Land of stories and great characters, Denmark is a friendly destination for foreign tourists. People are pretty open-minded, almost everybody speaks English, they are very proud of their way of life and invite you to share it.
It is also a country with a rich cultural heritage and monuments worth knowing. You have to go a little beyond Copenhagen to discover another country with beautiful landscapes and excellent infrastructure that ease visiting. Today, for example, we will discover three castles open to the public here in Denmark.
Kronborg Castle
We started on a good foot: this is the castle of Hamlet, or at least where William Shakespeake set his most famous work. In fact historians do not agree if the English writer ever came to visit the castle. In the work it is named as ‘Kronborg Castle Elsinore’ and from this last name was born the village where the castle is located: Helsingør.
The castle was built in 1420 and had to be rebuilt because of a fire that left it in ruins. Its position was always strategic: in their passing in front of the castle, the ships heading to the Baltic Sea had to pay a tax in Helsingør. The castle was included as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.
Dragsholm Castle
We speak of one of the oldest castles in Denmark: it was built in the twelfth century. It was located on a small strip of land that connects the Odsherred peninsula, in the northwest of the island of Zealand, with the latter.
The castle has undergone numerous remodelings, the biggest of them in the Middle Ages to transform it into a medieval castle and later, leading to the present appearance; a baroque castle.
Nyborg Castle
Built in the late twelfth century, Nyborg Castle was part of the chain of defensive structures of the Danish kings back then.
A solid fortress and a castle that played a leading role in various moments of the local history, since it was a place of great treaties between lords and kings. Nowadays the west wing and a tower are still standing, but visiting it takes us to a time of knights and great alliances (and clashes) where life had really little value.
How to get there:
Photos: Elvin, Filip Andersen, Johanna Loock
