Welcome to Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark, a city on two islands and the heir to the 'Merchants Harbour'. This is the start of the series of posts dedicated to one of my favourite cities in the world, and serves as an introduction to my view of the city.

Copenhagen is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand; another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road.Originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century.
Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a regional centre of power with its institutions, defences and armed forces.After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of redevelopment. This included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

After further disasters in the early 19th century when Nelson attacked the Dano-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, rebuilding during the Danish Golden Age brought a Neoclassical look to Copenhagen's architecture.

Copenhagen seems to me to be a city proud of it's heritage and history, but at the same time with a desire to embrace the future. This is easy to see in the buildings while walking around town. The Nyhavn, meaning 'New Harbour', built in the 17th century is the typical postcard of the city. But that honour can also be claimed by the Opera House that was inaugurated just in 2005, that given its location and striking architecture as become one of the most well known sights of Copenhagen.
 It is also one of the most expensive opera houses ever built with construction costs well over US$500 million. It is located on the island of Holmen in central Copenhagen. Architect Henning Larsen and engineers Ramboll and Buro Happold and Theatre Consultant Theatreplan designed the facility. The Opera is located in Copenhagen just opposite the main castle Amalienborg at the shore of the harbour. The opera house is built in alignment with Amalienborg and The Marble Church, so that if one stands in the main entrance of the Opera, one can see the Marble Church over the water along the road through Amalienborg.

The city seems to be dominated by a river, around which the city as grown and evolved, with many canals shooting off creating small islands like the one where the Royal Library is located, or the more well known Christiania neighbourhood. Actually when looking at a map of the region you can identify this stretch of water as part of the Baltic Sea, running between the Zealand and Amager islands. This 'river' is very well used by the all the citizens of Copenhagen, with many small family boats cruising around. And also pools created along the shores, that when the weather is as good as we had it, are full of young people enjoying the cool waters and hot sun. At the end of the day every stretch of space by the water seems to be taken over by everyone, young and old.

Being mostly a flat city, bicycles are the 'de facto' means of transport, and you can find thousands of them cruising around town and in large piles around the shops. Just like Amsterdam, you need to be aware when crossing the street.

The centre of the city as also been able to incorporate large green spaces like the Kastellet picture above, a star-shaped 17th-century fortress with ramparts and a museum. 
Or the Botanisk Have a lush botanical garden with an array of glasshouses, 13,000+ plant species and free admission. This is located near the Danish National Gallery, with it's own great gardens, and the Rosenborg Castle and The King's Garden. On a sunny day all these gardens will be full of tourists visiting the popular attractions, but also a lot of locals that enjoy these gardens on a daily basis.

So this is the first on this series, which at the moment I'm planning to run for 6 to 8 weeks. On the coming weeks I'll be focusing on particular areas of town, like the Tivoli Gardens, and some special buildings like the Royal Library.

Hope I can keep a regular scheduling on this series, as there are a lot more places I want to share with you.
Until next week,
Keep wandering this rock of ours.

references:
wikipedia