Monday, August 4, 2008

Alas poor Yorick, all we have is this sea biscuit

No driving today. It's Shannon's birthday and the day was spent in Helsingor. We had a continental breakfast followed by present and card opening for the Birthday girl.


Helsingor came into prosperity when in 1429 the Sound Toll was imposed on passing ships. It's positioned on a 4 km strip of water where the Baltic Sea meets the North Sea, which today welcomes thirsty Swede's from Helsinborg who flock to its cheap booze shops (so the guide says, didn't seem cheap to me but worth noting before leaving for Sweden).


First stop was Kronborg Slot, or Elsinor Castle for you Shakespearean buffs.

Apparently the boy from Stratford never visited, and the character Amleth on whom his hero, Hamlet, is based predates the castle but that doesn't stop them flogging the merchandising. It's a fine castle nevertheless, containing a maritime museum that contains the worlds oldest sea biscuit dating from 1852 when a Mr E Gade on a brig from Whitby brought one back for his dear old Mum. Luckily she wasn't tempted or it wouldn't be on display; she didn't miss much, we tried them in Malta and they tasted a bit shit.

The views from the 116 step tower were fine. Vanessa was moaning on the way up, the mosquito bites she suffered in Germany had become terribly swollen and weepy. My comforting words of 'Try this for 5 hours climbing Ben Nevis' didn't seem to help so we ended up spending £20 on remedies from the chemist. We'd visited the right time though as hordes of coach parties arrived as we were leaving.

Helsingor itself is quite a pretty town with a lot of half timbered houses and pedestrian areas that were bustling.

We had Italian for lunch as the Danish places were packed, returned to camp and chilled a bit before spending the rest of the afternoon on the beach and in the sea.

The campsite is located in the bay next to the harbour.

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