Esbjerg, Ribe and something between

Following last years Vejle, Fredericia and Lillebælt tour, my dad and I continued the tradition, and went on a little spring trip. We decided to go to Esbjerg and Ribe, since it has been a long time since I was there.

We decided to go friday (yesterday), since it was a national holiday, tough it would probably have been more interesting today, but that wasn’t a possibility.

First a map of the area, we have Esbjerg and Ribe on the western side of Jutland:



Esbjerg was the first stop on the tour. It’s the 5th larges city in Denmark, and the city itself has a population of 71.886, while there’re 114.148
in the municipality (which Ribe is a part of now). It's a quite new city, and the large port is a big reason why Esbjerg have grown to the size it has today. The port dominates the skyline, whith all the chimneys.

Let me say it right away - Esbjerg was DEAD. The reason was of course the holiday, and I’m sure Esbjerg is more fun to be in when there’s actually some life in the streets, but this day it was just dead. That also explains why I didn’t take that much photos.

Let’s get started with the photos. First have a 4 big men, sitting by the waterfront in the northern part of Esbjerg:





They're looking out on the "Wadden Sea" (right word?), which starts around Esbjerg, and goes all the way down to The Netherlands:



Passed by these "container towers" on the way back to the citycenter. I know thay wanted to build the tallest Danish high-rise on the harbour, but I didn't think they would do it this way.



The location for this "DK's tallest highrise" is also a little futher south/east than the previous containers. I'm really starting to doubt they'll ever get that tower build, and with the newly proposed 142 m "Light*house" in Århus, the 125 m proposed Esbjerg tower won't be the tallest anyway. Here we have a brand new office building in the area where the tower is supposed to be:



Esbjerg has a nice watertower close to the harbour. It's was closed this day, and also under renovation. In the summer it is open for the public all days:



And now a bunch of photos from the central part. It's a mixed pleasure, with both some quite nice older buildings, and some not so nice newer ones. Like for other "young" cities. Again, the lack of people is because of the holiday:













Moving on to Ribe, since Esberg was a tad too dead this day. On the way we stopped by the sea, at this small damm (right word?). There's a big difference in the waterlevel because of the tide, which has made a quite uniqe landscape. It's was a was nice little spot, on such a hot sping day:









Shortly after we arrived at our last destination. Ribe is pretty much as opposite to Esbjerg as it can get. It's a small town with a population of just 8081, but is still has a lot to offer. And it was actually a lot more lively than Esbjerg this day. Ribe claims to be Denmarks oldest town, true or not I don't know, but old it is. The first signs of settlement here, and from around 710, and it has been home to vikings, kings, queens,bishops, traitors, witches, floods and fires. The biggest asset is the large cathedral, which is among the most impressive in Denmark, altough it's constructed with a weird mix of styles. Most of the town burned in 1580, but was rebuilt afterwards, and today most of the town centre is preserved. Let's start with the cathedral:







And some views from the 53 m tall tower:













Back on the ground again:



Ribe has it own flatiron building, though a little smaller than it's brother in the big apple. The bar in the building is called "Strygejernet" with means flatiron.



Some small houses, probably not among the oldest:



And here one of the really small alleys, which Ribe has quite a lot of:



Some old houses:



The water running through Ribe is devided in smaller parts, which some places runs between the old houses:








That's it for now. Not that many photos, but it wasn't a very long trip, so it's all I have.