Our next stop in Denmark, after a large hiatus, was 90 Mi away from Odense, in Arhus, Denmark's second largest city on the east cost of Jutland Peninsula.
The city is located in the geographical center of Denmark and approximately 120 miles from the border of Germany (~20 miles more than Odense)
and the inner urban area contains circa 273 thousand inhabitants (2018) while 340.421 live in the municipality.
The name of the city originates from it's geography, meaning "ar(river) oss(mouth) "Mouth of Aarhus river". Since a spelling reform in 1948 there are still disputes on how to write it- and we know people can get very personal about this - At the time the council embraced the reform, changing the spelling from 'Aarhus' to 'Arhus', while many cities and institutions still resisted the renaming. Later in 2010 it was changed back to the double A's, 'Aarhus' as well as the spelling of the river and other affiliated names. Now there are institutions using the old reform 'Arhus' spelling as well as the previous (and actual) 'Aahrus.'
The city has been invaded by the Germans at least three times, twice in the Schleswig wars and during the entire Second World War.
Aarhus is one of the oldest cities in Denmark, Along with Ribe and Hedeby, which we have heard of but won't visit for now. "Discoveries after a 2003 archaeological dig unearthed half-buried longhouses, fire pits, glass pearls and a road dated to the late 700s. Archaeologists have conducted several excavations in the inner city since the 1960s revealing wells, streets, homes and workshops. In the buildings and adjoining archaeological layers, everyday utensils like combs, jewellery and basic multi-purpose tools from approximately the year 900 have been found" [wiki]
 |
| Port of Aahrus |
 |
ARoS Museum |
The first stop we made was in ARoS Kunstmuseum the second most visited museum in Denmark (after Luisiana Museum in Humlebaek) and one of the largests in Northern Europe.
The museum was opened in 1859 and is the oldest in the country outside the capital, it is today most famous for its rainbow skywalk ‘Your rainbow panorama’ by Architect Olafur Eliasson on the roof of the museum, which guided us here just upon arriving in the city.
Interesting Fact: The name ARoS refers to the old spelling of the city’s name, Áros, while the capitalized letters of the name hint at the Latin word for art, ‘ars’.
 |
| Tivoli Friheden(Amusement Park) |
Right next to the museum, after having a illuminating experience going through the 9 circles of Dante’s Inferno until reaching the heavens in the rainbow arc, experiencing the best and most impressive galleries from talented local and international artists, we went to amusement park and had some fun in the 40+ attractions in one of the city’s most visited places. Some of us went for a run instead, or used the equipments for calisthenic exercises.
Again, expanding our cycling city dreams even further, we learned that this is also a cycling focused town with many interesting cycling solutions, as Aarhus Bycykler (Bycyklen); a municipal bicycle sharing system, currently consisted of 450 bicycles and 52 hubs. It is free to use, requiring a DKK 20 kr deposit that can be retrieved once the bike is returned.
Transport-wise, Arhus is ahead of most cities in Denmark, specially with the opening of Aarhus Letbane, an electric light rail system, in 2017, which is the first in Denmark. And a seaplane transport which makes trips to Copenhagen 4 times a day.
Our last stop was at Den Gamle By (The Old Town), an open air museum opened in 1914 as the first in the world. It is one of the few top rated Danish museum and consists of 75 historical buildings collected from 20 townships in all parts of the country. What surprised us is that it’s in the city center and is set just like a living town, but upon getting in the buildings we realised it was actually a gallery. There are also 5 gardens around the museum, representing various periods in time, from the mid 17th to the early 20th centuries.
We found 5 exhibits, The Danish Clock Museum, the Toy Museum, a silverware exhibit, a pottery exhibit and what was called the Textile Museum, in addition to several smaller exhibits. Besides the town itself, these exhibitions form the centrepiece of the museum and contain some of the largest collections of historical artefacts outside Copenhagen.
Can you guess where we are heading to next?
