Kronborg Castle
The train ride from Copenhagen to Helsingor was pleasant enough. This was our first real glimpse of the Danish countryside. We were also offered views of the sea between Denmark and Sweden. This body of water is called the Oresund and links the North Sea to the Baltic.
The castle was more impressive than I was anticipating. You can cross the moat and have access to the interior courtyard without having to pay. I understand they also perform Hamlet (which is what this castle is most famous for) a few times each year on the interior courtyard.
Kronborg Castle is flanked by ancient canon which makes for an impressive sight.
Sweden is easily viewable from Kronborg. In fact, Helsingor is the closest point to Sweden from Denmark (and Kronborg Castle is right on the water’s edge of the town). Sailors were boating between the two and we caught sight of a pirate or two as well. 😉
The views with the boats in the straight and the exterior of the castle grounds were very beautiful. The weather was outstanding and the clouds were, once again, amazing.
People and cars were being constantly ferried back and forth from Sweden to Denmark at this point. Here you can see the canon ready to make a few Swedes swim back home. 😉
Actually there is some interesting history about the canon at this place. The canon was not defensive as much as it was an offensive threat to ships that came through the straight without stopping to pay tax. When the ship landed and the tax inspectors went on board, the captain had to declare a value for his cargo. The tax was based on the value of the cargo. If the captain undervalued his cargo to avoid paying tax the inspector had the right to purchase the cargo at the claimed value. Those were some tricky Danes! The tax for passing through was done away with long ago when the nations of the world paid Denmark a huge lump sum.
On our way back to the train station we went through town instead of following the same shortcut road that we took to the castle. Some of the buildings looked like they were out of a fairy tale. A few looked similar to those in Copenhagen on a much smaller scale, but most had a completely different and fun, Danish style.