Today was another long bus day, and I was so sad to leave Copenhagen; I really didn't think that I would love it so much. But, we were headed to what would become my most favorite place I've ever been; Ærø Island! I did a quick hotel room workout to stretch my legs, then had another delicious hotel breakfast. Our first stop after Copenhagen was the town of Roskilde, where we visited the Viking Ship museum and cathedral. The Viking museum was impressive, with a beautiful view of the water. We visited the cathedral, where the Danish royal family is buried. We had free time in Roskilde for lunch, so I stopped at a cafe. I had time to wander after lunch, found a delicious ice cream stop and also bought some coffee beans to take home!
We met back at the bus, and headed for our next stop: a ferry to get us to Ærø Island! We made one bathroom stop on the way, and our guide Heidi had another surprise for us: Flødeboller, a marshmallow chocolate! I chose a raspberry white chocolate version and it was the perfect bus treat. Our guide Heidi had kept us updated throughout the day on departure times, but we made the ferry with no trouble. It was impressive seeing our giant bus squeezing onto the ferry! The ferry ride was about an hour. I sat outside in the sun the whole ride because the views were too good to miss.
We arrived on Ærø in the town of Æerøscøbing, and drove through town. I was a little nervous about this part of the trip. We learned that those traveling in pairs/couples would be staying in the town's hotel, while solo travelers would be staying in a guest house with shared bathrooms. As an introvert, I was skeptical of having to share with other people. As we stepped off the bus, we met Adam, the English owner of the guesthouse Andelen. He was riding a cargo bike, and loaded up our suitcases. He was hilarious and we set off down the road to the house. As soon as we walked up the path to the house, I forgot about the shared bathroom part. The house was beautiful, with a stone pathway leading up to a patio. Adam showed us around the house, pointing out all the decor he had picked up from his travels throughout Asia. He told us he had redone the whole building, and I couldn't believe how cool it was. He had thought of everything - there was a common area with tea, coffee, kettles, French presses, mini fridges, water, a wine cooler, towels, etc. The rooms and bathrooms were big, beautifully decorated, with windows that opened onto the yard. There were 4 of us, plus our guide Heidi staying there and we all stood around for a minute with our mouths hanging open. We had some time before we met for our group dinner, so we sat on the patio in the sun with a bottle of wine. We were so excited to stay here!
I don't think any of us wanted to leave our sunny patio happy hour, but we walked over to meet the rest of the group in the town square. We met another Englishman who told us how he and his wife came to live on the island, and how the island was revived with the wedding industry and a distillery. He gave us a tour of the town store (I made a note to come back the next day for souvenirs), showed us a building that his wife organizes weddings in, and we ended up at the town distillery. We got to sample various beers, including seaweed and walnut beer!
We walked down the street to a restaurant, where we were served a traditional Danish Christmas dinner. It was absolutely delicious and made me want to come back at Christmas; if this town was this beautiful during the summer, I can imagine it would be just as festive during the winter!
I wandered back through town after our delicious dinner to Andelen and headed to bed. I now had a new favorite place, and couldn't believe that Switzerland had been bumped to #2! This was absolutely the most picturesque place I had ever been and I knew I wouldn't want to leave.