If you had only a short time, 30 hours, to spend in a place, what would you do? What would you see? How would you travel? Image may be NSFW.
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Would you visit the main tourist attractions? Seek out new urban artwork? Try certain restaurants or play it safe with fast-food chains? Those were the questions I asked myself recently when I found I would have approximately 30 hours in Aarhus, the largest city in Jutland, Denmark.
Scheduled to give a presentation in the Risskov area of Aarhus, I first went to the DSB website and bought an Orange ticket from Copenhagen to Aarhus. A round trip with a reserved seat purchased one month ahead cost me 400 DKK. That’s a bit hefty considering that same price would take me roundtrip to Berlin or Paris, but we all know DSB tickets can cost even more. In fact, I saw prices like 449 DKK each way!
My ticket secured, I book accommodations. If you want to stay in Aarhus, as I any place, you must decide your budget. There is the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel as well as the Danhostel Aarhus.
On a cold and dark Friday morning, I left the house dressed in my traveling hat and coat (those who know me, know I like hats) with my well-packed rolling carry-on suitcase and matching cosmetic bag. Soon I was on an early morning Lyn IC (InterCity) train and we rolled out of the station.
At that point, good fortune began coming in great waves! There were only two of us in our four-seat section and I did not get assigned the window seat, but my section companion offered her seat to me and she sat opposite me. A Danish woman who had lived outside Denmark for some time, she shared many things with me about common paces we had been and she happened to be a member of a community in Copenhagen that I have not be able to make contact with since I have lived here. I admired the landscape and noted towns I had visited before (Nyborg, Odense, Skanderborg) and some I had not (Middlefart, Horsens), made periodic posts to my family and some friends via a social media account about what I was seeing and occasionally, nodded off to sleep for a few minutes, lulled by the train’s motion.
Traveling by train was once THE way to travel in the USA; but it soon went the way of the horse and buggy when commercial airplane travel became popular. It has never recovered because infrastructure (train tracks) were not built and maintained, many communities do not want railroad tracks near their homes and so vote against it, and federal money does not give overwhelming support to it. There is Amtrak, which is the nationwide train service, but it is not far-reaching and if you must take inexpensive public transportation, the Greyhound Bus is typically your best bet unless you want to risk hitchhiking.
By the time we reached Aarhus, a little more than three hours later, we had exchanged contact details and I had a wealth of information written in my notebook.
Aarhus Central Station is compact and easily navigable, as I soon learned about Aarhus itself. I walked to my reserved accommodations, unpacked and headed out to see the city. Aarhus is the European Capital of Culture for 2017 and much in the city is being built, refurbished and renovated to prepare for an explosion of all the city has to offer culturally.
You can smell the sea no matter where you are in Aarhus, It is a comforting, fresh and fragrant smell if you are accustomed to being around water. It was a foggy, damp, but not rainy, day and I was able to see and do a fair amount of things:
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Ready, Set, Go!
- Aarhus is known for the ARoS Art Museum. Using my map, I found my way over to both the light and modern Aarhus Concert Hall (free opera!) and got a bit lost. My god fortune was still active as I asked for directions form a man who turned out to be working for the city of Aarhus doing cultural events. Rather than merely give me directions he walked me around and talked to me about cultural developments and events the city as well as the culture management projects I do. Much more compact and centralized han Copenhagen, Aarhus is a place whee you can see a lot i a shrt time, on foot.
- My destination, not too far from ARoS, was Godsbanen, the former Aarhus railroad station. It has now been converted into a community culture space for all forms of creative and articis endeavors. I happened upon something being photographed. It looked like chickens and teddy bears dress in red nightgowns and strapped to whirling small machines. A fan blowing the tall red gauze curtain behind it and the screaming (Spanish?) chicken was a bit puzzling But art is always art to someone. The person photographing it looked very serious. There were rooms for different types of art workings and meetings. In the back was Aarhus Folkekøkken a new restaurant offering some tasty dishes. I met an Aarhus friend there and we had a good lunch and chat.
- Afterwards I went to ARoS, where they are currently hosting a magnificent Edvard Munch exhibition. The place was packed with visitors.
- A stroll down Strøget, the pedestrian walking stree that is similar to Copenhagen’s was filled with shops, restaurants and interesting things to buy. At one point I came to Åboulevarden, the street that runs parallel to the sea and has a river running the length of it. Differently designed bridges cross and connect both sides of the street.
- I ate dinner at Sota Sushi Bar. This Japanese restaurant is marvelous. The food is fresh, attractively presented and tasty; the wine was also good. Good food and reasonable prices!
- The next morning when I traveled to make my presentation, I took a city bus. The ticket machine on the bus was broken so my ride was free! After my presentation, the same thing happened again with the bus. I rode the bus from the outskirts f Aarhus into the center of the city again and walked down Åboulevard to Christiansgade where I met a group of friends for lunch at a new restaurant, Memphis Roadhouse. Talk about homemade American BBQ! It was so good words cannot do it justice. The BBQ was so good it would make your toes curl. There is one dish where they just bring out a HUGE plate of BBQ meat: beef brisket, chicken, puled pork and ribs. You can get corn muffins, creamed corn and some other side dishes Drinks, wehtehr sweet tea, margarita or soda, are served from a jelly jar! Chris, the American owner from Alabama, sat at our table and delightfully talked with us for a while about the food, BBQing traditions in the USA and the artwork in the restrooms (the artwork was shocking to all of us, Dane and American alike, but again, one person’s art can be another person’s obscenity). You will need to go to Memphis Roadhouse and see it for yourself.
- Finally, afer lunch, it was a short walk to the bus, and it was only a short distance to the train station. I smiled at the driver and offered my bill to pay my bus ticket. The driver told me my stop was only one long stop away and took off, so once again, I rode for free!
Image may be NSFW.
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The train ride back to Copenhagen was a packed one, however this time I was assigned a window seat so I had a great views. With a stomach full of BBQ and side dishes, I dozed most of the way. The other passengers were quiet, using the free wifi to operate their phones or computers; or they read a book or worked a puzzle.
A short trip but a good one. I got to both see a little of Denmark’s second largest city and fill my soul and stomach with some good American food. I want to go back and take a few days.
What would you see if you had a 30 hours or even a long weekend in Aarhus? Give me your recommendations!