DAY 22 - A DAY IN SVENDBORG - Sunday 15th May, 2022...

Our last day on Funen Island today.  Pete was keen for us to head to Svenborg and explore this lovely little coastal town.  We needed to be out of our AirBnB by 10am and we wanted to get out as early as we could so that we had plenty of time to explore Svenborg.  Whilst the rest of us packed up, Steve took the boys for a short walk down the road to pat the horses.  This kept them busy whilst the rest of us packed up and tidied up the house before we left...

Steve took the boys down to pat the horses..

Svenborg is only about a 15minute drive from where we are staying.  As we had only had a cup of tea this morning, we decided that we would have brunch before Pete and Maria and the boys headed home.  There plan was to leave around lunch time and take their time on the drive home.  Pete suggested to us though, that we on the other hand, should stay for the day and explore some of the islands off Svenborg. 

Svendborg is Funen's second largest city and is a beautiful town situated on the water.  It's been a really significant town in the region ever since the 13th century.  It achieved its rights as a market town in 1253, and since then the town ha been the obvious regional centre for both residents and tourists of South Fyn and the archipelago islands just off shore.  

 

In the Middle Ages, Svendborg was an important trading and manufacturing town centered on its principal industry - shipping - and in the latter parts of the Middle Ages, Svendborg was in fact one of the most important trade routes in Scandinavia.

Terningen - The Black Cube

Today Svendborg as a town is a unique mix of the old and new, of proud shipping traditions and new cultural impules.  Svendborg's old town with its narrow winding streets, courtyards and market squares has been preserved.  The town also serves as a hub for trips to the archipelago islands, aboard one of Maritimt Centre's old wooden ships or the many ferries departing from the harbour in Svendborg every day.

Our destination this morning was to park down at the harbour and walk into town but Pete took us the long way around so that we could drive through town and get see the beautiful old and colourful buildings in the old section of town.  It is one of the charms of this lovely town.

A lot of the buildings we drove past reminded us of some of the German towns we had driven through when we were in Europe back in 2016.  They had real charm and character and we could see why Pete and Maria loved this place..

We even came across some street art...

Even as we were driving around, we notice quite a bit of sculpture and art works around the old section of town.  I particularly love all of this and really do love checking it all out when we visit different places.

Spring was very much alive in Svendborg with pots and pots of beautiful flowering Spring flowers everywhere we went which really made the town pretty.

Venus Med Aeblet by Kai Nielsen

 We learnt quite a bit about Svendborg whilst we were there.  The town grew around the well protected natural harbour, a small bay cutting into the island of Fyn at the narrowet point of the trait now known as Svendborgsund.  The town was fortified with ramparts and moats, and a royal castle, called Ørkild Slot.  Unfortunately the castle burnt down in 1534, but the remains of the castle are still visible today in the Karoline Amalielund park in the eastern part of town.  Back in the Middle Ages, herring fishing was the significant industry in Svendborg.  

We had to drive around a bit before we could find a park, but we eventually found one right down on the harbour, and being a Sunday, we didn't have to pay for parking...  It is such a beautiful spot in Svendborg and we spent some time just enjoying life by the water, just watching the boats and checking out the jellyfish in the water...

One of the large ferries that runs between the off coast islands..

A little of the old part of town viewed from the harbour

watching the jellyfish

Paddleboarders enjoying sending some time on the ater

Such a pretty spot in Svendborg..

Bird life at the Harbour

It was mid morning by now, and the tribe was hungry, so we decided to head into the old town of Svendborg to find a pub or somewhere to eat.  Pete and Maria had been here previously so kind of knew there way around.  Pete also suggested to us that once we had our breakfast and they left to head back to Frederikssund that we should spend some extra time and go visit the Square in Svendborg as it was quite old and had some lovely buildings surround it.  Also he suggested that we wander some of the narrow winding roads and take in some of the sold and colourful buildings...

Heading into town to find some breakfast

We spent the morning in the old part of Svendborg  around the harbour and then wandering down the narrow streets, and checking out the market squares. 

Lovely old cobbled streets

Spring flowers everywhere..

Beautiful old buildings in downtown Svendborg

Today, Svendborg is a unique mix of old and new, of proud shipping traditions and new cultural impulses. Svendborg’s old town – with its narrow, winding streets, courtyards, and market squares – has been preserved. The town also serves as a hub for trips to the archipelago islands, aboard one of Maritimt Center’s old wooden ships or the many ferries departing Svendborg every day.

Just like Pete said, Svendborg is a joy to experience.  Just a five-minute walk uphill from the harbor, the vibrant oldtown reveals cobblestone streets lined with half-timbered houses, and glimpses into inviting courtyards. We were really happy that Pete suggested coming here and as we took our unhurried stroll and we were really appreciating the ancient architecture and old-town ambiance and to uncover treasure among the small shops.   

Beautiful tulips flowering everywhere

We walked down past St Nicolaj Church.  This church has the honor of being the oldest church in Svendborg.   It was built in 1180.  This church is built of bricks and the facade has not changed its Romanesque appearance much except fo the bell tower which was added during the late Middle Ages.  Apparently a stone church stood in the same spot a century before that.  The foundation stone can still be seen there today.    You are able to go inside for free and check the church out but we were unable to do that this morning as it was Sunday and there was a church service on as we walked past...

We continued down past the church heading for the main street where the food outlets where.  Pete was leading us as he had been here before.  I'm not sure that he knew exactly where he was going but we followed never the less and we did eventually find a street that seemed to have quite a few eating spots.  This place is really pretty with lots of big pots full of beautiful spring flowers adding lots of colour to the street...

Pete found this gorgeous little arcade that he knew that I would just love.  There was this gorgeous little arcade with lots of colourful umbrella's alongside this little pub...  Well of course I wanted to make the most of it and take lots of photos.  Photos of the umbrellas, photos of us with them...  This really is a gorgeous town and I can really see why Pete wanted us to come visit and experience it...

 

Apparently this little arcade is attache to the pub we are having brunch at.  It is the city's largest outdoor dining area where there are booths with heat lamps you can sit next too as well as this lovely area with the umbrella's in all colours of the rainbow.  This area is more for those wanting to sit outside and enjoy a coffee or an ice cold beer.

Gorgeous flowering hydrangeas - beautiful bright colours..

Beautiful coloured tulips...

We found this gorgeous  pub to have brunch in.  It was very popular.  It looked small and cosy but was very deceiving as the back opened out into large function rooms that could cater for weddings and also as a fancy restaurant.  Of course I went exploring.....

 

Gastropub Børsen  as it is called,  first opened its doors on Christmas Day 1984.  The term "Gastropub" was a new term for us, and apparently it means it's a pub that specializes in serving high quality food.  New term for us....

 

It ha obviously grown over the years to the very popular pub it is today.  Initially when it opened the owner wanted to create a pub where billiards, live music and good history where,  Apparently for several years, Børsen was renown for it's beer.  It was also known for it's happy sailors and lots of partying and happy days.  

The idea of providing great food came from these days, the desire to combine good atmosphere with food made from fresh ingredients, good wines and delicious cocktails....  It seems by the number of folk here this morning that the owner has achieved his goals...

Over the years, Børsen has added 3 living rooms which they have named after some of the well known vessels from around the area...  Even though these rooms like like a restaurant, Gastropub Børsen emphasises that they and first and foremost a pub and not a restaurant...  they want the emphasis not on sitting and drinking in a restaurant but more that more informal feel of sitting and eating around a bar...  and they have certainly created that atmosphere here...

Lovely chandelier

 

Steve ordered hot chocolates for us..

Pete's meal

Maria's meal

Steve and I shared Nacho's...

It was going on for 11am when we ordered, so Pete and Maria wanted to make this their lunch as once they got back in the car they wanted to keep going as they wanted Elliot to fall asleep and sleep for a good part of the trip home..    The food was pretty good and the surrounding were lovely.  You could tell that this building was pretty old as the ceilings were pretty low but it all added to the charm of the pub....

By the time we left here it was after 12noon.  Pete and Maria were leaving us and heading back to the car to head home.  They had encouraged us to explore the city more so we said our goodbyes and hoped that we wouldn't have any trouble finding our way home later in the day...

From the pub we walked a little further down the street until we came across a Fotex store that had some great plants out from of the store.  Steve had already spent quite a bit of time digging in the garden at home and planting it up with Maria and he found here a couple of plants he really wanted to take home and surprise her with, so he went and grabbed a couple of them...

Picked up some plants here for Maria...

From here we decided to try and find the old square that Pete had told us about...  We could understand why Pete was keen for us to experience this part o Svendborg as the buildings and the square were beautiful and old...  The streets were narrow and winding getting to the square but that is what made it so beautiful...

 One of the centre pieces in the Square is the Vor Frue Kirke (another church).  Our Lady's Church as it i known is located in the middle of Svendborg's old town, on a hill high above the town square.  It i one of two old medieval churches in the city, the other one being the one we saw earlier this morning... There is much evidence that the church hill it is built on has been a holy place long before Christianity came to Denmark..

 

This church was built in 1279 and it has been expanded several times since the Middle Ages.  The most extensive restoration was in 1884 with the most recent one in 2004.  Within the spire, which was added in 1768, are twenty-seven bell.  Three of them are extremely old.  They were cast in 1656, 1505 and 1450.

Although the church is opened to the public to visit free of church, it is not opened during church services so again as we were here on a Sunday we missed seeing inside...

Another stand out building on the Old Square for us is the Wiggers Gård Building. Back in the mid 19th century, three Wiggers brothers were prominent merchants in Svendborgm each with a sucessful enterprise.  Charles Wiggers built the town's first dress factory here in 1872 burnt down several times.  The current half-timbered Wiggers Gård or farm was constructed in 1939.   We were really impressed with the wood carved panels that show various laborers including a seamstress.  

This was perhaps my favourite building in the old square.

Beautiful wood carved panels on the building

The Old Square or Torvet as it is known is the main town square in Svendborg.  From here it is a short walk to all the city's major landmarks and we certainly covered some ground in checking a lot of them out.  There are also quite a few outdoor cafes around the square and being a Sunday they were quite popular today as the weather was just perfect...

Another prominent building on the Old Square is the Old Police and Fire Station.  The architect Jens Juel Eckersberg was responsible for the design of this building and this red brick building was used as the Police and Fire Station from 1886 until 1966.  It is now occupied by law offices.

Anne Hvide's House

Another lovely building we came across was the Anne Hvide's House.  It's a two-story, half-timbered building.  It is one of the oldest house in town.  Anne Hvide and her nobleman husband commissioned this yellow, half timbered building in 1557 but he died before it was finished three year later.  Through the centuries it had several owners who used it as a residence, an inn from 1837 to 1867, a library and the mayor’s offices. The Svendborg Museum acquired, restored and occupied Anne Hvides Gård during the early 20th century. It is now their annex reserved for special events and exhibitions.

The Mermaid Found graces the old Square in Svendborg. It was created by Niels Hansen Jacobsen and sponsored by Consul General Peter Martin in 1929.  Apparently, it has been moved around the city to several locations before finding it's home here...

We had been on our feet for a good part of the morning so I was keen to find a seat to sit down and give my feet a rest before we made the trek back down to the harbour to our car.  Steve was still keen to explore a couple of the narrow winding lanes that led into the square. so I found a seat just in front of the fountain and I was happy to sit here and wait whilst he did some more exploring and whilt he took some more photos....

There really are some beautiful old buildings in this part of the old town...  I think it is a place I would love to come back and visit again but next time stay a little longer and spend more time here exploring it..

Denmark is well know for their incredible design, and Steve came across this studio which had some beautifully deigned furniture.  Being a design teacher in his old life, he can really appreciate the beauty in some of the furnture he saw in this store.  We have previously visited the Design Museum in Denmark which he just loved...

There were quite a few sculptures around the old part of the city too, and we had seen some of these from the car this morning as we drove around.  It was nice to actually walk past them and have a decent look at them now..

 Another one of the interesting buildings we came across was the Yellow half timbered Krøyers Warehouse.  In 1856 Claus Krøyer had this half-timbered building constructed as a warehouse for his multi-generational family grocery business. Today it is called Advokathuset and serves as the offices for a law firm.

Some of the lovely narrow winding streets we wandered down.

By the time we got back to the harbour, the ferries were gone.  They  were out taking tourists to many of the islands off shore.  The harbour was also coming to life with quite a few people out enjoying meals and just enjoying being out in the fresh air and sunshine...

From the harbour we decided to explore a little more of the area.  Pete had given us a few places to check out over on  Tåsinge's Island.  Pete had suggested another island that is quite beautiful and was definitely worth visiting but he did say that we would need a full day to explore it and to get to that island we would have needed to catch a ferry.  We therefore decided to explore Tåsinge's Island instead, as there were quite a few things we could see there and realisticly now we only had a few hours left to explore the island before we needed to make our way back to Frederikssund...

 

 Tåsinge's Island was beautiful, lovely country roads and beauitful building.  They were quite different to those in Svendborg. They weren't as colourful on the island,  mostly lots of white timber-framed houses.

 

Lot of country roads and typical Danish hedges everywhere...  One of the main attractions on the island for us was a visit toValdermars Slot or Castle...  The castle was built in 1639-44 by Christian the 4th to his son, Count Valdemar Christmas from whom the castle has it's name.  The Kings's large construction at Tåsinge began when Valdemar Christian was 17 years old, and the king spared no effort to give his son a princely residence of rank.  With Hans van Steenwinckel as builder, the king built a magnificent Renaissance castle in the tle of and larger than his own Roenborg.  But Valdemar Christian never benefited from his castle - he preferred to travel around Europe as a warload and never settled on Tåsinge.  In 1656 he died on a battlefield in Poland, at the age of 34 years.  During the Swedish Wars (1658-1660), Valdemar's Castle was occupied and badly damaged, and it was the sea hero Niels Juel who saved the castle from ruin.

The approach to the castle was along this beautiful road lined with trees.  All very impressive.

The drive into Valdermars Slot

The main building faces the castle lake. For the last 350 years, the castle has been in the possession of the Juel family. Admiral Niels Juel received the castle for the prize money he won for giving the Swedish navy a sound beating in Køge Bugt (Køge Bay) in 1677.

The castle’s current appearance is the result of a restoration in the late 19th century.

These days the castle is not opened to the public which is a bit of a shame.  Appartently the current owners went through a messy divorce and the castle is now owned by two sisters which are from the original decendents of the Juel family.  Unfortuantely they cannot agree of what to do with the castle so it has been closed now for a couple of years.  We were not even able to have a walk around the grounds.  Still from the outside it did look pretty impressive and reminded us a little of the Selso Slot we had visited a couple of week ago...

The castle does have it's own church or chapel attached to the house as well but again we were not able to check it out...

We checking out the castle we had parked in a car park near the water.  Appartently you can catch a ferry from the harbour in Svendborg and it drops you over near the castle.  Steve wandered down to the beach and the jetty to check it all out...

From here we set off to find the large Oak Trees that the island is famous for...  We really weren't quite sure where we were going and had to ask direction from a few.  Apparently the first lot of trees were not the ones that Pete had spoken about.  He didn't know about these one.  They belonged to the land that the Castle owns but there is a track for the public to go and explore and visit them.    The track offers some lovely back views of Valdermar's Slot too.

Views of the back o Valdermar's Slot.

We found a park across the road where there were other forests to explore and there were lots of folk out enjoying a walk in the forest today.  We asked some locals that were out enjoying the beautiful weather and they pointed us in the right direction...

The walk to find the big trees...

We came across the tree and it was Huge...  Although I do think we have seen trees as big in Australia and also on Norfolk Island.

Girth of the tree..

From here we headed of to find the impressive Oak Trees that Pete had been telling us about...

Tåsinge has some of the oldest and largest oak tress in Denmark. One of them has witnessed King Christian IV ride along to a meeting at Kierstrup Manor where he had peace talks with the swedes.

The massive old Oak Tree

The surroundings around the Oak Trees were beautiful.  It was situated in a field of beautiful yellow flowering canola fields...

The last place on our list of places to visit whilst on Tåsinge's Island was Bregninge Church.  The church is located on Tåsinge's highest point  Breginge Kirkebakke, from where there is a wide view; it is said that from the tower one can see 28 islands, 65 churches and 20 castles.  Pete had suggested that we climb the tower to enjoy the view, but again we were unable to do that as the tower was covered in scaffolding and under repair so for the rest of this year the tower has been closed so we were unable to climb the tower and check out the view..   We did though enjoy a walk through the church and it was lovely..

As we got to the church we found the Tåsinge Museum which is situated across the road from the Church.  We did go for a walk around the ground but didn't visit the museum as we were fast running out of time.  By now it was after 4pm and we still wanted to visit the church and then visit a park back in Svensborg before heading back home. 

At first glance, it would be easy to think that the church is not that old.  The year on the west side of the tower is 1883, which leads most people to believe that it is the year of the church's construction, but in actual act the church is originally a whitewashed medieval church, built on a granite plinth and with walls in raw and cleaved boulders.  

We also read that Bregninge church is one of the most visited churches in Denmark in terms of the number of tourists per annum - not so much because o the building itself, although that is also interesting to see, but more for the fantastic views from the church tower.

We may have missed the views from the top of the tower, but we still had some beautiful views overlooking the water from the grounds of the church..

Like most medieval churches, Bregninge Church has been around for many years.  The church, choir and man nave, was built in boulders in approx. 1100, probably as a replacement for a wooden church.  There has probably been a sacred place for Thor at the top of Bregninge hill where the church i now located.  

 Inside the church we were able to see the Romanesque granite font, a head of Christ on the north wall dating from around 1250, and a 1621 pulpit with rick ornamentation.  In the porch is a tombstone with arcade decoration, the image of a vicar and runic letters. 

The church underwent many changes over the years.  The original church, which consists of nave and chancel, was extended with a tower, chapel, aisle, porch and burial chapel.  The interior of the church has also changed character and has aligned itslef with the changing of time...

Bregninge church was previously owned by the nobel family Juel, later Juel-brockdorff, who previoulsy owned Valdemar Castle.  The family still owns the burial chapel on the north side of the church...

Before leaving the church we took a wander around the grounds and grave yards.  We have discovered in Denmark that most cemeteries seemed to be attached to churches.  Like most of the other churches we have visited, this church also had a gardening centre, so that family members can tend to the grave yards of their families....

Beautiful view from the church yard

The tower was out of bounds this year...

Time to leave the island and head back to towards Svenborg.  We had one more stop before heading back home...

You can even find caravans in Denmark...

Our last stop for today was to explore Christiansminde, a lovely park on the water...

Christiansminde beach is a popular beach for both families and young people. By the beach is a cozy ice house, where you can buy both food and drink and this was where we were headed for our ice cream.  We have been enjoying ice creams in Denmark.

Pete had told us about an old water mill that was located there and as we drove in to park we came across it.  We thought it would be worth walking over to it before having our ice creams and checking it out...

The watermill was built in 1771 and was in operation until 1901. The watermill is a stamp mill that has been used to tan cowhides. It was restored by Svendborg Municipality in 1998 and in 2003 it got a new water wheel which was again restored in 2020. The water wheel is about 4 meters in diameter and weighs 3 tons. It has approx. 50 shovel blades.

There is also a jetty at the beach here it is where the vintage ship MS Helge is moored.  This ferry is the one that takes tourists across to Tåsinge.  It is more of a tourist attraction rather than just a straight ferry and on it you can experience some of the beautiful countryside with forests, beaches and the cosy, small harbours.

You are also able to disembark and explore and then embark again at a later time.  I think it would be a wonderful experience to see parts of the harbour and the islands this way.

v

Once again we came across the seagulls with the black faces..

There is a pretty nice playground here for the children and it was pretty popular this afternoon with lots of families down here with their children.  So much so that it made it hard for me to photograph as I didn't want to look too obvious taking photos which other people's children in my photos..

Some of the many different modes of transport you see in Denmark...

 

From the playground we headed over to find the shop that sells the famous ice creams.  We were well and truly ready for one as we hadn't had any thing to eat since we had our brunch and we have at least another two hours of driving ahead of us before reaching home. so figured that we needed something to get us by....

Happy plants

We finally found the ice cream shop... and it was very popular.  We lined up among the crowds to pick out our flavours..

The young guy that served us was very chatty.  He recognized our accents and guessed that we were from Australia.  Apartently he really wants to visit our wonderful country and was asking us lot of different questions about Australia.  He was a really friendly guy and really spoilt us with our ice creams piling them up...

From here it was time to head back to the car and think about making our way home.  It was now almost 6pm and we still had more than a two hour drive to get home, so we were not going to be early getting home and we would need to find somewhere to pick up dinner on our way home...

 

On the way back to the car we had to walk past the mini golf... It was quite quirky and had some rather interesting wholes and had a little bit o Aussie embedded in it with a kangaroo and a crocodile.  The course though looked a little worn and old and in need of some remodeling.  Still it was quite popular with quite a few folk playing...

Some of the many mini golf holes..

A little bit of Aussie...

From Christiansminde we took a slight detour to as Steve had seen a sign suggesting a boating area and he wanted to check it out.  Supposedly it was on our way out of town so we would have to pretty much drive past it anyway.  Somehow we missed the turn and had to traveled a further kilometre up the road before we were able to double back...

 

In a way the detour was good as we came across these remarkable pieces of sculpture in someone's garden. 

We finally found the spot that Steve wanted to check out.  I decided to wait in the car whilst Steve went for the walk out to investigate..

It wasn't really in a public place.  We had to park in front of someone's house and Steve had to walk down an easement alongside people's homes to find the spot..

Finally we were on our way home.  The GPS was certainly taking us a different way home than when we came which didn't worry us as the scenery was beautiful...  All roads though led us to Nyborg which is the town that sits on the approach to the Great Belt Bridge...

It was close to 7pm by the time we arrived at the approach to the Bridge.  Our GPS started to inform us that there was a traffic event on the bridge and there were could be up to an hour delay getting on the bridge... We were so hoping that it wouldn't be the case, but alas, we were in a stand still line of traffic for over an hour waiting to get over the bridge.  We have no idea what the hold up was, we didn't see any evidence of an accident but we were going to be very late getting home...

Once we got moving, the traffic was still pretty slow with us only traveling between 40 and 60kmp until we got to island Sprogø and then it seemed to move at a faster pace over the Suspenion part of the bridge. 

The Great Belt Fixed Link is one of the largest bridges in the world, and  the fact that we have been over it now a couple of times, is something you won't forget.  You get some inkling of the mammoth work that went into its construction when you cross the Great Belt by car. The structure incorporates the Eastern Bridge (a suspension bridge), Western Bridge (a low-level bridge) and the Eastern Tunnel for the railway (an undersea bored tunnel.) The complete link between Zealand and Funen is 18 km long and was built between 1988 and 1998. On average, more than 27,000 cars a day traverse the bridge; on busy summer days in the peak season, the traffic may comprise up to 40,000 cars a day.
The Link interconnects the regions of Denmark and has made getting around Denmark a lot easier. The Eastern Bridge – the big, light suspension bridge with its characteristic cable profile and two 254 m pylons are the highest points in Denmark and bear the cables whose free span of 1,624 m is the second longest in the world. The Eastern Bridge itself is 6,790 m long, with a passage height of 65 m.The Eastern Bridge has become a popular symbol of Danish expertise and sound craftsmanship. 
The East Tunnel for trains at 8,024 m long is Europe's second longest bored tunnel after the Channel Tunnel between France and England. 

It was after 9pm at night before we finally got home.  We had planned to stop and grab so dinner on our way home, but unfortunately because of the delay on the bridge most places we could have stopped for a quick bite to eat had already closed by the time we got close to home... 

In the end we settled for a bit of toast and a cup of tea.  Steve's back was really sore from all the driving... 

He is still having a lot of problems with his back.  It is far worse when he is sitting, so the driving for most of the day hasn't helped it at all.  He is going to have to take a couple of days off in the hope that it will ease the pain and feel a little better for him...