Before this trip, I honestly did not know what to expect when traveling to Svendborg, Aero, and Korinth. We departed from Copenhagen on Monday, June 27th, and took the train to Svendborg. Even walking through a portion of the town from the train station to the hostel was amazing. Svendborg seems much more relaxed and slower-paced than Copenhagen, which was needed after such a hectic week. There were people shopping and hanging out outside of restaurants and cafes. There also seem to be much fewer younger people out and about than in Copenhagen.

(Svendborg: Image from Wikipedia)

I few hours after getting there and exploring, I decided to go on a bike ride to Täsinge with a few others from the group. This was honestly the most beautiful bike ride I’ve ever been on. The countryside is stunning. The houses are big, beautiful, and separated by big green stretches of land and flowers. The roads were also wide and only a few cars drove by over the course of the two-hour ride. One of our first stops was Valdemar’s Slot, which is a castle built-in 1639. No one is living here right now and it’s temporarily closed, but I’m happy we were able to see the outside! We then stopped at the oldest oak tree in Europe: Ambrosius Egen’. To give you a picture of its size, six of us fit around the whole tree with our arms completely spread out. We also biked over stretches of land that have no houses and are just miles and miles of fields. There were so many lovely things to see on this bike ride and I enjoyed the silence of the countryside and being in a smaller group after the craziness of Copenhagen. 

(Photo from “på farten med eventyrlige oplevelser,” Odenseguide på eventyr)

(Photo from “Valdemar’s Slot,” Tripadvisor) 

Our hostel was also great. We decided to make a big potluck dinner. Our first hostel didn’t have a kitchen, so it was nice to have a home-cooked meal. We made tacos, YUM. Tomorrow we are taking a ferry to Areo to complete a 26-mile ride around the island. This will be the longest ride I’ve ever done so wish me luck! I’m so excited to explore the Danish countryside and to see what it’s like compared to bigger cities like Copenhagen .