Success Abroad: A Day Trip to Sweden

Yes, you read it right; I went to Sweden for a day. If you live in Copenhagen, you would realize that it is not very astonishing. Several of my friends go to Sweden early in the morning and return home late night. The closest Swedish city from Copenhagen is Malmo, which is a thirty-minute train ride from center of Copenhagen. Denmark border’s Sweden, Germany and Norway. Just because there is a lot of water surrounding Denmark, a popular choice of travel between the countries is to take a ferry. I went to Helsingborg, Sweden, which is a small beautiful coastal city of Sweden. From the Danish city Helsingor, you could actually see this old beautiful city. It is hilly, has the first pedestrian street of Sweden “Kullagatan” and has a medieval fortress, Karnan.

Yesterday, I took a train from center of Copenhagen to Helsingor, which has a magnificent castle. Kronborg castle was used for inspiration of “Elsinore” in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This beautiful castle is one of the biggest tourist attractions of Denmark. Located right next to the coastline, this place is the famous fishing spot for people of Helsingor. Since, it was sunny and warm yesterday, I sat on the rocks on the coast, walked on sand, and talked to people of Helsingor. They were used to having a lot of tourists in the area. I talked with an old man who was sitting right next to me, he was very curious in knowing about my impression of Denmark, we had a good conversation.

After spending two hours in the castle and the beautiful coastline, I decided to take the ferry towards Helsingborg, Sweden. It was indeed the cheapest trip to another country for me because I paid 50 DKK ($10) for round trip of ferry. In the ferry, I sat in the sun looking at Sweden while snacking on my favorite pastry (that I got from a small bakery in Helsingor, it was way cheaper than Copenhagen bakeries).

After a twenty-minute ferry ride, I was in Helsingborg. I walked on the tourist’s streets, went to a lot of stores (even though I did not have any Swedish Kroner with me, they were willing to accept Danish Kroner), and sat on the top of the old fortress overlooking the town.

I was able to take a picture of Mariner’s Goddess, which looked like German victory column to me. This seafaring monument was built by Carl Milles and it can be seen from different parts of the city. The monument is illuminated at night.

After surfing for four hours in this small town, I ate at a beautiful cozy restaurant right next to Karnan and in the center of the city.

I was quite happy on my way back to Copenhagen, I was really tired so went straight to sleep. (Almost) Everything is closed in Copenhagen today because of the Easter holidays but I would be going to Tivoli tomorrow. I plan to enjoy this weekend before I start with the craziness of my final exams.

Adjo (Swedish Bye)