Direction – Copenhagen
So here I was on the road again! I felt sad to leave Prästabonnens Gård, but on the other hand I was very excited about beginning the last part of my cycling journey and reaching my final destination – Denmark. I had never been to Denmark either and I dreamt about visiting Copenhagen. I heard so many good things about this city and that together with Amsterdam it was the most bicycle friendly city in Europe (or the whole wide world?) After going to Amsterdam in May, which completely possessed my heart and is ranked by now as my second favorite visited city in the world, I was very curious about the famous Danish capital.
I was lucky again to find a place in Copenhagen, where eventually I was about to stay for almost a week. It was thanks to the bike polo/messenger community that I contacted few days before my arrival and asked if anyone could host me for a few nights. Trine, a messenger girl, replied to me and suggested that I should stay longer so that I could race with them in Alleycat, which they were organizing for Halloween. Of course I couldn’t say no to such an invitation! Thrilled with a vision of staying within the bicycle community, riding in an alley and hopefully playing some polo and having lots of time to visit the city, I started peddling towards Denmark.
Last days in Sweden – Lund, Malmö, Helsingborg
Since I still had plenty of time and Suzanne offered that I could stay in her apartment in Lund, I divided my last part of journey into 5 days of cycling. This way I could peacefully enjoy my last kilometers through Swedish lands and do some sightseeing in the cities on the way.
I stayed for a night in Lund, which is the oldest city in present-day Sweden and well known for its University. Walking the streets of Lund I was imagining Suzanne living and teaching here. It’s a very pleasant and quite small city; I think I would enjoy studying there.
The next day I cycled to Malmö. It seemed very different from what I had always imagined. It is the third biggest city in Sweden, and I have no bloody idea why I thought it would be smaller and maybe a more cozy, more fishery-town style… I was very wrong; my imagination sometimes misleads me big time 🙂 It is actually a pretty modern city, a cultural and economical center of the southern part of Sweden. From Malmö leads the longest bridge in Europe that connects Sweden with Denmark. However, it’s not possible yet to cross it with bicycle and many people advised me that taking ferry in Helsingborg is better for the ride views, so I chose the later option. My very hospitable Couchsurfing host surprised me by taking me for a dinner to… his grandmother’s home! He explained to me that he promised her he would fix something in her flat and that he usually ate meals with her every now and then. It was a super nice experience to have such an insight in a usual day routine of a Swedish family and their relationships. His grandma was absolutely lovely; she cooked a nice meal and showed me an album with newspaper clips about the history of Malmö that she’s been collecting through years. All of a sudden it made me think of my grandparents and how I missed having them around.
I spent the afternoon and next morning walking around the city and in the early afternoon I took off to my next Couchsurfing stop. The route was very nice; from time to time I was cycling close to the coastline from where I could see shapes of Denmark’s shores. I arrived after sundown at my host’s place. She lived in a truly lovely house in the woods. I have to admit that for a moment I was worried that I wouldn’t find it as there where many similar looking houses and that I would get stuck in the darkness of the wilderness but I managed as always. It turned out that she was a super nice fellow cyclist, so we shared our biking experiences over the dinner. In the morning shortly after sunrise we split and I cycled my last part of Swedish route.
Wow, I was almost done with my trip. From day one, almost two months ago when I arrived in Sweden, I managed to cycle over 800 km and pass through so many distinct places and meet so many interesting new people that I was feeling a bit sad that it was nearly the end of it. If only the weather was warmer I would definitely cycle further, maybe down south Denmark up to Hamburg in Germany where my friend from childhood was living. Well, it will have to be next time as I’m sure there will be next time, somewhere, somehow 🙂
Now being even closer to my destination I could see Denmark’s coastlines clearer. How exciting!
My last stop in Sweden was Helsingborg, a town that is the country’s closest point to Denmark with only 4 km dividing both borders. My Couchsurfer was not Swedish but Hungarian and it was interesting to hear about his experiences as a foreigner living in this country. He showed me around the town that has pretty views over Helsingør, the Danish city on the other side of the Øresund. We ate Thai food and watched a documentary about ancient civilizations that followed with curious discussion on that matter.
Farewell Sweden, welcome Denmark!
The next day before saying “See you around!” to Sweden I sat down in the harbor for a while. I thought of the fact that I’ve been super lucky all the way during my trip. All the people I met were very hospitable and open-minded; each and every one was interesting and very different from each other and for sure I won’t forget them. I wish I could tell you in more detail about all of them, but that would take ages 🙂 Well, it was time for Denmark!
The ride in the ferry was super quick; in about 25 minutes I was already on the other side of the Øresund strait. Hello Denmark, so good to meet you finally! The day was very windy, but the route was amazing. All the way to Copenhagen I had a neat cycling lane and the path led mostly by the coast. Stopping by the beach for a snack and watching kite surfers I rested for the last time before reaching my final destination. I was totally astonished by the cycling indications throughout the road that kept me perfectly navigated. And the fact that all the cars I saw on the way were parked either on the street or on the pedestrian’s sidewalk, but never on the bike lane, was truly impressive! Wow, I already felt instant love for Danish culture.
Cph – the capital of bicycles
I arrived in Copenhagen at last! Wow and wow again – so many bicycles and bike tracks everywhere that I almost got lost twice before reaching my host’s place. Trine was a Danish bike messenger and lived with her best friend Boline and four foreign students – Italian, Norwegian, Romanian and Spanish. It was a nice flat and super nice people who right away made me feel comfortable at their home as if it was my own.
In the evening Trine gave me a quick bike tour through downtown’s main sightseeing points and took me to a dinner with her friends and some Finnish students. On the way she told me a bit about the city’s cycling rules, culture and infrastructure. We rode the busiest cycle street in the capital, Nørrebrogade, that is about 3 km long, which directly links a couple locations and the city center and in the rush hours the bicycle traffic is tremendous. Statistics say that daily it is used by around 36,000 cyclists. Nice. In the next few days I rode this street at least twice a day.
The next day before work Trine took me to The Little Mermaid, which turned out to be much smaller than the one we have in Warsaw and to Nyhavn Harbor that is colored with shore-side homes and tall ships docked along the quays. During that day and the following ones I cycled the streets of Copenhagen back and forward, learning my way through it, visiting key places on the map of the city: National Gallery of Denmark, famous Christiania, hippie zone, Ørestad district with its modern architecture, coffee places and messenger meeting points. But mostly I saw more streets, buildings and bicycles than anything else during my stay 🙂
Bike messengers community and alleycat
On Friday evening Trine took me to their usual bike messenger hang out in the city center. We had a few beers and great laughs. I quickly learnt that Danish people are very straightforward, funny, nice and easy-going, super cool actually.
Saturday was the Halloween and the Alleyween – the biggest alleycat (an informal bicycle race that usually always takes place in cities and normally is organized by bicycle messengers – loads of super fun!) in Denmark annually organized on that very occasion by members of Copenhagen messenger community. Last time I rode in an alley was back in Warsaw probably about 4 years ago, so I was very excited but also very afraid of it. It was organized at night and I didn’t know the city at all. However, Trine found me an awesome teammate, Emma, an ex-messenger who turned out to be suuuuper fast and good at racing. Together with her super nice friend Jody we created a cool team of three. They knew the city very well and rode like crazy, so I had a tough time trying to keep up with their pace feeling a bit like a third wheel, but hell, it was so much fun! We raced for about 2 hours and 30+ km throughout Copenhagen; there were 44 teams, 90+ riders and 10 checkpoints. For me that was the biggest alley I ever raced. Even though we didn’t arrive first (surprised, right?) Emma and me, dressed as Malificient, a beautiful evil mistress from Disney, we won a prize for our costumes. The next day I had also quite a hangover after the afterparty as you might imagine.
Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to play bike polo since the pick up games were very postponed but at least I met some of the players. A few years back I met in Warsaw on a tournament two Danish polo players and now I happily discovered that one of the guys is still in the game and remembers me. Reunions after many years are always a nice experience and so it was this time. I was impressed of how their polo/messenger community works well together organizing bicycle workshops for children and other events of that sort. Really nice and open people with good attitude and teamwork. I hope I will have a chance to visit them again one day.
A souvenir and a final countdown
I almost forgot about one more little detail. I got myself a present in Copenhagen – a new race bike tattooed on my right wrist. On the beginning of my journey I promised myself that I would get a bike tattoo if I manage to get all the way to Denmark on two wheels and I did! From Nynashamn in Sweden to Copenhagen in Denmark; almost 900 km, 13 couchsurfing hosts + Trine and 2 WWOOF farms. Quite an extraordinary experience. Now, this bike will always remind me of these two months in Scandinavia that were filled with lots of learning, thinking, reflecting and analyzing, but also enjoying, resting and relaxing. The route was filled with beautiful and happy moments, but also sometimes with difficult and stressful ones. I had been fighting with my thoughts many times, pushed myself to the limits and learnt to enjoy the best I can whatever comes on my way. It was a new and powerful lesson and now I was about to go back to Barcelona and face reality. Soon I would have to make a decision about what I want to next – look for a new job in Barcelona or hit the road again.
So I left Copenhagen profoundly touched by kindness of the people I met on my way and thankful for their help and hospitality. I loved the city. Even though it was cloudy for the most of my stay, I felt good in it. It is interesting and has a character. But I missed Barcelona too and was looking forward to see it again. See you hopefully soon Scandinavia, thank you for having me and hello again Barcelona!
back to nature 