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Elsinore
Jim Becker
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ENJOY A VISIT TO DENMARK - Seniors Stop In Helsingor

 And for good reason.  Senior travelers want to take in Hamlet’s Home Town of Helsinore (The City by the Sea). Referred to in English as “Helsingor“, it is a “Place To Go in 2014″ according to New York Times of 52 places to visit around the world this year.

The Times highlights the new Maritime Museum of Denmark, recently opened and designed by famous architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group. The city itself has 35,000+ inhabitants and the Helsingor Municipality boasts 60,000+.

Helsingor is the home of famed Kronborg Castle, a World Heritage Site and the resting place of Holger the Dane. Legend has it, that if Denmark is attacked, Holger the Dane will rise from his resting place and defend Denmark.

Hamlet has been performed in the courtyard at Kronborg Castle many times and each year it welcomes over 200,000 visitors from all over the world. It was built between 1574 and 1585 by Frederick II in Dutch Renaissance style to replace an earlier fortress.

 Where Will Senior Travelers Find Helsingor?

The city lies on the northeast coast of Sjaelland, an hour’s train ride from Copenhagen. Helsingor is now a commercial and administrative centre with port facilities, varied and mostly small-scale manufacturing, and tourism. Across the Oresund is Helsingborg, Sweden, which can be reached by a short ferry ride.

GoNomad will take senior visitors to Helsingor’s front door with visitor information and suggestions of what to see and do.  Helsingor is full of pedestrian oriented historic streets, just made for ambling along. They contain a delightful collection of half-timbered houses, Gothic churches and a medieval cloister, interspersed with interesting shops and good cafés.

 Helsingor is an historical place with richly colored, well preserved architecture and cobblestone streets. It has  small-town charm with big city benefits. While the city is quite expansive, most sights of interest – besides the technical museum – lies within the compact city centre, so walking is really the best way to get around.

Senior Historians Drawn to Helsingor

Senior visitors will fall in love with the castles, museums, churches, woods and golden, clean beaches. A walk through the old town’s ancient cobbled streets with the beautiful bourgeois houses is an unforgettable experience. Senior visitors will see timber-framed houses and restored cobbled by-ways.

There are specialty shops everywhere that sell various and sundry items, but wine and cheese seem to be the most popular. Some of the narrow alleyways are almost like little tunnels passing between the rouge-colored masonry of the side walls.

Centrally located are The Church of St. Mary and the Carmelite Monastery,  a great example of late medieval architecture. It has cathedral ceilings and an organ that is a replica of the one played there from 1660 to 1668 by the resident organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude, who greatly influenced the younger composers of his time.

Make your plans for a visit to Helsingor when you are in Denmark.