Road Trip in Denmark
The weekend after we came back from our mini cruise to Oslo, we went on the planned road trip to several places in Denmark: Himmelbjerget (or the heaven’s mountain, although its peak goes nowhere near heaven 
) which they claim to be the highest mountain (but we later learned it was only the second highest natural point to Møllehøj), Silkeborg, Mønsted kalkgruber (chalk/lime mine), Den Gamle By (the old town) in Århus, Grenå Kattegatcentret (salt water aquarium), and ended the road trip with a visit to Djurs sommerland.
The trip to Himmelbjerget was beautiful. We were again lucky with the weather, because the whole weekend we were away was sunny and warm. The landscape left and right during our trip was absolutely gorgeous, everything was so colourful. I am thankful that my hubby and his son took turns driving so that the passengers in the back (read: hubby’s son’s girlfriend and I) could enjoy the scenery. Upon arrival at the spot, we started our little walk around, but stopped at the small kiosk to buy some ice cream. We started walking towards Hans-Christian Andersen’s bench, the place at which he had supposedly written one of his stories. Then we went up to the tower to get a magnificent view of the surrounding areas.
After we finished our little tour at Himmelbjerget, we continued our road trip into Silkeborg, which was where we had booked our hotel. We stayed at the SAS Radisson Papierfrabrikken (paper factory) in Silkeborg which used to be a paper factory (hence the name). It was a nice and cozy hotel with beautiful view of the nearby canal. Nearby the hotel there were some restaurants at the side of the canal, and we went to Bone’s to have our dinner, after which we took a long stroll around the area and along the canal.
The next day, the road trip continued. We went to Mønsted chalk/lime mine and experienced the steady 8ºC temperature, enjoyed the beautiful lighting of the tunnels, and dreaded the smell of old cheese that was stored in the mine for aging. Soon after, we continued on to the old town of Århus where we could actually see people relive the old golden days where life was simple and things were hand made. We even bought a few home made cakes from a bakery. Everyone working there wore old clothes, lived their lives like it was still the 17th century, and there were shops and stores and restaurants that function as if it was a real live village. It was absolutely wonderful. We lingered there for several hours as there were so many buildings to explore.
Nearing the old town’s closing time, we made our way to our next stop: Grenå. We found ourselves an accommodation at Helnan Marina Hotel, which was very close to the bay and the ferry crossing to Varberg in Sweden. The hotel was quite nice, the room was cozy, bathroom was small but sufficient, and the hotel had nice facilities such as a game room with table tennis, foosball and pool table, an indoor swimming pool and a spa. After we settled in, we drove off to the bay to find something for dinner. There was a nice restaurant near the bay, on which I will write more later on. The area was very lovely (basically I love waterfront areas) and we walked around admiring the summer houses and neat waterfront apartments with a stunning view and daydreamed that someday we too will have a property there. Well, can’t hurt to wish for it. 
The next day, our adventure continued. We started at the nearby saltwater aquarium, which was only across the bridge from the place where we had dinner the night before. It was quite relaxing to watch all kinds of salt water fish in the tanks although it may just seem exactly the same as in any other saltwater aquarium. Watching the shark being fed was especially fun.
After the aquarium, we had originally planned on going to the rain forest in Randers, but the young ones (read: hubby’s son and his girlfriend) wanted to do something active, so we decided to go to Djurs Sommerland instead. As in any other amusement parks, a lot of the rides were mostly aimed for children’s fun, so hubby had a difficult time trying to find an excuse to go on certain rides. We did go on several of them, such as the Rio Grande rafting, Colorado River, and we also played a round of mini golf at Mexicana Golf. I opted out when they wanted to hop on Thor’s Hammer – just because I really hate heights. The picture below shows a lovely view of the tunnel in the Mønsted chalk mine, me posing in front of the tower at Himmelbjerget, a picture of one of the aquariums in Grenå, an old style horse carriage from the old town of Århus, a lovely view of the canal in Silkeborg, and not to forget, the little car that took us everywhere on the road trip, a Citroën DS3.
Tags: Aarhus, Denmark, Grenaa, Helnan Marina Hotel, Himmelbjerget, Monsted, road trip, SAS Radisson, Silkeborg
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