Christiania: the hippy district in the heart of Copenhagen.

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Among the particular places I’ve experienced during my travels, in the top ten there is Christiania, the district of Copenhagen self-managed by a community of hippies.

Discovered almost by chance, flipping through a tour guide, I had the pleasure of spending a few hours there, during a sunny winter Sunday.

For those who don’t know it, it is an unique experiment in the World, a sort of city within the city, governed by a group of hippies, who decided to settle there during the 70s.

On a visual level it is immediately clear, that it is in a singular place. At the entrance several signs indicate everything that is forbidden inside, including running and taking pictures. The reason is soon discovered just near the entrance there are a lot of cannabis stores and people clearly don’t want to be immortalized by the many tourists who pass by. The Danish state seems to agree or at least tolerate this practice, so it seems like a kind of coffee shop in the open space.

It doesn’t give the impression of being a dangerous place, on the contrary it is very quiet, one of the reasons is certainly that the access is allowed only to pedestrians.

The numerous and colorful murals that embellish the facades of the buildings, help to make this district a gem for street art lovers and the shops with craft products, increases the impression of being in a neighborhood of hippies.

What I think of this experience? It is a place to go and have a walk at least once in a lifetime!

I regret not having photos to show you (that above was taken in another place), as already written, it was forbidden to take them, but as always Google will satisfy your curiosity (https://goo.gl/Gcm4kE).

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