Postcard Journeys: Denmark 🇩🇰

Known as the happiest city in the world, my sister and I had wanted to visit Copenhagen for a long time now! We started off our trip by flying into Copenhagen from Manchester. The journey took around 1 hour and 30 minutes and we reached Denmark for 10:00 in the morning. As soon as we landed, the cold hit us. It was freezing. Luckily, we had layered well and before we knew it, we were making our way to the metro. Our first spot was ‘Buka’ – famous for its Danish pastries and hot chocolate.

Although, there was a very long queue when we arrived, we were more than happy to wait as we knew this place offered the best of the best! Now, the hardest part is choosing what to eat! There was a wide variety of pastries, buns and sweet treats to choose from. I had an eye on the Pistachio Croissant but wasn’t willing to glance away from the raspberry and mascarpone delight that was staring right back at me. I went for the latter and it turned out that my sister wanted to go for the pistachio croissant (I mean, we can always share!!). Both treats were delicious and I’d say that one of the best parts of the trip was trying the pastries and chatting away in the happiest city in the world. It felt unreal as we couldn’t quite believe that we were actually in Denmark, and we took some time to reflect on how grateful we were to be able to travel and see the world.

As we were chatting away, it was really hard to not notice the warmness of the place and the people there. It was a funny feeling, one that I cannot put into words. My sister and I were saying that Copenhagen is very different to any other European country that we had visited. It wasn’t busy or frantic, but rather very calm and slow-paced. It made us think of ‘Hygge’ (pronounced hoo-ga). For those who may not be familiar with this term, Hygge is the cornerstone of Scandinavian culture and a powerful approach to wellbeing. While there is no single English word to capture its meaning, it can best be defined as the feeling of finding deep contentment, comfort, and connection in simple, everyday moments. For those of you that know me well (and especially those who say I am CBT- all over 😋), you’d know that I am definitely one who lives for the simple moments in life, and for this very reason I really did fall in love with the Danish culture.

Hygge can be found in the warm mood you feel when enjoying a mug of hot chocolate or in the comfort of a hug that you embrace with a loved one. In essence, hygge teaches you to slow down, be present and celebrate the small, often take for granted pleasures in life (definitely aligns with my philosophy!). I guess, it now makes sense why we savoured each moment that we had there, it just felt like we were gently forced into it by an invisible hygge force!

Following our little hot choc & pastry date, we took a light stroll and found ourselves in front of the famous-coloured townhouses right next to the canal in Nyhavn! These coloured houses were the first image we’d see in our heads whenever we talked about Denmark, and it is an iconic spot in Copenhagen. For some history, Nyhavn, which translates to "New Harbour," was established between 1670 and 1673 by King Christian V. Its primary purpose was to serve as a gateway from the sea to the old inner city of Copenhagen. Back in the day, it was a bustling commercial port filled with ships and sailors from around the world. Over the centuries, Nyhavn transformed from a gritty dock area to one of the most picturesque and lively spots in Copenhagen.

By now, the cold had begun to make us feel hungry so after snapping a few photos and admiring the charming townhouses, we located our lunch spot - ‘Barock’ – a French and Danish brasserie serving Danish classics. A very charming spot with beautiful interiors and candles (a lot of them), we fell in love with the place as soon as we walked in. The Danish love their candles, oh, and did you know, Denmark uses more candles per capita than any other country?! Candles are ‘instant hygge’ and it is assumed that the Danish obsession with lighting is because they don’t get much contact with the natural world in the winter months (hmm, pretty similar to the UK, no?). This makes a lot of sense to me. We don’t call it the winter blues for nothing, but what the Danes have realised is that if you light your rooms in the right way and make the atmosphere cosy then winter becomes pleasurable. Amidst the candles, lunch was really lovely and again, it felt good to have all the time in the world to yap.

We had also booked a boat cruise to ensure that we had covered all the must-see attractions in Copenhagen which included The Opera House, Christianshavn canals, The Black Diamond and The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid statue was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, crafted by sculptor Edvard Eriksen, and inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. Although we only got a water-side view, initially, I felt the statue was slightly underwhelming. However, this was until I read into the history of it and then I recognised the beauty of it. The sculpture was inspired by Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale about a mermaid who gives up her underwater life for love. When I looked into it further, I ended up reading an adaptation of the tale, and it is ever so beautiful. My favourite quote from this tale is:

"Why do I not have an immortal soul! I would give all my three hundred years of life for only one day as a human being."

The latter part of the quote is a deliberate paradox. The exchange rate is intentionally absurd to emphasize that human life is seen as infinitely more valuable, not because it’s longer or easier, but because it is finite and soulful.

Well, I wasn’t expecting to use my A-level English Literature skills today! Whether seen from the shore or from a passing boat, the Little Mermaid remains a symbol of longing and transformation.

Following our boat trip (2/10 – it wasn’t my favourite), we were craving coffee and MORE PASTRIES. See, I genuinely don’t know what it was! Never have we ever visited a coffee shop twice on the same day on our previous European city breaks. This was genuinely such a weird thing to be happening! However, like I said earlier, it was like the city was gently encouraging us to focus on the simple pleasures. Copenhagen is one of those cities that feels effortlessly put together—like it didn’t try to impress you, but somehow did anyway, just a city that knows it’s good and doesn’t need to shout.