On our second full day in Aarhus we walked through the older part of the city, and ran across some beautiful canals.
Unlike Copenhagen, the canals here seem to be too restrictive for anything more than kayaks, but they still give the city a special charm.
We visited the Aarhus Cathedral, the longest and tallest church in Denmark. The church was founded in 1190 and the original version was completed in 1300.
We were able to enter the cathedral for just a few minutes as they were about to have Sunday services. As with most churches in Denmark, it seems to be rather ornamentally subdued.
The organ made up for that though!
These little dudes by the organ were interesting, and seemed to be completely out of place in this setting. It almost looks like something Antoni Gaudi would have installed!
As always, Denmark loves their statues and fountains! We liked this one of a hen that appears to be holding a golden apple.
We then ventured out in the car and headed north to visit some spots in Mols Bjerge National Park, which became a national park in 2009. The first spot was Poskaer Stenhus, a stone dolmen (prehistoric burial chamber) with a large circle of stones around it.
This dolmen dates to 3300 BC, and the remarkably flat capstone weighs 12 tons.
A farmer started destroying the site in 1859 so that he could use the rocks for a building, but he was stopped by a local priest and the site has been formally protected since 1860. This photo gives you an idea of the rocks that make up the stone circle.
We then visited a site called Trehoje Mols, a set of three stone-age burial mounds known as barrows. These were constructed using surrounding dug-out turf. We are standing on top of one and looking towards the next one
Selfies on a burial mound. Yep, we did that.
Our last stop was a hike to the ruins of Kalo Castle. You need to hike out to the castle on this cobbled road.
This castle was constructed in 1313 by the Danish king Erik Menved in an effort to defend this territory from rebellious locals.
The remains are now protected as part of the National Park.
The interior of the castle ruins has been set up for tourists to get excellent views and not kill themselves in the process.
This is the view looking back towards the start of the hike. You can see the narrow strip of land where the cobblestone road lies.
One last look at the ruins on the hike back. Cool spot!
We had dinner that night at Aarhus Street Food, which was a very cool food court where we got some great Mexican food. They even had a wine spot where I was able to try a bunch of wines by the glass., and the guy was giving healthy pours since it was his last night working there!
Walking back after dinner we saw this beautifully lit up tower. This is part of the Aarhus City Hall. The lighting of this one rivals the ARoS Art Museum! Very cool!
Coming up next, we depart Aarhus and head southwest towards the town of Ribe, stopping at a Viking site along the way.