Theme Week Greenland – Uummannaq

20 September 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© NorthernLight/cc-by-sa-3.0

© NorthernLight/cc-by-sa-3.0

Uummannaq is a town in the Avannaata municipality, in central-western Greenland. With 1,407 inhabitants in 2020, it is the eighth-largest town in Greenland, and is home to the country’s most northerly ferry terminal. Founded in 1763 as Omenak, the town is a hunting and fishing base, with a canning factory and a marble quarry. In 1932 the Universal Greenland-Filmexpedition with director Arnold Fanck released the film S.O.S. Eisberg near Uummannaq.   read more…

Theme Week Greenland

19 September 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  18 minutes

Nuussuaq district in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, with Sermitsiaq mountain in the background © Oliver Schauf

Nuussuaq district in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, with Sermitsiaq mountain in the background © Oliver Schauf

Greenland is an island country that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is the world’s largest island, it is one of three constituent countries that form the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark and the Faroe Islands; the citizens of these countries are all Danish nationals. Greenland is divided into five municipalities: Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qeqqata, Qeqertalik and Avannaata. The northeast of the island composes the unincorporated Northeast Greenland National Park. Thule Air Base is also unincorporated, an enclave within Avannaata municipality administered by the United States Space Force. Greenland’s capital is Nuuk. Though a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers) for more than a millennium, beginning in 986. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through Northern Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13th century.   read more…

Frederik’s Church in Copenhagen

16 April 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - RAYANDBEE/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – RAYANDBEE/cc-by-2.0

Frederik’s Church (Frederiks Kirke), popularly known as The Marble Church (Marmorkirken) for its rococo architecture, is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Copenhagen, Denmark. The church forms the focal point of the Frederiksstaden district; it is located due west of Amalienborg Palace. The church was designed by the architect Nicolai Eigtved in 1740 and was along with the rest of Frederiksstaden, a district of Copenhagen, intended to commemorate the 300 years jubilee of the first coronation of a member of the House of Oldenburg. Frederick’s Church has the largest church dome in Scandinavia with a span of 31m. The dome rests on 12 columns. The inspiration was probably St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.   read more…

Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen

28 January 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

© Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

Christiansborg Palace (Danish: Christiansborg Slot) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget), the Danish Prime Minister’s Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also, several parts of the palace are used by the Danish monarch, including the Royal Reception Rooms, the Palace Chapel and the Royal Stables.   read more…

Theme Week Jutland – Læsø

26 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Museumsgården © panoramio.com - Carsten Wiehe/cc-by-sa-3.0

Museumsgården © panoramio.com – Carsten Wiehe/cc-by-sa-3.0

Læsø is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located 19 kilometres (12 mi) off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality (Danish: kommune) on that island. The island is a location mentioned in several instances in Norse mythology, including as the dwelling of the sea jötunn Ægir and as a feasting place of the Norse gods, the Æsir.   read more…

Theme Week Jutland – Haderslev

25 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Haderslev garrison © JEK/cc-by-sa-3.0

Haderslev garrison © JEK/cc-by-sa-3.0

Haderslev is a Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark with a population of 22,000. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Haderslev Municipality and is situated in the eastern part of Southern Jutland. Haderslev is home of Sønderjyske, which is an association football team that plays in the Danish Superliga for the 2018-19 season. The town is named after King Hader.   read more…

Theme Week Jutland – Fanø

24 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - IMBiblio/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – IMBiblio/cc-by-sa-2.0

Fanø is a island in the North Sea off the coast of southwestern Denmark, and is the very northernmost of the Danish Wadden Sea Islands. Fanø municipality is the municipality (Danish: kommune) that covers the island and its seat is the town of Nordby. Fanø is separated from the mainland by the Wadden Sea over a span of approximately five kilometres (3.1 miles), in the north at the closest point to the mainland 1.24 km. The island is 16 kilometres (9.9 miles) long and 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) wide, and it is located off the coast from the city of Esbjerg to which it is connected by ferry. The ferry ride takes 12 minutes. A variety of environments are to be found on Fanø. Not surprisingly, a very common one is sand. The island’s whole western shore is one long beach. The island’s northwestern corner is a vast sandbank called “Søren Jessens Sand”. Søren Jessen was an entrepreneur and captain from Hjerting, today the westernmost suburb of Esbjerg and the bank is named after him because his ship, the “Anne Catriane”, stranded here in 1712. The vegetation on Fanø is mainly heath and small pine trees, never growing tall because of the predominant strong westerly winds from the North Sea.   read more…

Theme Week Jutland – Sønderborg

23 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Sønderborg Castle © Erik Christensen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sønderborg Castle © Erik Christensen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sønderborg is a Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Sønderborg Municipality (Kommune). The town has a population of 27,841 (1 January 2020), in a municipality of 74,561. In recent times, Sønderborg is a center for trade, tourism, industry, and education in the region of Southern Denmark. The town is the headquarters for several industrial companies.   read more…

Theme Week Jutland – Aabenraa

22 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Pedestrian zone © Arne List/cc-by-sa-3.0

Pedestrian zone © Arne List/cc-by-sa-3.0

Aabenraa is a town in Southern Denmark, at the head of the Aabenraa Fjord, an arm of the Little Belt, 26 kilometres (16 mi) north of the Denmark–Germany border and 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of German town of Flensburg. It was the seat of Sønderjyllands Amt (South Jutland County) until 1 January 2007, when the Region of Southern Denmark was created as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform. With a population of 16,425 (1 January 2020), Aabenraa is the largest town and the seat of the Aabenraa Municipality. The name Aabenraa originally meant “open beach” (Danish: åben strand).   read more…

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