Our addiction to a certain History Channel show had nothing to do with our choice of Denmark as a vacation destination. Nope, not even a tiny bit 😉 But we were pretty psyched to spend a day going a-Viking.
The Trelleborg Viking Fortress is clear across Zealand from Copenhagen, which is to say, about an hour’s drive. The site consists of a really cool excavated circle fort, a Viking cemetery, a reconstructed village, a museum of artifacts found at the site, and occasional demonstrations and reenactments.
Odin sent us yet more beautiful weather, and we spent a fun morning exploring. I was slightly disappointed not to see Rollo lurking about in the village.
But my nerd husband did get to try on Viking armor before we left which made his whole vacation!
Not pictured: two big guys helping him struggle out of 30 pounds of chain mail …So, here is what the fortress looked like. The ovals both inside and outside the circle are longhouses. About 500 people lived in and around the fort.And these are the excavated longhouse foundations. Concrete circles mark the post holes.Blue, blue sky and windmills in the distance through a gap in the fort’s wall.The wall was surrounded by a moat, fed by two small rivers that converge nearby.Reconstructed longhouse. It reminded me of a big German barn with those low eaves for storing dry firewood in the winter.Inside the longhouse. Yep, looked a lot like the TV show set.A much smaller house in the village.Thatching one of the model houses.The inside of this sunken building looked like it might be a smokehouse. Or at least a food storage building of some kind.The kitchen garden was sure nice and tidy. I wonder if they really looked like this?A fertility god in the garden–precursor of the garden gnome?Just thought this was funny. Dress like a Viking but be tidy about it!
Afterwards, we visited the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Also very cool. The museum is centered around the remains of five Viking ships that were scuttled in Roskilde Fjord about a thousand years ago. They are very well-preserved considering! Reconstructions of the ships can be found outside the museum, along with an active boat building yard.
Inside the museum. These were beautiful boats, and very carefully designed and built. I was impressed.Reconstruction of the deck of one of the boats.How the sails were made.These donut-shaped loom weights are apparently found everywhere that Vikings settled, including all over eastern England and Scotland.Boat under construction in the boatyard. I really liked the workshops.At work on another boat using only hand tools.Reconstruction of one of the Roskilde warships, the Sea Stallion of Glendalough. This one has sailed to Dublin and back.All the Viking fridge magnets I forgot to buy.
Well, That Was Different 
Looks like the place to be! Vikings are very intriguing!
OH, How I wish I was here *Sigh*
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Cool place. Did you by chance make it to the Vasa museum?
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