Snippets of Odense.

Snippets of Odense.

July 2002.

After stays in Kalundborg, Copenhagen and Roskilde, there were only a few days left of my two-week jaunt around Denmark. Indeed it was time to plot out a rail route across the country to the coastal city of Esbjerg where a ferry awaited to chug me back to London. With just under forty eight hours to spare along the way, I decided to make one last stop in the city of Odense. 

I felt excited about Odense, a highly walkable, green metropolis seeped in history and considered something of an architectural gem. After all, this is where the iconic author Hans Christian Andersen was born and lived. And where Canute IV (the last viking king of Denmark) met a bloody end when furious peasants executed him over high taxes in 1086. 

Photo courtesy of Orf3us.

Unlike my digs in Copenhagen and Roskilde, for this stay I was able to track down where I laid my head each night! It was a fantastic hostel quite unlike any other I’ve ever stayed at. It’s called Kragsbjerggaard (try wrapping your tongue around that), a former aristocratic manor and farm built in 1747.

Snippets of Odense.

I slept in a dormitory that had been converted from a large barn that used to house cows and horses. I recall the staff being really friendly with impeccable English (the norm in my experience throughout Denmark). And they kept the garden beautifully maintained with flower beds, benches, picnic tables, a bicycle rack, a giant chessboard and tables for foosball and ping pong.

The mantra for that Odense trip was consistent with my other Danish adventures. I just walked and walked pretty much all day, stopping at various places that caught my eye. I saw countless picture perfect churches and gorgeous 17th century pastel coloured townhouses, which I inexplicably failed to photograph.

Photo courtesy of Kåre Thor Olsen.

One fine building that I did capture was the elegant Odense Palace. Although the compound started out as a 15th century monastery, the delightful baroque structure of today was completed in 1723 as a lavish home for Frederick IV of Denmark. 

My main observation was how peaceful the city was, not at all what I’d expected from Denmark’s third largest city. The greenery definitely helped, along with the fact that there seemed to be more bicycles than cars. Of the many parks I passed through, I have just a single photograph taken in Munke Mose Gardens. 

Munke Mose Park.

Once part of the land belonging to an 11th century water mill, the local council purchased the grounds in 1881 with the specific intent of turning it into a public park. It was (and I’m guessing still is) a lovely space home to weeping willows, nature trails, a duck-inhabited pond and a twisty section of the Odense River. 

Photo courtesy of Madrid Josefina.

Eventually of course I made my way to Hans Christian Andersen’s Birthplace, a tiny and wonderfully understated yellow house on the corner of 5 Hans Jensens Stræde and Bangs Boder street. Although not a hundred percent certain, most historians agree that this probably where Denmark’s most celebrated writer came into the world on the 2nd of April 1805. 

Photo courtesy of Elgaard.

The exhibition inside the house was brief but fascinating. Making my way through the creaky rooms, there was some very cool artwork created for some of his best-loved fairytales like The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor’s New Clothes.

I also found myself absorbed in the contents of several towering glass-door wooden cabinets. These included a handful of personal possessions such as photographs, a pocket watch, an ink pen and a leather satchel.

Snippets of Odense.

Furthermore, I came across some incredible diary extracts detailing a disastrous stay at the house of the English writer Charles Dickens. Painting him as the guest from hell, Dickens’ daughter greatly upset Andersen by labelling him  “a bony bore who stayed on and on and on”. Another entry details how Andersen “wept uncontrollably on the lawn” after reading a scathing review of one of his books.

But the birthplace house isn’t the only Andersen structure one can visit in Odense. In fact, there is also a Childhood Home which occupies 3-5 Munkemøllestræde near Odense Cathedral. Hans lived here between the ages of two and fourteen, while the museum exhibits a number of family antiques including his father’s cobbling tools.

Photo courtesy of Kåre Thor Olsen.

In 2021 a brand new multi million Euro H.C. Andersen-inspired facility opened that’s called (confusingly) Hans Christian Andersen House Museum. But this attraction is not about the man’s life. Rather, its dynamic exhibits help young learners and adults alike make sense of the modern world through the master storyteller’s tales and charters.

With the clock ticking down on my train to Esbjerg I opted to grab a taxi for the thirty minute ride to Egeskov Slot, Europe’s best-preserved renaissance water castle. This stunning structure dates back to 1554 when it was built as a private home for the Danish nobleman Frands Brockenhuus.

Egeskov Castle.

Photo courtesy of Malene Thyssen.

Egeskov means oak forest in Danish, a reference to the fact that the building has an oak pile foundation. While on the face of it this might seem like a ludicrously lavish private home for someone who wasn’t a member of the royal family, it actually speaks to the volatility of the times. In the 1550s there was country was still feeling the after effects of civil war, thus Brockenhuus wanted a highly fortified home with a drawbridge that was difficult to reach and enter. 

There’s a lot to see and do within the castle grounds. You can tour the interior of course with its 66 rooms and 200 glass windows. There’s also an old smithy, an art gallery of classic paintings and a classic car and motorcycle exhibition.

Most curious of all was Titania’s Place, the world’s largest and most intricate doll’s house. The garden meanwhile is fabulous, with its duo of mazes and meticulously sculpted 250 year old hedges. What a great end to my adventures in Odense and indeed Denmark.

For more on my adventures in the country, check out my other travel articles from around Denmark.

I’ve been living, working and traveling all over the world since 2001. So why not check out my huge library of travel reports from over 40 countries.