Appetizing Ålborg

Wednesday - September 3, 2025

Aalborg, Denmark

The town of Ålborg (or Aalborg) in Denmark.

Fun Facts:

• The name Ålborg or Aalborg -

  • “Å” or “Aa”: This part of the name refers to the Danish word for “river” or “stream.” In this context, it specifically represents the Limfjord, the body of water that flows through the city of Aalborg.

  • “Borg”: This part of the name means “castle” or “fortified town.” It signifies the historical significance of Aalborg as a fortified settlement.

• Aalborg Carnival is one of Denmark’s biggest and most festive events. The festival takes place every year in late May and features colorful parades, music, and street performances.

• The Old Town is located in the heart of Aalborg and spans an area that replicates the look and feel of a traditional Danish town from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

• The New Square in Ålborg was built in 1604! The Old Square was built in the 1200's.

• All buses in Ålborg are electric.

Today we woke up to a weather forecast of no rain! Yay, we had expected rain today and were happy that the storm had slowed and the rain was delayed until evening! It was actually a beautiful, sunny morning. We didn't eat much breakfast because we were going on a tour called A Taste of Aalborg. The tour included a walk around the town with stops to eat local food!

Here are some highlights:

The Town

A story in pictures from Aalborg's past. Read the captions to follow the story!

A man moved to Aalborg and built himself a nice house on the main street in town. It is the house in the middle with the green door. When his younger brother came to visit, he said his older brother's house was too small and he was going to show his older brother what a really nice house looked like. So off he went to build his house...

This is the bigger house the younger brother built. At that time, it was built right across the street from the Town Hall. He became a successful business man in the community and wanted to join the town council.

This is the original town hall. The leaders in the town did not want the younger brother on their town council. He kept trying to join, but they never sent him an invitation.

Sooo... the younger brother made a small change to one of the decorations on the side of his house that faced the town hall; and that was visible from the their front steps.

Sticking out his tongue!

Other Interesting Things:

Evidently, it was important in the past to be able to see what was going on in front of your house. So it became popular to add a mirror on the second floor that would show a reflection of what was happening on the street below. The picture on the left is the facade of the house - look up at the second floor where you will see a mirror. The picture on the right is a closer look at the mirror that projected the images of what was happening on the street level.

The Fjord Tunnel was built in 1969, and goes under water to connect Aalborg to two other cities. This was a first for the area and was a major improvement for businesses and shopping.

Modern Architecture: The Utzon Center was the last building to be designed by Jørn Utzon, a well known architect who was born in Aalborg. The center was designed as a place where students of architecture could meet and discuss their ideas for the future. Does the design of these buildings remind you of any other well known building?

Answer - Utzon also designed the Sydney Opera House.

The Food

Our Taste of Aalborg tour included two food stops. The first was for lunch. Lunch consisted of two different open-faced sandwiches, which are very popular here. And we also had local drinks - beer and Aquavit. It was a nice little restaurant and the food was good.

Our second stop was a wonderful apple dessert, and some Danish coffee. Both were yummy.

If you are wondering about the Danish danish... we didn't get any today either. But it turns out the danish pastry really came from Vienna; a pastry Chef from Denmark liked the pastries in Vienna, so he returned and made them famous as a Danish danish. Who could have known they weren't invented here in Denmark. So, I guess we will need to go to Vienna to get our pastry!

The Dogs

We saw a lot of dogs while we were walking around town today. Here are some that caught our eye...

When we got back from our excursion, the ship raised anchor and began to leave the port. We started working on the blog and Karen was also doing some bird watching. Suddenly we heard a really loud noise getting closer and closer. We went out on the balcony to see a large helicopter hovering very low and very close on the port side of our ship. And it stayed there and hovered for about five minutes. The helicopter had no markings. Occasionally someone in the helicopter would wave, but we had no idea what was going on. And we still don't.... weird.

We are heading to Norway where we will make four stops over the next six days: Oslo, Stavanger, Eidfjord, and Bergen. There's still lots to see....hope you're enjoying traveling along with us! Farvel!