Esbjerg and Ribe – simply go there.
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To go somewhere refreshingly different and fascinating usually involves a lot of hassle to get there, cost and maybe overnights here and there. Not in this case – it was so simple and easy to fly from Aberdeen to Esbjerg. BMI Regional (www.bmiregional.com) fly there once a day, leaving Aberdeen at the civilised time of 10.35 am. The flight takes 1 hr 20 minutes, and the return departs at 13.05 hrs and you are back in Aberdeen at 13.30 hrs our time. Fares are around £348 return. Esbjerg is the oil centre for Denmark, so most passengers are oil men and women going off shore, so there is none of the usual tension to jump up soon as the plane lands – calm reigns. The onboard service was also superb and smooth. Esbjerg airport is small, the staff are friendly, and you are out into the sunshine in no time at all.
This whole area is flat and only a few metres above sea level. Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark (as “in Denmark” crops up a lot in Ribe, I’ll abbreviate it to “In DK”) It was created by King Angantyr, and it is thought that its name comes from “Rypa” which means a narrow strip of a farm. In the main square is my hotel, the Hotel Dagmar. The original burnt down, so this is a “modern” replacement, dating from 1581 (!!) and is the oldest hotel in DK. It is named after the famous Danish Queen, famed for her beauty and gentleness. She died here in childbirth in 1212. Her husband, the King, rode desperately the 130 kms from Skanderborg to be with her, but arrived too late. In the hotel dining room there is an enormous stained glass window showing this scene. The hotel has a wonderful tea collection. You choose which tea you’d like from a tin; they put some in a large tea bag and give you a tea pot and boiling hot water and cold milk. The best tea outside Scotland. The food is superb too. The only draw back is that the hotel is, naturally, all up and down and steps and slopes. So is not wheelchair accessible and could not be adapted to be so. I thoroughly recommend this hotel see www.hoteldagmar.dk Prices vary, but there is an offer of around £59 per person for two people for two nights DB&B.
The Hotel Dagmar faces the cathedral. To one side is the tourist office, forming one corner of the square. The tourist office is open from 90.00 to 22.00 every day – that’s service! From here you can go on a walking tour of the town – recommended – with Danish and English spoken. The guides are all experts and enthusiastic about their town. It used to be very important, with boats trading all over the known world, including Viking boats on raids. Interestingly, Ribe was a centre for iron – but being in an area of sand, had no raw materials. They imported iron ore and coal from England and exported finished iron goods back – and still do! They still make radiators here for our central heating systems and still export them to the UK. The river to the sea is too shallow for most boats, so King Christian lX decided to build a new harbour, at Esbjerg just up the coast, in 1860, so Ribe stayed as it is – unspoilt and historic.
The Cathedral dominates the town and the surrounding countryside. Ribe is where Christianity started in DK. A missionary arrived from Bremen in 852 AD. The Cathedral was started around 1160 and completed between 1225 and 1250. The sand is not a good base for construction. The cathedral originally had two towers, but one collapsed at Christmas 1283 killing several people. Beside it, and attached to it, is a brick tower, dating from 1333. It has 248 steps to the top, from where you can see for miles around. You can go into the cathedral for free, but the brick tower belongs to the council and so you have to pay to go in. The cathedral has a famous organ and the greatest composer in DK, Carl Nielson, played here and the shop still sells CDs of his music, played on the organ here. Standing inside the cathedral, you may notice that the walls are not straight. The sandy sub soil again – the walls were starting to drift apart, so side altars were added – each one the size of a house, to prop it up, and it has worked.
Across from the cathedral is a modern church building that is very odd. It is covered with tiles from England (local ones cannot be fired to a high enough temperature to be fully weather proof). It is on stilts, so that the ground floor is all glass, so that you can see the brick foundations uncovered during excavation work. You cannot put a spade in the ground here without discovering something. This time, they found these brick foundations dating from around 1135 – the oldest example of the use of bricks in DK. By the way, the Cathedral school here is the oldest school in DK. The Cathedral has bells too. The largest, dating from 1599, is for warning of fires or floods from high tides – but it has not been rung for about two hundred years, as its massive size swinging about could destabilise the tower! The other bells play “Now found is the fairest of roses” between 08.00 and 18.00, while “Queen Dagmar” is played especially at noon and 15.00 hrs.
At the time of the Reformation there were no less than 14 religious houses, churches, monasteries, convents and hospitals in Ribe. In 1536 the reformation iconoclasts closed them all, leaving the Cathedral for the new religion, and one church, St. Katherine’s. This started to collapse as well, and in the 1920s ingenious engineering cut it off from the ground and underpinned it – successfully, as it still stands today.
Nearby is the old town hall. It dates from 1496, and was the town hall from 1708 to 2007 when the local authority was merged with Esbjerg. Today this lovely building has become a centre for many international weddings.
There are so many things to see, explore and do in Ribe that I will run out of space, so I will gallop through a few more. At Number 31 Nederdammen is the oldest wooden house in DK. The water tower is the oldest in DK. Beside the river is a statue of a maiden, symbolising pure yeast, Emil Christian Hansen of Ribe identified the yeast needed to make consistent beer in 1882– Carlsberg took it up, and today world wide beer is made using Hansen’s yeast. There is a brewery at Ribe too – worth a visit. As is the Art Museum, another red brick attractive building on three levels (wheelchair accessible) featuring Danish art, with regular exhibitions and shows. The Viking centre is loved by all children, loads to do and see and participate too. The Wadden Sea centre is a must too – the area is a wildlife mecca, migratory birds, seals, oysters, and off shore islands accessible at low tide by causeway (Mando – the nearest) or boat. The railway station is an architectural gem too, and the bus station is there too – integrated transport. You can go to Esbjerg from here by hourly train or bus, or go south to the German border, not far away.
When hungry, a good place to eat is Quedens Gaard, who also do B&B, see www.quedensgaard.dk and www.ribebedandbreakfast.dk
Finally, don’t miss the night watchmen. At 8pm, from the tourist office, a nightwatchman, dressed in traditional clothing and carrying a vicious long mace with sharp tines protruding, patrols the streets. Danish and English are spoken and you patrol the streets with him, while he explains some of the houses and traditions. Years ago, these men were the policemen of Ribe. As everywhere, the pay was not too good, and so they would have day jobs as well. Then, during the night, they would find a quiet alley to have a sleep. The townsfolk found out about this dereliction of duty, and so from then on they had to sing as they go round, a different song for each hour of the night, so the citizens would hear that they were doing their duty. Today the nightwatchman takes you round and between halts has to sing the song as of old.
I could have stayed in Ribe for a week more, enchanted by the cobbled uneven streets (salt marsh and sand is not a good bedrock!) but had to go to explore Esbjerg. What a contrast. When King Christian decided to develop Esbjerg, only 400 people lived here. Today, 83,000 people call it home. As the oldest buildings date from around 1870, it does not have that “old” feel to it at all – what it does have is dynamism. This is maybe exemplified by the striking huge statue of four men sitting staring out to sea, on the coastline just north of the busy harbour with oil rig supply boats going to and fro.
The town centre has some striking buildings. Around the Torvet (market square) is the tourist office, the old courthouse and gaol, with a statue of King Christian lX on a horse, and the Post office (1896) and bank (1907). The magnificent railway station was built in 1902, and trains run from here to several destinations, including Copenhagen. Esbjerg also has the longest pedestrian shopping street in DK.
There just seems to be so much going on in Esbjerg. It is the only city in DK to hold the Youth Olympic Games. There is a large Maritime Museum. This has a big aquarium with all the fish that you are likely to find in the Wadden Sea, and also seals. Feeding time for the seals is always popular, in an outside aquatic auditorium. Outside the large modern main building is a concrete bunker that you can explore. This is one of many of Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall” sea defences. There is also a harbour with real sailing ships to explore, a workshop and shipyard, and children’s play area.
The Art Museum is one of the most experimental art museums in the world. They have “junior guides”. These are children who show adults the paintings and sculptures – what a way to involve young people! The town Museum includes a street scene with houses and so on, and an iron age dwelling, and an exhibition of amber, which is found in this area of DK. There is also a lot of performing art. The Academy of Music has an amazing clock in the forecourt. This large sculpture is satellite controlled, a sun dial, and has to be seen to be believed. The Academy is home to a symphony orchestra and a chamber orchestra. There are also no less than 50 choirs in Esbjerg, and open air concerts in the summer.
For the active and athletic, there is the Sport and Event Park. Here there is water in baths, pools, treatments, activities, waves and currents in a swimming pool, diving and enough things to keep you and any children happy for days. There is also biking (being flat for hundreds of square miles and good trails, cycling is easy) marathons, golf, fishing, skating and swimming.
Ribe is the oldest town in DK; Esbjerg is the youngest city in DK. This combination gives an ideal two centre holiday destination, and only around 15 miles between them with good roads and public transport, it is easy to enjoy them both.
It is so simple to get here, and easy to get about. English is widely spoken, and the whole experience is good – good tea, good toilets – and good friendly people. Denmark is in the EU, but somehow keeps it a little at arm’s length, and keeps the Krona as its currency. There are currently around 9.5 Krona to the Pound. Prices are a little higher than here in the north of Scotland, but cheaper by far than London. I checked prices in a supermarket and bought several things at good prices compared to here at home, but of course some are higher. I never actually changed any money – credit cards were accepted everywhere – making life simple.
For more information, go to www.visitesbjerg.dk and www.visitribe.dk The excellent tourist service can provide all that you want, in English of course. It was so simple and easy to get to this west coast part of Denmark and discover such lovely and lively places – just go there!
