Freetown Christiania

Today we took a walking tour across the inner harbor to the Christianshavn neighborhood.  The baroque Church of Our Savior dominates the skyline.  For a fee you can hike up the exterior spiral staircase.  As we learned first-hand, the church has a beautiful carillon that plays a tune every hour and sounds like a larger-than-life music box.

Crossing the Knippelsbro bridge to Christianshavn

Criss-crossed by small canals, most of this area is residential with new modern apartment buildings alongside houseboats and historic structures.  This part of the city has never burned down, so some of the oldest buildings in Copenhagen are located here.

One of the many canals in Christianshavn

One tiny subsection of this neighborhood is known as Freetown Christiania and has a very interesting history.  In the 1970's a group of squatters moved into some old unused military buildings and have been living here, commune-style, ever since.  They make up their own rules, have their own flag, and consider themselves independent of Denmark.

The residents definitely don't consider themselves subject to Denmark's laws, and soft drugs (marijuana and hash, but absolutely no hard drugs) are sold and consumed openly here -- especially on a street appropriately nicknamed "Pusher Street".  This place isn't completely lawless, though.  There are three rules: have fun, don't run, no photos.  The first rule is obvious.  The second rule is in place because generally a runner will come through warning of a police raid, so false alarms by oblivious tourists are frowned upon.  (You don't go for a recreational jog through Freetown Christiania.)  And that last rule is serious -- there are signs all over saying "no photos" and there are actually men walking around wearing balaclava/ski masks that will get in your face if they think you are taking photos.  They mean business.

A mural "herbs are okay, but hard drugs -- no way!"

We had heard about and were curious to see the area, but I was really glad we were here with someone who knew their way around.  There's a maze of streets and some sections of the neighborhood look a little rough around the edges (not all...many buildings were colorful works of art).  And although we had our camera safely tucked away, it did make me nervous walking by the guys with ski masks on Pusher Street.  This was not friendly, happy, free-love hippie-town...these guys were here to sell drugs and enforce the "no photos/evidence" rule.  I probably would not have wanted to just wander through here on my own as a looky-lou tourist.  And although there was no real danger or threat to me, I was a tiny bit relieved to see this sign: