Woke up to sad local news on the Tuesday: a fire had broken out at the Borsen Old Stock Exchange, and firefighters were battling to contain the flames. Meanwhile, curators were racing to save valuable exhibits.
Then, the highlight and purpose of the holiday: The Roskilde Viking Ship Museum. is a city 30 km (19 mi) west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand, so a short train journey out.
Around a thousand years ago, the Vikings – originally from Denmark themselves – sank 5 boats in the harbour to create a barrier for the city against raiders.
Then, in 1962, the pumps were turned on to drain the water to access the boat’s remains. These boats – called ‘The Skuldelev Ships’ after the man who found them - were carefully excavated and housed in the purpose-built centre, above sea level for protection from the elements in future.
The tour takes place regularly throughout the day, and the guide described plenty of this history before leading us to a projection room where archive footage showed the excavation taking place. There’s lots of detail on how the archaeologists could date the boats using the rings on the woodwork to pinpoint exactly when each tree was felled, how the boats were put together, what (remarkably advanced) craft technology they had at the time and whether the boats were build for particular purposes (raiding boats tended to be slim and long, aerodynamic and hard to hit with arrows if they’re being quickly rowed into foreign lands, for example).
Along with the genuine artefacts, there’s a mock-up of a Viking ship that you can sit on with rear projection seascape.
Fascinating venue.
In their restaurant I of course had to pick the ‘Eat Like a Viking’ platter: meatballs, fish, ham, peas, cheese, cabbage, bread and I think cranberry sauce.
Back at the apartment later, we ventured out locally and found Hija De Sanchez, a local Mexican place. I had the Chicken Gringa and Churros. Love Mexican food.
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