Sophie’s World

On our way back north was my third World Heritage site, Kronborg Castle, Hamlet’s castle, in Elsinore. The town is actually called Helsingør in Danish, but Elsinore sounds so much more romantic, doesn’t it? Thanks to Willie S., no doubt, but also, just the sound of it: Elsinore!

Kronborg Castle is interesting enough in its own right, even without any references to Shakespeare. It’s from an era when Denmark was one of the great powers in Europe. Once a naval fortress guarding the entrance to the Baltic, then King Fredrik II had it converted into a fantastic renaissance palace, a summer house. Kronborg even sported northern Europe’s largest ball room as Queen Sophie loved to dance. Must have been a fun place to hang out in the 1500s.

We explore the royal apartments, surprisingly modestly decorated. Well, perhaps not so surprising. We are in Scandinavia after all, not France. Some saucy paintings decorate the otherwise stark castle walls:

Outside, moats and drawbridges. I half expected to see the dead Ophelia floating in the moat, over by the swans there, perhaps. Or even see Hamlet’s ghost, or that of his father, brutally murdered by his wife Gertrude and his scheming brother Claudius. Dramatic stuff. But they must all be away today. Neither ghosts nor Ken Branagh or Mel Gibson roam the grounds of this magnificent castle.

Tags: Blogsherpa, Denmark, Elsinore, Europe, Hamlet, Helsingør, Kronborg, Shakespeare, Time Travel, Travel with children, UNESCO World Heritage Sites

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 8:10 and is filed under Europe, Time Travel, Travel with children, UNESCO World Heritage Sites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.