Today we decided to have an easy day. We had been in the car for way too many hours the past few days. In the morning we stayed relaxed at “home” and in the afternoon we drove to Roskilde, to see our second worldheritage site of the trip: the Domkirke.
Roskilde is a town I have known for a long time because of the rockfestival that is held there annualy. Throughout my teen years I always dreamed of going there, but ofcourse had no option of actually doing so. And now I’m finally here, it’s nowhere near the time of the festival… Ah. Murphy!
The town itself was really cosy. We parked along the harbour and walked to the Domkirke through the Byparken, which made our approach to the worldheritage site really relaxed. Unlike yesterday, the sun was actually out this afternoon, making it comfortable, though still quite cold.
The Domkirke itself was really beautiful. It surprised me a lot that there are actually 22 Kings & Queens of Denmark burried there. Not just underneath the floor, but in standing coffins. Sometimes decorated and in marble, but also sometimes resembling a “normal” coffin. I checked – the remains are actually still in the coffins. Odd atmosphere 😉
Apart from that the altarpiece was also quite unseen. Apparantly it was confiscated from a ship heading to Gdansk, and it was made originally in Belgium (Antwerp). A little piece of ‘home’… (though I wouldn’t exactly call Antwerp ‘home’ :-p). It consists of panels, carved in gold. The detail was magnificent.
For other pictures and a full report of the worldheritage site, I refer you all to our website.
Since we had Túrin with us, we took turns on visiting the Domkirke. Outside you had a pretty neat view on the Fjord, alongside some colourfull houses.
Afterwards we wanted to see the Viking Museum in the harbour. Our travel guide told us it was open untill 5 P.M., but it turned out it closed at 4. Bummer for us , but we did have a nice stroll along the waterfront.
On our way back we chose not to take the highway, but drove back home on smaller roads, giving us a view of the country- and seaside in Denmark. Unseen for us: a part of a fjord that was still frozen over. There’s a first time for everything!
-A-
