Arriving to Copenhagen central train station from Malmo was a bit of experience. Not because of ultra-modern train station we can only dream of in our capital city, but because of the huge sign „welcome refugees” and just the number of refugees on the station. It was something I haven’t experienced in Slovakia so far. Being aware that my couchsurfing host Yair wasn’t at home by the time of my arrival I went to look for Bycyklen and soon after started riding an electric bike in Copenhagen. Bycyklen is a new, innovative and ecological way riding an electric bike in Copenhagen. I had to sign up online, so I did while in Slovakia. Once I got to Copenhagen and found these white e-bikes I tapped on tablet screen, logged in and could use the e-bike as long as I wanted or run out of power. But let’s talk about that later…
As I was told by Shaun, my couchsurfing host from Lund, Copenhagen is gonna be magic. I must admit that he was right. The city felt alive, but not dangerously overcrowded by cars like you can experience in different European capitals, well mostly because of thousands of bicycles on the streets and thankfully it was not raining so even that helped to overall ranking. I myself am quite a car enthusiast so I couldn’t help noticing enormous number of e-cars like Tesla or BMW i3 quietly driving around or most of the time charging in docks ha-ha. There is no doubt in progress and thinking in Scandinavian countries when it comes to environment.
During my short stay in Copenhagen I got surprised many times. Probably the biggest one was just how expensive was everything. I knew Scandinavia was gonna be expensive, but compare to Sweden, prices in Copenhagen were just ridiculous. To cool down I decided to visit a public toilet on some pretty nice square which I thought was gonna be closed or I would have to pay for it. None of above. It was open and for free and insanely clean and cool looking public toilet without any homeless people inside. Thumbs up for that. BTW I was surprised a lot by the number of homeless people I saw in Copenhagen compare to i.e. Malmo.
After some time already spent in the city I found out there is really no better way how to explore the capital of Denmark than riding an electric bike in Copenhagen. You don’t necessarily need an e-bike with engine to ride around, but to be honest it was much more fun without pedaling. On my e-bike from Bycyklen there was a tablet attached to it where after you are logged in you see you current position on built-in GPS, speed, bicycle’s battery life or bus schedules. It was definitely worth it spending 5 Euro per hour rather than walking and using a map. In those 5 hours with my e-bike set on fast mode and GPS with tourists’ attractions I saw basically all there is to see in Copenhagen. Finally after 5 hours of riding an electric bike in Copenhagen I returned it into its parking near my favorite part of the city Christiania.
I have read many reviews about Christiania but no matter what people were writing about I knew even before the trip that it was gonna be my favorite place. A Freetown of Christiania is an autonomous neighborhood in the ex-military area in Copenhagen. Among approx. 800 inhabitants there are many tourists looking for soft drugs like weed or hashish which are very easy to buy on “Pusher Street” where taking pictures is strictly forbidden. But soft drugs were not my target. I just wanted to see this self-proclaimed territory of hippie people and good mood. I found people of all ages living there with small kids in perfect harmony with some soft drugs and art. I was surprised that I paid only about 1, 50 Euro for a beer in local shop. To enjoy my beer and see how things work there I sat next to a guy rolling a huge joint on the street. Atmosphere in Christiania was definitely much different than in any other place I know maybe except for Amsterdam 😀 Who knows why…
It was time to leave Christiania and enter the European Union just like one of the signs say on the way out. It was time to meet with my couchsurfing host Yair. I was lucky enough that Yair accepted me as his couchsurfing guest even during Jewish New Year. Yair is from Israel and as being Jewish he was preparing a typical meals for Rosh Hashanah. I felt really fortunate when I was invited to this diner with Yair and his great friends. My trip was coming to its end and I had to leave Copenhagen the next day and went to airport in Malmo. During my short stay in Denmark I definitely enjoyed riding an electric bike in Copenhagen, celebrating a Jewish New Year while doing couchsurfing and making new friends which all together in such a short time I must say was one hell of a trip and amazing new experience.
