The canals in Copenhagen absolutely amazed me.  I had no idea.  It was almost disorienting.  One expects and knows about the canals in Amsterdam and, of course, Venice, but Wow…….the canals in the largest city in Denmark both took me by surprise and delighted me at the same time.

The maze of canals in Copenhagen are  on a smaller scale than the European counterparts but that’s what is really nice about it.  It’s not overwhelming.  One wouldn’t want to miss them.

Most of the guide books I read before going to Copenhagen said that taking a canal boat tour is a great way to get an over view of the city and learn some of its history.

So we did that.

 The tour took us into the largest canal called Sydhavnen.  There we had a dramatic view of the new Opera House with its football field sized roof.  We oogled the Queen’s yacht and gawked at a cruise ship spewing out what looked like a thousand or so tourists.

I got a kick out of folks preparing large sand sculptures for an upcoming festival.  Mostly we enjoyed seeing the contrast in kinds of vessels making their way out and about on a glorious sunny day.

Then we turned into the Christianshavn  Canal–built in the 1600s with historic buildings facing the artificial waterway.  The area around the canal was once a working class neighborhood with warehouses and modest homes.  Now it is  the trendy spot to have a home, hang out at a bar or cafe, or simply stroll along the sides of the canal checking out the many kinds of boats tied up there.

Life for the locals  seemed to revolve around the canal and I loved that.  Here are a bunch of photos I hope will  tell that story.

The tour brought us back to Nyhavn Canal, where we hung out a bit, enjoying the sun and the fun with tourists and lots of Danish folks.  Life felt really good here.