When you think of the north atlantic, surely you think of….vikings! (Actually, I think of licorice, and then NATO, and then vikings, and now nudie spas, in that order) And we have not done too many viking things on this trip yet, mainly due to being thwarted by construction in Oslo, and not wanting to fall into a tourist trap in the fjords. But Rhett’s One Wish was to go do a viking thing, so we went to the second best viking ship museum we could find – the viking ship museum in Roskilde. I guess if the best one is currently closed, that grants “best” status to the one in Roskilde?
From Copenhagen, Roskilde is about a half hour train ride. That means that from our lodgings, it is an hour, as we have to go into Copenhagen, and then back out west again. This is the only time I wished we had a car on the trip because the train route was weird, but whatever. At least the local trains are nice, if not late (always, always late).
Roskilde itself is a charming smaller city. Our walk to the viking ship museum took us through a lovely shaded park that had ponds and ducks. Google maps only mislead us slightly one time by dead-ending us in a parking lot that is closed due to construction, so that’s a victory.
Roskilde was a trading hub for the vikings in the early 12th century, and as such weathered many raids and attacks over the years. To block entry in the bay, ships were scuttled to route would-be attackers around a different way, defending the town.
Fast forward over 700 years, and the ships are rediscovered in the bay and then set up in a museum, so that tourists like ourselves with Copenhagen City Cards can get in for free. Boop! Time for some boats and history, and I really hope they have outfits I can wear.
The museum has five ships, dug up with experimental techniques in the 60s. They took great care to maintain the ships and not cause further damage or decay once they’ve been removed from the cold waters of the bay. The museum has the parts of the ships on display, and the short film they show about unearthing (unwatering?) the boats is definitely worth the watch.
You can stroll around the museum and read about the types of boats – some trading boats, and some boats for attacking (because vikings). They’ve got examples of goods that were traded, viking weapons, and outfits you can wear. YES! Fashion!
The museum also has rebuilt viking ships in its nearby harbor, using techniques and tools that would have been available at the time. As you explore the outside, they’ve got a woodshop and some exhibits on how they’d use all the parts of the trees, and how they’d split the wood and prepare it for becoming a boat. They had even tested the seaworthiness of the boats by sailing one of the ships to Ireland and back. You can walk all over the ships to your hearts content when they’re docked.
On days where the wind isn’t a hazard, you can go for a ride in the bay, too. But today was a windy day, and I know from experience that wind + boats = misery for at least half of our party. They would have made very poor, barfy vikings.
Our lunch at the museum cafe was pretty tasty, and I made an important discovery: my very favorite pukka tea CAN be found somewhere in this country. I order it for lunch and make a mental note to go on the hunt for it for the rest of our trip, because I’m almost out and importing it at $9+ a box makes me weep.
After lunch, we headed back up to the station, stopping at the cathedral. The cathedral is on the UNESCO world heritage site and was one of the first brick buildings in Scandinavia. Our boy Absalon (the founder of Copenhagen, see previous post) started construction on this church in the 1200s.
Today, it’s the final resting place of the Danish monarchy, and it’s been added on to over the years, as various monarchs saw fit. This results in a bit of interior chaos, but that makes the church no less grand. You can get up close and personal to the royal sacrophagi in their various chapels, and as you do in many grand cathedrals, there are lots of rich people buried beneath the floor of the main cathedral. In case of a zombie uprising, churches like this in europe would definitely be the least safe place to be.
Did I make this joke the last time I blogged about visiting a cathedral? Probably yes. I am just too lazy to go look.
The cathedral has a little museum upstairs, which is all in Danish. Duolingo has not yet taught me church words or history words and there is negative mobile signal so I can’t use google translate up there. It mostly was an interesting collection of dresses and models of the church and the pipe organ through the years. The upstairs does offer a great view of the main floor of the cathedral, so that alone makes it worth viewing.
On our way back, because we must go into Copenhagen and then out of it again, we went on one of the free boat tours included in our Copenhagen city pass. The city has a lot of canals running through it because one of the King Christians or King Fredericks decided they wanted the city to look like Amsterdam, to tempt the Dutch with all their money to come spend it in Copenhagen instead.
This was a stupid idea and therefore it didn’t work, but it makes for great touristing today, so I guess the plan paid off after all. The tour did take us past the back of the little mermaid sculpture, which is somehow Copenhagen’s symbol and was also rated the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe. Make of that what you will (jk, I actually really enjoy Copenhagen, but why this statue as the symbol of the city???).
Overall, it’s a nice tour, and a good way to see the city without doing too much walking.
The city is also gearing up for a huge festival, and I’ve forgotten people Do Loud Things, so it’s starting to get pretty hoppin as we depart for our peaceful Vedbæk refuge. Our last full day is soon upon us 🙁