In Hamlet's footsteps
Description:
"To the right aboard Kronborg!" This team traditionally announces the return of Danish sailors to their homeland. Why only now, because behind the stern are already domestic straits Skagerrak and Kattegat? Yes, because it is here, in the Øresund Strait, is this powerful outpost - Kronborg Castle - personifying in the national consciousness of the Danes the main milestone on the whole way from the North Sea to the Baltic. This is one of the main symbols, as they say now, of Danishness. Kronborg (Shakespeare’s castle in Elsinore), like a huge ship, billowing towers-masts, crashes the nose of the advanced bastion into the very whirlpool of the fast-water “Zund”, as if floating out to intercept ships sliding hastily through the strait. Why? To answer this question, you will have to plunge into the stormy waves of history and literature. Yeah, literature, too. Because our tour is called "Following Hamlet."
But not from here, not from the castle, we will start our tour, but from the shopping area of the city of Helsinger. In English, it is called Elsinor and is located 45 km from Copenhagen. Here, on the square, stands a bronze monument to the 15th century Danish king Eric Pomeransky. It is with his reign that the greatness and flourishing of the city begins, which a century and a half later, in the era of Shakespeare, will become the beauty of all Northern Europe.
From the square, the narrow streets cobbled with cobblestones diverge – we will surely pass through them. The architecture here has hardly changed since Shakespeare. Whether the great playwright wandered through the streets of Helsinger is not known for certain, but his close friends, English actors from London, who regularly came here on tour, were definitely regulars of these places. The house where they usually stayed is on the street, which used to be a promenade. This small, slightly rickety house witnessed many dramatic events in the lives of actors, including tragic love.
Walking through the streets of Helsinger, we will finally go to the castle itself – the same one where Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet unfolds. By the way, if there is anything genuine in this play, it is Kronborg, described by the playwright with amazing authenticity. He is the only real historical character in the play.
As we move from room to room in the castle, we can trace the play to act. Climbing the flag bastion, we will see a majestic, full of drama panorama of the strait and immediately understand why the Ghost appears here. We will look into the Queen's living room, where behind the tapestry hid, eavesdropping, the unfortunate Polonius, killed by mistake by Hamlet. Where the famous monologue was uttered: “To be or not to be?” we also learn during a tour of the castle.
And we will end our tour near the castle on the tomb of Hamlet (alas! symbolic). It was here that the prince “talked” with the skull of the court jester Yorik. And if we are lucky, we can also visit the nearby source of Ophelia. If, of course, the municipal authorities of Helsinger complete its restoration by your arrival.
Features of the tour: author's tour for curious and Shakespeare fans. You will have to walk a lot, visit the historical center of Helsinger, get acquainted with the legends of Danish history, get acquainted with the greatest work of Shakespeare, enjoy the sea air and views of the Swedish coast.
The cost of the trip: 350 euros for 2 adults and a child (up to 11 years), including transfer, entrance tickets and escort of a Russian guide.