but our feet were complaining!) It's a lovely castle, with a moat at lake around it.
This time the advertised lake ferry boat was running, it was a tiny thing only holding about 20 people and it just went round the lake stopping at 3 different places. A nice way to view the castle, town and the wildlife.
Across the lake are formal gardens, half of which are being re-done (my guess is box blight)
Why do people deliberately sit so they spoil other's photographs - so mean!
As well as the formal gardens, there was parkland but we didn't have time to walk around.
In contrast to Helsingor, this castle was very interesting. The chapel in particular was lovely
I loved this painting Christian IV, I think or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
We were so pleased we visited this place and the journey back to Copenhagen was indeed easy, just changing trains mid way.
On arrival at Hillerod we picked up a local bus to the slot (I think there was a shorter way to walk but our feet were complaining!) It's a lovely castle, with a moat at lake around it.
This time the advertised lake ferry boat was running, it was a tiny thing only holding about 20 people and it just went round the lake stopping at 3 different places. A nice way to view the castle, town and the wildlife.
Across the lake are formal gardens, half of which are being re-done (my guess is box blight)
Why do people deliberately sit so they spoil other's photographs - so mean!
As well as the formal gardens, there was parkland but we didn't have time to walk around.
In contrast to Helsingor, this castle was very interesting. The chapel in particular was lovely
I loved this painting Christian IV, I think or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
We were so pleased we visited this place and the journey back to Copenhagen was indeed easy, just changing trains mid way.