As I read about ‘hygge’ before, I wanted to find out what it is means and why it is so popular.
But where to start?
Copenhagen as Denmark’s green and innovative capital is a great destination, especially when you’re interested in sustainability and green cities, like me. So this was supposed to be a city trip like no other and a perfect place to learn about ‘hygge’!
If you truly want to be a sustainable traveller, try to do it like a local.
So let’s start our journey, of cause with sustainable transportation!
The city can be easily reached by train from Germany via Hamburg.
We booked two Interrail tickets which included three rides, no matter how many trains you take on these three days. This was quite advantageous as you’ll see later.
This city trip was a bit different from the ones we or I usually do as we destressed a little bit and didn’t structure the days with too much sightseeing, because we wanted to find out what the above mentioned ‘hygge’ means and because personally, it was my first trip to Denmark.
When we researched a sustainable accommodation we found a hotel named “Kong Arthur” that supported 4 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and sourced local and organic food. That sounded perfect to me, because I strongly support these Goals “SDGs” with my voluntary engagement. The hotel used local produced hygienic articles and promoted bike rentals and electric cars. We didn’t rent anything, because we explored the city per pedes 😉 The hotels offers a daily “cozy hour” providing free drinks and the possibility to talk to other hotels guests and have a good time. It was a good possibility to get in contact to people, starting nice conversations and break out of your anonymity. We used it every day, to plan the other days and we also talked to a friendly couple from Ireland. I also liked the benches in the window frames, we also had the same possibility in our hotel room and it was really comfortable and nice to relax.
We were located near the market halls “Torvehallerne” which offers a great variety of local, organic and Danish food. If you don’t know what to try first, have a closer look at the great food and try it bit by bit. Personally, I loved the hot and warming porridge during the cold winter days and the many varieties of Smørrebrød.
We took many strolls across all different districts of the city and discovered many amazing quarters.
One of them was the Freetown Christiana which is an interesting insight in an alternative lifestyle. We were walking around this area and discovered one of the giant wooden sculptures “Green George” of the artist Thomas Dambo. His statues are located in and around Copenhagen, made up from upcycled materials to raise awareness about sustainable consumption patterns! I was really impressed by this detailed work of art which somehow created an atmosphere of warmth and positivity.
We also visited one of Europe’s oldest amusement park “Tivoli”. Until the 6th of January it is still possible to enjoy a beautiful winter wonderland with an amazing Christmas decoration which created my personal ‘hygge’ moment. The park sparkles from all edges with amazing Christmas trees, markets and for those who are adventurous enough thrilling rides are awaiting you. This day it was quite cold, so we just enjoyed the fantastic and magical atmosphere and took a longer tea time to warm up.
Before the old year ended we used our additional Interrail ride to visit Malmö in Sweden. Having a stroll throughout the old city, had a closer look at some hidden galleries and bought some local gifts. As I bought some “lakrids” for me, some friends demanded “Surströmming” which is a fermented herring. If your friends will ever request this dish please note that it is recommended to eat it outside of your flat 😉
Back in Copenhagen we were heading towards New Year and if you want to celebrate like the Danish people you’ll start your evening with a fine dinner menu on 31th of December. I have to admit that we already booked the menu one month in advance to ensure that we avoid the stress finding a free table. It turned out to be the right decision, because our dishes were fantastic. We booked our table at Madklubben in Vesterbrö together with many locals. The dinner was over around 11pm so we still had enough time to find a place watching the fireworks!
And being a sustainable traveller means to adapt to local traditions, so we jumped into 2020! The fireworks were amazing and noisier than those I watched before. What a start into 2020!
We spend the last days of your city trip to explore the Meatpacking District which was built in the 30ies of the last century to ensure a hygienic meet delivery for Copenhagen’s inhabitants. Nowadays, you will find galleries, different restaurants and local produced delicacies as well. It’s a great example of a reuse and transition of old buildings. And maybe this brings you to the questions how old buildings are transforming in your city or area? I guess it’s a very interesting process to see changes towards a more sustainable city and maybe to shape a more sustainable future yourself.
Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to join the sustainable city tour which is on my to-do-list for the next Copenhagen visit.
If there’s a goddess of food, I guess it’s it’s located in Copenhagen right now as we had really amazing and yet unknown flavours such as the cauliflower steak with miso!
To summarize this trip: Even though we prepared a little bit and did sightseeing Copenhagen is a great city to slowdown and people seemed to be very relaxed! If you want to learn about ‘hygge’, have great food and innovative architecture around you with history you want to learn more about, you’ll enjoy a fantastic city trip!
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