Inner Suburbs, Copenhagen

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Beautiful round church dating from the 18th century in one of Copenhagen's inner suburbs. The Frederiksberg Church was designed in the 1730s by Dutch architect Felix Dusart. The churchyard is particularly lovely, a garden of well-tended graves set amidst sheltering pines, a haven of quiet.

Near the altar of the church is a tablet commemorationg the poet Adam Oehlenschlaeger, considered the father of Danish romanticism. The poet is buried in the churchyard, and pilgrims often come to pay their respects.

I came here for a concert of baroque music - Handel and Vivaldi. Excellent acoustics in the church, an ideal setting for music that was "modern" at the time of its construction.

Nørrebro is one of the inner suburbs of Copenhagen and is together with Vesterbro one of the poorer ones. This means that the buildings haven’t all been renovated like it has happened all over the city. This means that apartments are cheaper here (Not cheap, but cheaper) and that mostly people with low income and students live here.

This part of Copenhagen is completely different from the center. The houses here are built at the start of the industrialization to accommodate the many workers from the center, and therefore many apartments are small and have no bathroom, or if they have it is the seize of a closet (and I am not joking).

In the streets here you will find many small shops, particularly on Nørrebrogade, Rantzausgade and Jagtvej. These shops are owned mostly by the immigrants and are grocery stores, green grocers or shops offering exotic products and kitsch.

There aren’t real sights here; it is all about feeling the atmosphere. The only tourist sight is Assistens Kirkegården (See Thing to do tips), it is a park like cemetery where famous Danes are buried, but many come here to relax, have a picnic or even sunbathe. It is located at Jagtvej.

Sankt Hans Torv is a square where people meet and hang out in the summer months.

This park is very special. Now it is located in the heart of Vesterbro, but in the old days it was situated in the countryside. Here the shooting mad men used to go to shoot for fun.

There is a big wall that sheltered bypassers on the street from the bullets, the gate is huge and impressive.

The park is located at Skydebanegade (meaning the street of the shooting area), just of Istedgade. It is on your right hand if you walk out of the center and in fact it is just behind the Bymuseum (Copenhagen City Museum).

Vesterbro is used to be a place to avoid. It is not like that any longer. Istedgade and Halmtorvet used to be the workplace for prostitutes and drug addicts; they are still here, but not that many and not that visible. In resent years the houses and the streets have been renovated, and the place is now a hip place where students and first time parents settle down. The apartments are small, and many are still without bath, but the place is getting better all the time. The buildings here were built to accommodate the workers of Copenhagen during the industrialization and therefore they are poorly built in a hurry.

The courtyards of the buildings used to be dark and crowded since more buildings had been added here to solve the problem with overpopulation in Copenhagen. Now many of them have been torn down and the courtyards have nice gardens. Mostly you can’t see them, because they have been locked up, but try to look inside the gates.

There are not many tourist sights here. It is all about feeling the atmosphere. Walk down Vesterbrogade and Istedgade and visit the many small shops here, owned by the immigrants who live here due to the cheap apartments. The shops sell exotic products from their home countries.

One tourist sights is the Københavns Bymuseum (Museum of Copenhagen) and it introduces the visitor to the city's history, both past and present.

Also the former shooting area is a unique place to visit.

Humleby (See the photo) is a nice place for a walk. In this area you´ll see the old houses made by Carlsberg for the workers. It is located between Enghavevej, Ny Carlsbergvej, Vesterfælledvej and Enghave st.

Vesterbro is a part of Copenhagen, and it is along with Nørrebro one of the poorer parts, but in opinion also an interesting part of the city.

The coastline used to run where the road Sønder Boulevard runs today, but they created more land by filling up the see with bricks and rubbish from Copenhagen. The city is marked by the fact that in the old day’s one of the few roads to Copenhagen run through here, so here the farmers came with the cattle to sell to the butchers. (Hence the name Halmtorvet=Square of straw, and Kødbyen=Area of Meat). A lot of other people came through here and had to stay overnight, so to cater for this there were many hotels and also the red light district.

The buildings of Vesterbro are from the industrializations start, where the city desperately needed apartments for all the people arriving here to work in all the new factories. So the speculators built long, low quality and boring blocks, that dominates the area today.

A big effort have been made to clean the area up, and many buildings have been completely renovated, making it a modern and attractive place to live for especially students, who like the small apartments and all the trendy cafés in the area.

In the area around the square of Sct. Hans Torv (torv=marketplace) there´s a lot of nice café´s, shops, boutiques and restaurants.
Cool area a little off the most beaten track.
When Copenhagen Jazzfestival takes place in july, ther´s usually a music stage here, and it´s a nice place to relax and hang out with the danes.
Take Bus A5 to Elmegade and stroll down this small gade (gade=street) to reach Sct. Hans Torv.

If you have an hour to spare, why not take a detour and go see some famous Danish legends, like storyteller Hans Christian Andersen and philosopher Kirkegaard. They lie at the Assistens Cemetary in Copenhagen. It's a lush green park full of flowers and shady trees, and is a wonderful resting place, you'll find people jogging or sitting around reading or just passing by to look at the graves