Vejen to Ribe: A short hard ride against a formidable headwind
We awoke refreshed from staying at the Hostel in Vejen, but the 1500 boys (and their parents) who were here for the w/e soccer camp, looked absolutely exhausted. They were sleeping 45 to a large room and active through the day at the soccer camp...enough said. You can imagine that there wasn't much sleeping in those rooms! This Hostel used to be a hotel and the quality has been maintained. We have said this before, but some DanHostels are extradordinary in the value they offer in interesting buildings. Since they cater to all ages and host conferences, rowdiness is not tolerated, plus they give us a discount since we have a hostel membership. We always meet caring and hospitable employees at the Hostels as well. Here we met a man who took us under his wing - arranged dinner for us in the dining room, took care of our bike storage (in our room!), gave us a tour - in spite of being overburdened with a busy soccer camp w/e. Service is a high priority. We had read about Ribe, a small town west of here that is the oldest town in Denmark with many of the medieval buildings preserved. It is not on a cycle route, but is easily accessed on a secondary road which has a narrow paved shoulder. We rode on road #32. The biggest challenge was the relentless wall of wind that we road against. At one point, we were working hard and our max speed was 11 km/hr. For many centuries, Ribe was an important centre for trade. During the middle ages, its population was greater than the current 5,000 residents. Excavations next to the cathedral are uncovering the remains of a church from 850 AD, the first Christian church in Denmark. The mission of this church was to convert Vikings to Christianity. As well, they have discovered a Viking cemetery of 2-3000 graves. Checked in to the Hostel in Ribe - well located across the canal with a view of old town. Its facilities were good but the rooms were cramped with two people (our room had 5 beds!) staying in it. An adequate space but not our favourite.
There was a huge group of people visiting Ribe and these people explained that there was a Convention of Police, retired and active, from all over the world. These people were from Australia.
Esbjerg seemed such a long way off when we booked our ferry tickets to Harwich England while we were staying in Copenhagen. It's hard to believe that we are here and that we will be in Holland in a few days.
This couple, Heenning and Inge, live in Ribe and were most interested in talking to us. They saw us as they came out of the grocery store. Meeting and getting to know Danish people will always be a highlight of our memories of Denmark.
A huge town square surrounds the church. Excavations have revealed that 2-3,000 bodies are buried below the square in ship plank coffins and hollowed out tree trunks. We could see evidence of ongoing archaeological excavations.
Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark and we walked many narrow streets looking at timbered houses dating back to medieval times. They are well maintained and are presently used as family homes.
We have seen older photographs of this when a large gold pocket watch was hanging from this. We thought this signified an optician - but perhaps a watchmaker?
