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suburban trains), ensuring
it is not necessary to even con-
sider driving one’s personal car
around the city and polluting
the air.
Formerly abandoned and
neglected parts of the city, like
North Harbour, are brought
back to life through large
structural engineering projects
(in Copenhagen something is
continually being renovated,
organized or reconfigured, with
works never ceasing); the city
is not spreading, but rather
becoming denser, due to the
availability of not only public
transport, but also everything
else that makes a city a city.
As far back as 1962
Copenhagen was among the
first cities in the world to con-
vert a central part of the city,
Strøget, into a pedestrian zone.
Strøget is not just one street,
but rather an entire network
of linked avenues with shops,
cafés and restaurants. Danes’
focus on health and ecology
(they eat the most organically
grown food in the EU) has re-
sulted in the largest number of
cyclists and the best arranged
cycling trails (around 350 ki-
lometres across the city), with
special traffic lights. Almost
fifty per cent of Copenhagen’s
residents ride bikes on a daily
basis to travel to and from work
and school. All those who have
watched the popular, high-
quality Danish political TV
series
Borgen
, partly inspired
by Danish Prime Minister Helle
Thorning-Schmidt, will remem-
ber that she also often came by
bike to Christiansborg Palace
in the city centre. Danish cy-
cling culture is so strong that in
the city there is also a network
of bicycles that tourists and citi-
zens can use free of charge.
2. CHRISTIANSHAVN
This very popular and
fashionable city neighbour-
hood is a proper Venice of
Copenhagen – boasting several
islets separated by picturesque
canals with old and new boats,
bars, restaurants etc. Here, in
an old warehouse, is the best
restaurant in the world, Noma,
while one of the largest ships in
the vicinity serves cooks as an
experimental kitchen.
King Christian IV decided
in the 17
th
century to ensure
the security of Copenhagen
by building a fortress at the
entrance to the harbour, then
making his new city on canals,
which he did after visiting
the Netherlands and drawing
inspiration from Amsterdam.
Christianhavn was originally
conceived as a residence area
for soldiers and officers with
families, but after they refused
he did not give up on his
intentions, thus leasing land
to wealthy merchants free of
charge to construct their office
buildings and warehouses, of-
fering them an additional in-
centive of a 12-year tax exemp-
tion. This is how the area that
is today the most picturesque
part of the city emerged. It fell
into a state of disrepair in the
1960s and it was there, on what
was then unappealing construc-
tion land, that Christiania,
the famous hippy commune,
spontaneously emerged and
developed. With its long tra-
dition and good reputation,
Christiania is still alive today.
In the meantime
Christianshavn has become
perhaps the most appealing
and fanciest part of the city, in
some parts very prestigious and
expensive, because it has an ex-
cellent link with the city centre
via a rail link under the sea, is
environmentally very clean, has
renovated old buildings and
warehouses and a few newly
designed residential buildings.
It is no coincidence that this is
also the site of the important
centre of Danish architecture,
which is worth a visit.
3. LOUISIANA MUSEUM
OF MODERN ART
This museum is included
on Patricia Schultz’s list of
1,000 places we must visit be-
fore we die and is also one of
the most visited museums in
the world (without unpleasant
waiting and long queues). It is
not interesting exclusively be-
cause of the impressive collec-
tion of modern art, but rather
also because of the location
