The Danish Lake District

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The Danish lake district

A series of lakes snake through forested hills west of Aarhus, and is a fun way to see the Danish lake district from the paddle steamer MS Hjejlen.

Built in 1861, Hjejlen is the pride of the local fleet. She is the world’s oldest coal powered, paddle steamer, and operates just as she would have over 150 years ago. She offers indoor and outdoor seating, but no tables. So, if you want to bring a packed lunch, you may want to wait until you reach Himmelbjerget (Sky Mountain) before unpacking your picnic and have a bird’s-eye view at 147 meters (482ft). Himmelbjerget is one of Denmark’s highest mountains. The nearby town of Silkeborg in the Danish lake district features Museum Jorn, built around the glorious, playful works of the painter Asger Jorn and others from the 20th-century.

Tthe Danish lake district
MS Hjeljen

Related: 150km of Playground in Denmark

Silkeborg Museum houses one of Denmark’s best-known bog bodies, Tollund Man.

The Danish lake district
Silkeborg museum

The Tollund Man (died c. 405–380 BC) is a naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 5th century BC, during the period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950, preserved as a bog body, near Silkeborg on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The man’s physical features were so well preserved that he was mistaken for a recent murder victim. Twelve years before his discovery, another bog body, Elling Woman, was found in the same bog.

The Danish lake district, read on….

Related: The Trolls of Danish Artist Thomas Dambo

The cause of death has been determined as by hanging. Scholars believe the man was a human sacrifice, rather than an executed criminal, because of the arranged position of his body, and his eyes and mouth being closed. (Source Wikipedia)

The Danish lake district
Asger Jorn’s painting ‘The Trolls and the Birds” from 1944. (Museum Jorn, Silkeborg).

Related: Be A Prisoner In Denmark

Further southeast, historical Horsens hosts an annual Middle Ages Festival on the last weekend in August, which is highly recommended. Billund, 50 km (31 miles) southwest of Horsens, is the home of Legoland.

The Danish Lake District, compiled by Admin

Feature image (on top): MS Hjelhjem steaming with the ‘Sky Mountiain’ (Himmelbjerget) in the background.