Byvandringer i Aarhus

Why are danish universities so good, and what makes Aarhus a good place to study?

Aarhus is the danish city with the liveliest population and the highest IQ! This dynamic pearl of a city is located on the east coast of Jutland facing Kattegat and it is home to a university with about 30.000 students. Their joie de vivre and eagerness and youthful energy evidently leaves its mark on the atmosphere and face of the city.

We will see how and why while walking across the most beautiful campus in the country, the Universitetsparken in Aarhus. Until the nineteenthirties, the area was taken up by allotments. At that time the landscape designes worked a small miracle and the beautiful buildings were designed by the world renowned architects from C. F. Møllers tegnestue. The result was spectacular – but by and by the university grew, however, buildings were expanded and new ones were built. Finally a decision had to be reached, to either bulid more or keep the trees and hills, the small lakes and the brook – and consequently to move some of the institutes elsewhere. Some academic activities had to move to a new home.

We will also visit some parts of these new academic areas. The tour starts in front of the Institute for Geoscience, we wil start by traversing the original Universitetsparken and also visit some of the newer parts of the complete Campus.

City walk from the past to the future. From the city of vikings to the modern city with Danish art and craft.

After a pleasant visit to the Museum of the vikings (open Monday-Friday only), the guide will take you downtown. Experience the merchant district with small cafees, Danish design and bikes all over.

The tour finish at the museum of modern art: ARoS. Feel free to visit the special exhibitions, have a look at the city from the roof or enjoy a meal in the restaurant. At ARoS you'll find wonderful pieces of Danish and European art from the last 300 years.

Join me for a guided tour and city walk in Aarhus. I'll make sure you have the opportunity to get the very best experience in and of Aarhus, in just a few hours.

Meet the people of the worlds smallest big city, visit places that is a part of every day life in Aarhus and see some of the buildings that is a "must".

You will experience the city's pulse, Danish "hygge" and love. Come and enjoy street art, strange things and beautiful shops in the Latiner quarters, pulse at the walking street, Storetorv and the (in)famous river!

Get great tips for the rest of your time in town. For example where can you get a calming cup of coffee, a nice glas of wine or where to go if you want to try the traditional hot dog stands.

Remember your camera, on this tour you will be able to bring home pictures of Aarhus, that is not shown in the tourist catalouges.

Vestergade, West Street, is one of the oldest streets in the city of Aarhus. It dates back to the Viking Age around 900 AD.

The street was then outside of the city walls and the city within the walls was mainly a royal fortification, naval base and a port for shipping goods to far away ports. Presumably the oldest building in Aarhus, Vor Frue Kirke, The Church of Our Lady, with its crypt dates back to around 1,000 AD and it is located in Vestergade. During the middle ages it became part of a Dominican convent, or a Black Friar convent, as it was also called. It became the hospital for the leppers of the city in the middle ages.

Between the 16th and the 19th centuries Vestergade became the centre for trade in Aarhus with a total of 17 merchant houses in Vestergade alone, the highest concentration of merchant houses in any street in Aarhus at the time. Some of these half-timpered buildings are preserved to this day and on this walk we will go into their hidden and picturesque back yards, where you can still see traces of their original purposes and of the uses of later times, where there were artisan shops and factories in the back yards of the inner cities. 

The walk takes 1-2 hours according to your preferences and shorter tours of Vestergade is also available.