tourist

Recommendations: Sightseeing in Copenhagen, Denmark

There are lots of beautiful things to see and visit while in Copenhagen, but if you have merely a day there are a few things I personally think you should not miss.

In chronological order I suggest that you start at The City Hall Square, in front of Palace Hotel.

If you have a lot of time you could pass by Rosenborg Castle, where the Crown Jewels are protected by the Royal Guard. Otherwise just walk down through the main street (strøget) until you get to Kongens Nytorv. Here you will see the beautiful Royal Theater, world famous for its Royal Ballet.

Go to Nyhavn which is the colourful canal district right by Kongens Nytorv. Here I suggest you take a boat tour. If you go to the boats on the right side of the canal a boat tour only cost you 30 kr (5 $) for one hour. It is really worth your while.

Afterwards take a stroll along the waterfront to Amalienborg Palace – winter residence of the Royal Family. Here we have the opportunity of seeing the changing of the Danish Royal Guard. This should be followed by a visit to the Gefion Fountain and The Little Mermaid, inspired by H. C. Andersen’s fairytale. At the moment she is, however, on vacation and not there.

Go back along the water front and head over to Christiansborg Palace, home to the Danish Parliament and the Old Stock Exchange. After that I suggest that you go to Christiania – the freetown. It’s a lovely artist village established in the 1970s where you will be able to see an alternative way of living and eat some lovely (vegetarian) food.

Tivoli Gardens is a lovely place to end the day and spend the evening.

Have a lovely visit.

Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal

Quinta da Regaleira is a fairytale house in a fairytale landscape and well worth a visit.

The house and the garden is one of the most enigmatic monuments of the cultural landscape of Sintra. The present-day form was built between 1898 and 1912 under the supervision of Carvalho Monteiro. The style is neo-manuelin and the decorative theme involved some of Portugal’s best artists: Antonio Goncalves, Joao Machado, Jose da Fonseca, Costa Motta and Rodrigo de Castro, as sculptors in stone and Julio da Fonseca, in wood.

The garden, as an image of the Cosmos, is revealed through a succession of magic and mysterious places. You will find abundant references to the world of mythology, to Olympus, Virgil, Dante, Milton and Camoes, and to the mission of the Templars as continued by the Order of Christ, to great mystics and miraculous magicians, and to the enigmas of the alchemical Ars Magna.

The house is a magic castle with fairytale carvings of all sorts. Plan to spend at least three hours exploring the place.

Good luck.

Bariloche in Argentina

San Carlos de Bariloche is the Argentine Lake District’s largest city and popular with both Argentinian and foreign tourist summer and winter.

It is located on the shore of the beautiful lake Lago Nahuel Huapi (the picture above) and surrounded by mountains. The city offers many shops (specially chocolate shops), hotels and restaurants. But the real attraction is outside the city: Park Nacional Nahuel Huapi. The park offers splendid hiking, rafting and skiing.

It’s a fun place to visit, but be prepared that its rather expensive (for Argentina).

San Pedro and the longing for empty spaces

San Pedro, Guatemala, Lake Atitlan

Arriving in San Pedro was by no means a surprise because I had no expectations for neither San Pedro nor Guatemala.

San Pedro de Laguna is a relatively small village (although not as small as I could wish for) on the shores of Lake Atitlan. It has 13.000 inhabitants spread out on the hillside.

Obviously San Pedro is very different from Asia where I have spent a long time. It’s much less developed than Thailand, but it is also much more traditional which has its own charm. The people here are very friendly and despite a growing tourism not jaded and unfriendly.

But don’t let this fool you San Pedro have been discovered many years ago and is not your "undiscovered paradise". It’s a growing village living from tourist, coffee and maize. It has everything from beautiful scenery, kayak trips, horse riding, restaurants, market, and internet shops to bars and drug problems.

We arrived at the end of the rainy season and thus the landscape was very damp, cloudy and misty. My feelings for the country are mixed. The people seem very nice despite the horrors of the past, the landscape is also beautiful, but the country suffers from the same problems as other developing (and developed) countries pollution. They still cook with firewood so three times a day the village of San Pedro is smoky wherever you go and it makes me long for empty spaces with neither people nor buildings just nature.

I admit though that I have had this longing for a very long time now Chiang Mai was too big and polluted for me, Copenhagen also contains too much cement for me too many people, too many cars, too much development. The older I have gotten the less of a city person I am I long for peace and quiet and stopping smoking (nearly 2 years ago) has not made me more tolerant to pollution, smoke, dust, fumes and all the other things that big cities "offer" on the contrary.

I suppose ideally I would live in a very deserted place surrounded by nature, sea, animals and with very few inhabitants I know it sounds like Alaska .however, I couldn’t live in such a cold place. I hate darkness and cold so more like the south pole than the north pole 30 degrees all year round is great J Any suggestions?