Last full day in Copenhagen - Trip to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde

September 22 Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde, Denmark

    Today we took a train, bright and early, out of Copenhagen to Roskilde, less than half an hour away. We rode their on a gorgeous double-decker train. From the train station, we caught a bus to the Viking Ship Museum. 

     We took a tour of the museum led by a fantastic guide who had the knowledge of the archaeology, the history and the boat making skills involved in Viking ship building. The Museum holds the world's best preserved ships from the Viking era. Five Viking ships from 1000 years ago were rescued from the harbor in 1962. They have been painstakingly reconstructed, some with more original parts than others. 

The ships were deliberately sunk in 1070 by the Vikings to blockade the entrance to the Roskilde Fjord. The ships were of a variety: cargo, passenger, warship and fishing boats which made their discovery all the more significant. 

We took a tour lead by an engaging young woman who combined history, archaelogy and information about life at the time of the Vikings. We learned about the design of the boats; all we made with clinker construction which would call ship lap. That construction made the boats quite heavy. We learned about the various woods involved and the skill the boat builders possessed. Sails took about three years to make from start to finish. 

Viking board game

Photo of the voyage to Ireland

One myth that was dispelled was about how warlike the Viking were. Only 2% were warriors. The largest village in the Viking era only had 4,000 people. Many were

traders, craftsmen, farmers.  The docent said that much of the myth of their ferocity came from the monks who wrote about them, as well as a resurgence of national identity in the 1700 and 1800s in Europe.

The museum is a living museum which continues to work on replication of Viking era boats.

Boatyard where they are building more replicas

We saw one of the replicas go out with tourists at the oars and that was fascinating to watch as none of the rowers had any previous experience wielding oars of a variety of shapes in oar locks made of rope.

The largest replica, the Sea Stallion from Glennalough, Ireland, was reconstructed and launched in 2004. In 2007, the 100-foot long ship sailed between Roskilde to Dublin and back home again in 2008. It was a 1000 mile grueling trip undertaken by 65 people who set out to address unanswered questions about the Viking ship building and travel. It took six weeks with night stops along the way. Those who sailed it said that it was difficult with harrowing days of lashing wind and high seas.

Map of Viking explorations and travels

      We had a nice lunch at the SagaFjord restaurant - more open-faced Danish sandwiches for us - beef and haddock. Yum. Mark is determined to return home and make them.

           After a full day, we headed home to a meal of food we had in the fridge and did not want to waste. Neither Maura or us were able to download our boarding passes - always a bit stressful.