We drove around the bay to explore the nearby city of Aarhus, particularly the old town of Den Gamle By. It was a bit expensive, but amazingly well done and thorough. It’s an immersive look at the way of life and buildings in Denmark in the 1500s up until modern times. We spent a long time exploring the half-timbered houses and imagining living here at the end of the middle ages.
Geese, just checking me out
A cute residential street in Aarhus.
Around Mols Bjerge National Park, there are a bunch of hikes to viewpoints. Since Denmark is so flat, a 70 meter high hill will usually do the trick. Bonus points if you can climb up another 5 meters in a beautiful tree at the top.
We did a couple of hikes in the Lake District.
Priscilla convinced me to swing out over the water. I was pretty sure I’d fall in while it was like 50F out, so I took off most of my layers. Like always, it felt more epic than it looked.
There is a lot of managed timber land throughout Denmark. Beech vs evergreen on opposite sides of the path offered a breathtaking contrast.
One hike we did (kinda got lost and didn’t really follow the trail very well) had wooden sculptures scattered along the trail. It was largely focused on Norse Mythology. This one is Odin and his two ravens that gave him the daily news of the world; old school twitter I guess.
Interesting tidbit, some names of the week come from Norse Gods’ names (in Old English since the English were basically conquered by the Vikings). Tuesday = day of Tyr; Wednesday = day of Odin; Thursday = day of Thor; Friday = day of Freya.
Beautiful wood stacks. We’re making good use of the wood burning stove but haven’t gotten the opportunity to chop any wood.
After leaving the Mols Bjerge area we drove down to Ribe, Denmarks oldest town (from 800’s AD). It was established during the Viking age, but fell into economic depression for a long period of time. Therefore, there wasn’t money to tear down and rebuild, so a bunch of historic buildings are still around. Including this impressive cathedral.
I love timber-framed houses. Despite being all wonky, they still hold their integrity and look amazing.
We’ve enjoyed some Danish smørrebrød (open faced sandwiches, usually on rye bread, with all kinds of different toppings) and the classic Danish pastry kanelsnegle (a pastry version of a cinnamon bun).
At low tide, you can drive out to the Island of Mandø, part of the Wadden Sea National Park. It’s a tiny farming village separated from the mainland at high tide. There are lots of water birds and migrating birds along the coast here. The area is known for the big swarms of starlings at dusk (known as Sort Sol, or black sun). We were a bit late in the year to see the big swarms but we saw several smaller flocks swarming in the evenings. 
Highlights of the Mols Bjerge and Ribe:
- Exploring the nearby community of Mandø
- Hiking up to viewpoints in the Mols Bjerge National Park
- Den Gamle By historic village in Aarhus. We spent all day at the village and the nearby botanic garden.