We headed out of the city to Roskilde for lunch. You can check out this old town on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roskilde .

Unfortunately for me this trip was in exactly the same direction as the train trip I took to get to the tram museum of a couple of days before!  In fact, Roskilde was one of the stations I could have gone to if I’d continued with that quest.

Roskilde is the former Medieval capital of Denmark.  Lying at the head of the Roskilde fjord, the city nestles on Zealand Island.  The population (1 January 2012) was 47,828.

The town centre is well preserved with many of its old buildings still in existence. One of these is the stately Roskilde Cathedral.

Side chapel, Roskilde Cathedral (P10001382 © DY of jtdytravels)

Roskilde Cathedral was the first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick.

It was constructed during the 12th and 13th centuries.

The Roskilde Cathedral     ( P1000132 © DY of jtdytravels)

The cathedral is a major tourist attraction, bringing in over 125,000 visitors annually.   Now, that should be 125,006 for 2012 – but the cathedral was closed when we visited because of a wedding. I understand that you have to be born in Roskilde to claim the right to be married in the cathedral.

Another facade of the Cathedral (P10001391 © DY of jtdytravels)

Since 1995, this Cathedral has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Danish monarchs have been interred in the Cathedral since the 15th Century.  As such it has been much altered over the centuries to accommodate newly needed burial chapels.

Another view of the Cathedral (P1000148 © DY of jtdytravels)

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A view through the colonnades (P10001462 © DY of jtdytravels)

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Old dwellings in Cathedral precinct (P1000133 © DY jtdytravels)

The area around the cathedral has some lovely old buildings, all well maintained and lived in.

Our next stop for the day, after lunch, was the Viking Museum – my next musings.   D