Helsingør Favorites

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Favorite thing: Helsingor (English Elsinore) is a town and seaport, eastern Denmark, in Frederiksborg County, Sjelland (Zealand), near Copenhagen. Helsingor is known for its gorgeous Royal Kronborg Castle. Cosy and calm Danish town for to spend a day there.

Favorite thing: The city of Helsingor stands in the bottleneck of the Oresund strait. Only 4 kilometers of water separate Denmark from Sweden.

Oresund always was famous for an abundance of fish, and, according to medieval eyewitnesses, there was so many fish that sometimes it prevented vessels to pass the strait. But for not clear reasons fish began to leave to the north.

It was an accident for Denmark because its treasury kept on fishing in medieval times.

Favorite thing: Many years ago Danes possessed the territory far reached for present borders of the kingdom. But today distant descendants of Vikings are hardly excited with imperial romanticism or appeals like "returning of the primordial grounds".

They have done fighting in the past in plenty, grasping another's grounds and losing their own. Eventually Danes have acquired the main lesson: it is better to live peacefully, being full up and quiet on the small native land, than to multiply problems and to shed blood, infinitely expanding borders.

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Favorite thing: The name "Helsingor" is known to each cultural person. There is a castle of "Danish prince" Hamlet .

The true name of the castle - Kronborg ("Fist"). It is not the most magnificent castle in Denmark, but it is considered one of the best samples of the Renaissance.

It was under construction as a powerful fortress on border with Sweden. The garrison of a fortress was obliged to raise so-called "Danish tax" from all ships which were passed on the Oresund passage.

Favorite thing: It's not a long way across to Sweden - a few miles, perhaps. There's always been a lot of traffic through these narrows - this is the main nautical passage to the Baltic Sea, with its rich ports and significant hinterlands. For many centuries, furs, lumber, and iron ore (to name only the most important commodities) have come through the Øresund.

When Danish King Frederik II began construction of Helsingør Castle, the Danes still controlled both sides of the Strait. But the Swedes were just about to begin their Golden Century, and by the middle of the 17th Century, the eastern side of the passage had fallen permanently under Swedish control.

Favorite thing: Cheap beer. Swedish people in the south of sweden go here just to buy cheap beer and other alcohol. They usually sell outside the boats and you can also buy a waggon to carry home all your bought beer.