Free State or Anarchy

Approaching these intricate murals you might think you are being led into a wonderful fairytale land full of fun and creativity, especially as this is in Copenhagen home of Hans Christian Andersen author of many famous fairytales including The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling.

The reality however is very different...

This is Freetown Christiana.

It is a "self proclaimed autonomous anarchist district" in the borough of Christianshavn in the city.  It was originally a military barracks but in 1971 a group of squatters took possession after the military moved out, initially as a playground for their children but eventually it was seen as an opportunity to build up a society from scratch.  

It is a very "progressive society" and has become one of the main tourist attractions in Copenhagen. However as I stood at the entrance taking photographs I was warned by one of the residents that if I was seen taking pictures inside I would be chased out and my camera would be broken. We decided to go in and have a look around although felt on edge much of the time and when we saw the drug dealers with piles of cannabis resin and buds on display we realised why they would not want to be photographed and with my camera in hand I felt the eyes of the dealers and their associates on me everywhere I went so we didn't stay too long.

In spite of this the graffiti/artwork that we saw and that I did manage to photograph was of a really good standard and I was happy to get a few shots. However, there would have been so many opportunities for some great street photography but after the warning at the start I didn't dare risk it.

Criss Cross

Every city that we have visited so far on our roadtrip has had a really good public transport system with trams, buses and metro (with driverless trains) which has been great as it means I haven't had to navigate round the cities in my car.

The tram system in Gothenburg is quite old and you will see from my post yesterday that the rolling stock is fairly dated.

In places the roads and tramlines are separated by kerbs or barriers but at larger junctions it is much less clear, at least to a visitor like me who has to constantly remember to look left instead of right  before stepping off the kerb.

At some junctions the tramlines criss cross in a confusing jumble as you can see from today's picture. I had to stand in the middle of the junction to get this shot, assisted by my son who was keeping an eye on the traffic and listening out for the warning bells of approaching trams. I like this picture so it was worth the risk...

I'm writing this during a pause in our journey to Malmö from where we will be taking the overnight ferry to Germany. We have a good day planned for tomorrow so hopefully I will have something interesting to share with you tomorrow evening.