Egeskov Castle

A Breath-taking Castle in the Middle of Nowhere

On our second day in Odense, we headed to the beautiful Egeskov castle. From Odense, we took a train to Rige, from where we hoped on taking a bus. The buses are infrequent in that part of Denmark, so we took a taxi...and glad that we took it, as the view was gorgeous. Through the winding roads, lush meadows and a view over the magnificent hills, our taxi moved in the able hands of our warm driver. She apologized for her bad English and wished us a good trip with a brilliant smile.

The castle was nowhere in sight. All we could see was the high, green wall, made of plants. We moved apprehensively to the entrance. The tickets were pricey but they provided us with a bunch of pamphlets.

We had to cross two mazes before reaching the moat and the glorious view of the castle. The mazes are fun and fondly brought memories of playing mazes in weekly magazine columns. The aroma from Café Jomfru Rigborg and our rumbling stomachs called us for a lunch. The café served Italian dishes and the food was simple and delicious.

The castle garden was huge with mazes, small gardens, an aviary and many small museums. The grounds were perfectly maintained; the lawns shone with the purest of green and the bushes and shrubs were manicured to perfection. The garden is ranked as one of the most spectacular gardens around the world by CNN—I couldn't agree more.

We were eager to get to the castle, but we had to stop many times en route: vintage dolls smiled in the doll museum; peafowls and peacocks called from the aviary; berries, currants lured us to the fruit garden; dahlias and orchids blushed in the flower garden; lettuce and herbs spread pungent smell from the vegetable garden.

The castle stood majestically with its reddish brown bricks contrasting the turquoise roof tiles. The green gardens and the blue sky formed a perfect backdrop, and the sparkly silver of the moat shone in the foreground.

The castle's beauty called for a perfect Facebook profile picture...and we didn't miss it. We had a quick stopover at the dress museum which housed some extravagant gowns. The sweet smell from the rose garden pleased our olfactory senses. Bunnies and ducks roamed the gardens with an authority of the natives.

Inside the castle, there were two floors and an attic open for the public. The first floor is a hunting room with huge displays of various animal skins of lion, tiger, deer and  bison, singing ode to the courage of Viking lineage.

The second floor had paintings, weapons, an exquisite collection of deer horns and Titania's Palace--the centre of attraction. It was like a doll house but housed everything from furniture to flower vases to cutleries to paintings in a miniature form to exact style and precision.

The attic is a museum of vintage toy trains, ships, planes and antique dolls. We even found an antique kitchen mixer.

The other side of the castle where we exited had a view that was even better.

Lush lawns offered a refugee for my aching legs and I gladly lounged on its feathery lap, drinking the majestic view of the castle with Piet Hein's super-egg in the front.

We moved on to a museum of vintage prams, carts and cycles. In the vintage automobile museum, early models Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Cadillac, Renault and Harley Davidson shone in their full glory. The husband was ecstatic and wouldn't move a step out the museum.

The grocer's museum let us relive our childhood, many brands in their primitive packaging bought nostalgia. We had an adventure at the horror house, the Dracula's Crypt. Sirens blared at the Falck Museum and we finished of with a display of doll and toy cars.

Families had fun walking along a treetop bridge and Segway riding. With a cup of warm cocoa, I relaxed and refreshed. Kids slurped ice slushies, licked ice creams, gulped soft drinks and munched hot dogs, and everyone was smug with their share of adventures.

Our little man was happy at the vast play area with swings and playhouses. It started drizzling and I put my protesting son in his stroller. It was time to leave, but what a beautiful place!

The ochre fields danced in the slight breeze and we rushed to catch the infrequent bus. As I climbed the bus, the rain increased its tempo and started soaking the fields.