Day 6: Viking Ships & Æro Island Charms
- The Day Distilled: Today was about revival: the wonderful Roskilde Viking Museum brings ancient shipbuilding to life, while in Ærøskøbing we heard the story of community renewal.
- Woman of the Day: Louise, who is pulling her fairy tale village back from the brink of economic ruin.
- Ship’s Log: Viking ships! Ferries! Smugglers!
Viking shipbuilders at work
We left Copenhagen in a drenching rain and drove 18 miles to Roskilde’s Viking Museum. We loved this place! In addition to having the skeletal remains of several Viking ships that had been raised from the bottom of Roskilde Fjord, the museum had ship-building demonstrations in the yard outside. We talked with craftsmen who were making rope, studied diagrams of which parts of which trees are best suited for which parts of a ship, and marveled at the beautiful woodwork of finished reproductions of the Viking ships we’d seen inside. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, we probably would have tried our hand at various Viking lawn games, too.
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A visit to Danish queens and kings
Next, we huffed and puffed our way up a steep path through a wooded park to the imposing red brick Roskilde Cathedral, which holds the tombs of almost 40 Danish monarchs over 1,000 years of history. Even for folks who get “churched out” quickly, the Cathedral has interesting features. High on a wall near the King’s Door is a working 15th century mechanical glockenspiel; every hour it depicts St. George killing a dragon, and a bellows behind the clock produces what the Cathedral guide called “a frightful wail.” One of the chapels has a pillar where royal visitors have marked their heights, but don’t take them seriously: the line for Christian I, who ruled 1448-1481, is over seven feet tall. Queen Margrete I (Woman of Day 4) rests in an ornate sarcophagus directly behind the altarpiece, while the current Queen, Margrete II, has a considerably more modern sarcophagus ready and waiting for her in one of the chapels.
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A ferry ride to a fairy tale
From Roskilde we drove to Svendborg and onto a ferry to Ærøskøbing, a tiny village on tranquil Ærø island that would be our oasis for the next two nights. After dropping our bags at our B&B, we met John, a local resident who told us the story of the island’s long decline and recent regeneration. Ærø was for centuries a center of Danish maritime trade, including smuggling. The prosperity that islanders earned with their seafaring skills is still evident today in the historic town center, with its brightly painted, tightly packed houses dating to the mid-17th century.
Over the past few decades, Ærø’s population and economy plummeted as young people moved away. John's wife Louise, the great-granddaughter of a famous Ærø sea captain, has been a one-woman force to save their village. She has inspired townspeople to work together to renovate buildings, start businesses, and turn their village into an international wedding destination. We enjoyed hearing this woman’s story and seeing a few of the buildings that had been restored: a general store, a wedding space, and a new whisky distillery. |
A delicious unpronounceable meal
We had a group dinner at a beautiful, cozy restaurant just steps from the distillery. Mom and I enjoyed sitting with a couple of tour companions we hadn’t had a chance to talk with yet, and had a wonderful evening discovering shared backgrounds and interests, and discussing what we had seen and experienced so far.
The night finished with a traditional Danish dessert none of us could pronounce, despite our hostess's best efforts to teach us (between fits of good natured laughter): rødgrød med fløde. In English, it was warm berry pudding with fresh cream. YUM! For more photos from Day 6, see the slideshow below. |
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