Ribe

One of the things I like to do each time I come to Denmark is to do something new or go somewhere new. This year was the perfect year to take my niece and go somewhere fun with her. We decided to go to Ribe. It was wonderful and we had the perfect weather for wandering around a very old town.

Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark. It is on the southwest coast of Jutland and dates back to the early 8th century AD.

I left Skanderborg and met Ellen at the train station in Vejle where she goes to school. We had to transfer twice again before we arrived in Ribe but we were lucky to get an earlier train and then we really didn’t have to wait at any of the stops. However, we did get off at the wrong stop in Ribe! We ended up in the middle of nowhere, just like a couple of tourists. Seriously, nowhere. We couldn’t ask anyone as there wasn’t anyone, we couldn’t find a bus stop or a taxi and we knew that we were at least an hours walk away from where we wanted to be. I stopped someone and asked them which direction to walk to get a taxi and they just drove us to the hotel! Imagine, Denmark is such a great, safe country!

We booked a room at an old jail that has turned the cells into hotel rooms. We were in cell number 7. It was fun! The rooms were tiny, there was a little platform with two chairs and a small table. The beds were tucked under the platform so you had to pull them out to sleep. I don’t know how many rooms there were but I think Ellen and I may have been the only ones staying there that evening. It was a little creepy when you think about it. Even the owner wasn’t there – she gave us a key to the building and a key to our room before we went out for the evening.

That night we just wandered around for a while. It was a beautiful place to be and it was great just to hang out with my niece. Ellen is a typical 16 year old and it is difficult to drag her away from Facebook and her friends so it was nice to have some quality time without having to share her. We ended up eating at an old inn, Weis Stue right in the centre of town. It is the oldest inn still in operation in Denmark, it dates back to 1600. It is nationally protected, under Heritage Protection as are many buildings in Riba.

In the morning I went for a short run while Ellen slept in and then we had a fantastic breakfast. We had a table full of fresh baked pastries. It was wonderful. They were all purchased at a local bakery that has won national awards. Amazing goodies!

We spent the day wandering around. We went to the Cathedral and climbed the bell tower to the top. It had a great view but it was windy so we didn’t hang around for too long. We went to a small glass museum, St. Catherine’s Church, we found the library, we wandered around the shops on the main street and we had a great lunch at a tiny, wee pub. We wanted to go to the Viking Museum but we really didn’t have time.

We headed back to Skanderborg on the train in the afternoon. Without any problems we arrived and actually got off at the correct stop this time. We had a wonderful time!