Original subtitles

This is Denmark, as you've never seen it before.

From above,

\we'll reveal an island nation rich in seafaring tradition,

where innovative thinking is helping the nation shape

the Europe of tomorrow.

In this series, we take an aerial tour across Europe,

filmed over the course of a single year,

and through the changing seasons,

we will uncover the culture,

history, and engineering

that built the great European nations we see today.

Denmark is the smallest of the Nordic nations.

It's made up of the Jutland peninsula and well over a 1000 islands

which guard the entrance to the Baltic Sea

and its rich trading ports.

\Despite its size, Denmark is a country of historical power,

\and its royal kingdom stretched as far as the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

The nation's position on a vital trade route

means most of its major cities have access to the sea.

From Aalborg in Northern Jutland,

Aarhus, its second largest city,

and colorful Copenhagen, the nation's center of power.

Even the inland city of Odense, on the island of Funen,

is connected to the sea by an eight kilometer canal.

Through winter, Denmark's capital is covered in a layer of frost,

but as the weather warms the ice covering its city center lakes melts

and the port is freed from its frozen grip.

Spring arrives in Denmark.

As the landscape warms, many of Denmark's 5.8 million people

take to nature to shake off their winter blues,

including a dip in the cold Baltic Sea.

There are 93 cold water bathing clubs throughout the nation,

the oldest dating back to the 19th century.

Today, swimming platforms extend out into the sea

in most of Denmark's seaside urban areas.

The Snail, in the capital is arguably the most eye catching

and nearby another standout structure

has been built for adrenaline-seeking Danes.

Denmark is one of Europe's lowest lying nations.

Its highest peak reaches a mere 171 meters

at Mollehoj on the Jutland peninsula.

But in the country's capital, Copenhagen,

a plume of white steam marks an extraordinary mountain resort.

This is Copenhill.

Our aerial cameras

reveal a state-of-the-art power station

with a mountain sports resort built on to its roof.

Opened in 2019,

this extraordinary building

includes an all-weather 450 meter ski slope, hiking track,

and the world's tallest climbing wall.

It's the first of its kind anywhere in the world,

to combine a district power plant with an alpine sports center.

It's Nikkel Mattsson's job to keep this

brand new recreational hub in full working order.

It is one-of-a-kind,

\hopefully there's going to come more of them,

\because this just makes so much sense

of having this power plant beneath and then using the roof of it.

Before the first skiers and boarders arrive for the day.

Nikkel has a vital job to complete.

He needs to lubricate and clean the lift that takes skiers up

the steepest 30 percent gradient to the very top of Copenhill.

Its seafront location means regular maintenance

is essential to prevent the lift corroding in the salty air.

This one-of-a-kind building has established itself

as Denmark's mecca for mountain sports.

But beneath its playful exterior

lies something much more industrious.

A furnace at the heart of the plant

burns rubbish that can't be recycled.

That in turn, heats water to create steam to drive a turbine,

producing enough electricity for 150,000 homes.

A new generation of carbon capture technology

is soon set to become operational

and it is hoped, will remove even the greenhouse gas

from the clean smoke, preventing it from entering the atmosphere.

Nikkel finishes his checks and has the lift in full working order,

just in time for the first skiers to hit the slope.

Camilla and Louise have come to Copenhill for their first ever skiing experience.

Their instructor, Jakob,

guides them down the hill's lowest slopes.

And quickly has them gliding to the bottom.

I never tried skiing before

and I think it was very fun.

I have two kids. It's not possible for me to,

like, just go to Sweden or Norway to ski.

So, an amazing opportunity to ski here.

With Camilla and Louise's lesson complete,

the city's more daring skiers can have their turn.

Outside Denmark's big cities, its rural landscape is dominated

by field after field of agriculture.

The nation has the highest proportion of farmland in the entire world.

When spring arrives, this scenery undergoes

a miraculous aerial transformation.

Huge swathes erupt into vivid yellow

as fields of rapeseed burst into flower.

A spectacle that is celebrated in Denmark's most remote corner.

The Danish island of Bornholm lies so far east.

\Its nearest neighbors are Sweden to the north and Poland to the south.

\In late spring,

this tiny island shines like a nugget of gold in the Baltic

as fields of rapeseed glow in the sun.

But just a few weeks later, it undergoes further change,

turning a deep golden brown, signaling the start of the harvest season.

Bornholm is the nation's sunniest location.

And that makes it the perfect place to grow Denmark's highest quality rapeseed.

For farmer Jens Koefoed,

the sight of this golden horizon

is something he waits all year to see.

\The busiest time of the year

\is usually when we harvest.

Harvest time is the working time.

Rapeseed is a distant relative of cabbage.

When crushed, its seeds release an oil that is used in cooking.

The oil, made on sun drenched Bornholm,

is Denmark's finest, prized by the nation's gourmet restaurants.

But to get the best oil, the crop must be harvested at just the right moment.

And today is the day for Jens.

He uses a state-of-the-art combine harvester

to make sure his rapeseed is delivered in perfect condition.

This giant machine uses four internal rotating drums

to gently separate the tiny, millimeter sized black rapeseeds

from a golden seed pod.

When you harvest, you have to wait for the sun to get up.

And the moisture has to disappear from the plant.

Usually, we started around nine o'clock in the morning

and we go to around ten, 11 in the evening.

Jens invites local rapeseed oil producer,

Henrik, to inspect his crop.

Henrik pays top dollar for gourmet seeds,

but the seeds must meet his exacting standards.

\We are producing quality only because you can get a lot of...

\lot of rapeseed oil across Europe, actually.

That is the only way we are able to survive

because we have a superior product.

The seeds are perfect and Jens delivers them to Henrik's factory.

In just two weeks, Henrik will take delivery

of approximately 15 percent of Bornholm's entire rapeseed crop.

His plant works flat out to clean and process the deluge of seeds

before they are stored in four giant silos on site

to be pressed throughout the year.

Jens harvests the last of his rapeseed

before any storms arrive to damage his crop.

He's harvested almost 250 tons of seeds.

A success for both him and Henrik.

As the weather heats up, the city's workers fill Copenhagen's waterfronts.

Tourists flock to Nyhavn harbor and it's dockside restaurants.

Locals line the harbor sides making the most of the sun's arrival.

Summer is here.

During the warmer months, many city-dwellers enjoy the good weather

at a simple second home known as a summer house.

Often situated in one of the numerous small coastal towns that dot the country.

This summer escape is made easier by the huge network of bridges

that crisscross Denmark.

From above, the scale of the vast 18 kilometer great belt bridge

between the islands of Zealand and Funen is revealed.

A bridge even joins Denmark with its neighbor, Sweden.

The famous Oresund Bridge.

But there is one international connection that is yet to be made.

Engineers are gearing up to build a road and rail line

to link the nation's capital, Copenhagen,

\with Hamburg in Germany.

\This ambitious shortcut includes a pioneering mega structure.

The longest submerged tunnel in the world.

A 40-meter wide monster

with room for four lanes of traffic and two train lines.

To build a tunnel this large,

the Danes will have to do something extraordinary.

They will have to re-shape their national border here

in Lolland by six square kilometers,

to make a home for all the spoil

that will be dug from the sea bed during the project.

The spoil will create new wetland nature reserves and beaches.

It's the responsibility of Patrick Braam

to oversee the creation of Denmark's new frontier.

This project is the largest civil project

in Europe at the moment.

\This is a project where people will

\talk about in 20 years' time.

It's really nice to be part of it.

Today, Patrick's team

are dropping in the first rocks of crushed granite,

that will form the new coastal outline.

These stone walls will absorb the rough waves

that hit this coast every winter, protecting the new land

that will be built up behind them.

When we started the project, there was nothing.

It was only sea with the first installment of the rock works,

you could see the contour lines coming in, that was really a nice moment

because you can physically see the progress of the work.

After 12 months, the wall is complete.

And the offshore team can now start work on excavating the tunnel

and dumping their spoil here to create the new land.

The team use a giant digger to finally begin work on the tunnel trench.

It holds 34 cubic meters of seabed to the surface with every scoop

and dumps it on to a barge.

When the barges are full,

they sail to Patrick's newly finished enclosure

and the sand and gravel slowly builds up the new land.

Several months after the wall is finished, our aerial cameras

reveal the emerging contours of Denmark's new south coast.

Patrick's massive construction has taken 2.2 million tons

of rock to complete.

And is proving a success,

allowing the dumper, trucks and diggers to drive on Denmark's new dredged land.

Work will continue on this massive engineering project until 2029,

when the new tunnel is complete and the first cars and trains

will cross from Denmark to Germany.

Once the project is finished, it will feel like a big achievement.

Building such a large project

that you can see from from satellite images

is really nice.

You're basically reshaping a part of the world.

In summer, Copenhagen's streets swell with partygoers

during the annual Distortion Music festival.

And Denmark's top tourist attraction

outside of the capital, Legoland, fills with visitors.

Since 1968, this iconic theme park in Billund has allowed visitors

to take an aerial tour of the nation in miniature.

Sites include the Gothic inspired water tower of Esbjerg.

The 17th century Schackenborg castle.

Nyhavn, Copenhagen's historic harbor

and the Queen's Palace, Amalienborg.

North of Legoland,

one of Denmark's industrial hubs

has also become an unlikely tourist destination.

\Jutland is the only part of Denmark

\connected to continental Europe.

\Its most northerly city Aalborg

has been Denmark's main industrial port through the 20th century.

And something extraordinary is hidden within the city streets.

Mega-scale urban art.

Our bird's eye view reveals giant murals that tower over the streets below,

transforming the city into a living art gallery.

These vibrant artworks are the initiative of gallery owner, Lene Kirk.

It's hard to think of anything else but new walls

when you walk around the city.

\And in the back of my head,

\there's always a little detective looking for empty walls.

She has helped to create more than 70 murals across Aalborg.

From the surreal to the abstract.

Today, Lene is meeting Croatian artist Lonac,

who is tasked with painting this four-story-high empty wall.

I am afraid of heights.

To being on a cherry picker very high sometimes can be scary,

\but you're not supposed to look down.

\You mostly have to watch the wall, and then it's okay.

First, Lonac lays down a dark undercoat.

Then he does something surprising.

He covers his blank canvas with random doodles.

These forms aren't his artwork.

They are drawn as reference marks to help Lonac navigate his huge canvas.

Once the wall is covered in scribbles,

he takes a photo and uses a tablet

to overlay the outline of his new artwork.

To get the proportions right on a big scale

can be challenging, but there are also tricks.

After three weeks of painting, Lonac's hard work has paid off.

Our aerial camera reveals the spectacular transformation of this once barren wall.

Being the capital of street art in Denmark

has had a different impact on how people look at the city,

and people come from far away just to see the murals.

As the weather starts to cool,

Denmark's forests transform into a sea of burnt yellows and golden-browns.

The tree-lined paths to the island Church of Horsholm put on a spectacular display.

As autumn comes to Denmark.

Denmark is a nation of islands.

The two largest, Zealand and Funen

are home to nearly half of all Danes.

Zooming in reveals hundreds of further islands scattered around them.

One island, barely eight kilometers wide, is called Aero.

This picturesque place is home to just 6,000 people,

including cattle farmer Peter Harald Jorgensen.

He keeps alive the centuries old tradition

of summer grazing his animals

on the tiny remote islands that surround Aero.

\Having cattle and horses on the grass here

\is something that has been going on for several hundreds of years.

I think the cows are happy,

they don't have much to complain about.

Today, Peter and a small army of helpers

are traveling to the tiny island of Deiro

to bring his herd back to the warmth of a barn on the main island for winter.

In the past, farmers would make their cows swim.

The first time I had my cows on Deiro was probably 40 years ago.

They swam after a half a meter long rope of a dingy

and tried to get to the closest coast. It was crazy.

Today, Peter's cows have the luxury of their very own ferry.

The Yrsa assists farmers throughout this archipelago

to move their animals around the remote islands to graze.

This flat-bottomed boat is ideal for landing on beaches,

but can become unstable in any rough seas.

Bad weather is forecast.

Peter and the team circle the herd,

quickly rounding them up before any crossing becomes impossible.

Safely in the pen,

the team can take the cows one by one on to the Yrsa.

Although one cow doesn't seem so keen

for its summer holidays to come to an end.

With all the cows safely on board,

Peter sets sail for Aero,

just as the bad weather closes in.

Getting the cows back in the barn is absolutely the start of winter.

And then, when you bring them back out again,

summer begins, and it's a rhythm.

That's what we really like.

Denmark is perhaps most famous as the heartland of the Vikings

in the ninth century.

Their violent rule only lasted for 250 years,

but it left a lasting mark

on the nation's aerial landscape.

At Lindholm Hoje, hundreds of boat-shaped burials form a vast Viking cemetery.

And at Trelleborg, the astonishing ringed fortress,

one of a network across Denmark,

can only be fully appreciated from above.

The Vikings established Denmark's legacy of control of the seas.

A control that lasted for hundreds of years

into the golden age of European sea trade.

The islands of Denmark form the historic gateway

to the wealthy seaports of the Baltic,

\such as Saint Petersburg, Gdansk and Stockholm.

The fastest sea lane for trade ships was the Oresund Strait.

A closer look at its narrowest point today reveals an unusual aerial site.

Battlements in the form of concentric starships

and at their center, a lavish castle.

This is Kronborg Castle.

This imposing structure has dominated the thin

four-kilometer-wide stretch of water since 1585.

But surprisingly, it wasn't just built for war.

It was a money making machine.

No ship could pass without paying a fee.

And this lucrative venture needed a defensive mega-structure

that would withstand the envious eyes of neighboring powers.

Its reputation was so notorious,

William Shakespeare, living in England,

made it the setting for his acclaimed play Hamlet.

It's the job of architect, Trine Neble,

to preserve this 400-year-old national monument.

\You couldn't really go anywhere without people knowing Kronborg,

\fearing it.

You couldn't defeat it.

It was really undefeatable.

It's very seldom for a castle to have this reputation.

The cooling weather brings a drop in visitors.

It's the perfect opportunity, for Trine to undertake

a survey of the castle's aging exterior from the sky.

She's working with a drone operator to give her a bird's eye view

of areas of the castle she cannot reach.

From above,

this aerial perspective reveals the extent of the castle's defensive bastions,

built in the 16th century.

The star shaped outline of the wall

gave the castle's guns 360 degree coverage to defend the castle.

And to ensure no ship could pass without paying its taxes.

Today, Trine needs to survey the ornate 62-metre-tall Trumpeters tower

that is impossible to study from the ground.

But with a drone, she can get the close-up view she needs.

Our aerial cameras captured this unique survey in action.

Trina can see the copper plating is beginning to deteriorate.

It means the team will continue to have their work cut out

protecting this Danish monument.

Kronborg used to face the threat of war,

and I think nowadays it's not as scary, but it's just as threatening.

It's an ever on-going job.

I don't think it's ever gonna stop.

As the weather cools, the star shaped outline of Kronborg

becomes coated in a dusting of snow.

And the extraordinary circular clusters of holiday homes

at Brondby Haveby turn white.

As winter descends on Denmark.

The nation has been a constitutional monarchy since 1849.

The crown still retains the support

of more than three-quarters of the population.

Today, power is held by the Danish government and parliament,

based at Christiansborg Palace in the heart of the capital, Copenhagen.

Queen Margrethe II

currently sits on the throne and can trace her ancestors back

to the Viking Kings of the tenth century.

A legacy of the Danish royal family's long reign

are the numerous grand historical palaces that still remain in Denmark.

In the center of Copenhagen, one royal palace appears

to occupy an entire block of the city.

This is Amalienborg.

Built in the mid-1700s, this Grand Rococo complex

is the main Copenhagen residence for Queen Margrethe and her family.

The family arrive every year in December, signaling to Copenhageners,

Christmas will soon be here.

During their stay, an elite regiment of the Danish army

are tasked with protecting the royal family.

At 12 o'clock, exactly every day, a fresh set of soldiers arrives

to relieve those on guard at the palace.

It's the responsibility

of Commanding Officer Hans-Christian Rorvang

that today's changing of the guard takes place without a hitch.

\We have kept guard for the Royal Majesty since 1658.

\It's impossible not to be proud of that.

I have a duty to make sure

the guards execute the maneuvers at the right moments.

Today's precise changing of the guard ceremony

at the Queen's Palace,

a tradition more than 100 years old

is being performed by brand new recruits.

They must make the grade or be replaced by substitutes waiting in the wings.

Before they can leave the barracks,

Hans-Christian must ensure his soldiers uniforms

meet the regiment's exacting standards.

We try to do everything as well as we possibly can.

\A lot of time is spent on pressing the trousers,

\polishing the boots on and so forth, and we practice a lot,

including the operative side of actually protecting the palace.

This is not just for show.

The troop is ready.

They head out of the barracks at 11:27 on the dot

on the two kilometer march to Amalienborg.

The 38 soldiers must stay in perfect formation,

accompanied by the regiment's drummers.

The troop will march out of the barracks into Copenhagen's Old Town.

Through the capital's central square, Kongens Nytorv

before the final few turns

bring them to the royal palace of Amalienborg.

The guards march past the city's shops filled with Christmas shoppers

on one of Europe's longest pedestrianized streets, Stroget,

before stopping the traffic on Kongens Nytorv.

And continuing past the iconic, colorful buildings of Nyhavn,

once the home of the famous fairy tale author and creator

of The Little Mermaid, Hans-Christian Andersen.

Perfectly on time,

they march into the octagonal plaza of Amalienborg.

The troop heads towards the Queen's Palace,

where Hans-Christian has his soldiers fall into a line 18 wide,

as a show of strength for the monarch.

They now receive the flag, indicating their responsibility

for guarding the queen.

The arriving soldiers finally relieve the previous watch of their posts,

successfully completing the ceremony.

It's not stressful because we've practiced,

but the pulse is up and there's a slight sense of butterflies.

The royal family is very important for Denmark.

It signals a point of unity.

Denmark is a hub for architecture.

It has the third most architects per capita in Europe.

Eye-catching contemporary buildings dot the country like the Utzon Center,

a cultural hub built by the Danish architect of the Sydney Opera House.

The harbor front of Aarhus is filled with striking new apartment blocks,

including the Isbjerget inspired by floating icebergs.

In the far north of the country,

this architectural innovation has surprisingly early roots.

The island of Laeso is located

\20 kilometer off the coast of Jutland.

\From above, unusual houses can be seen with roofs

like giant haystacks.

Buildings that are found nowhere else on Earth.

These are the astonishing seaweed houses of Laeso.

For 300 years, the residents here have been making these incredible

three-meter-thick thatched roofs from an aquatic plant

called eelgrass.

Eelgrass thrives in the shallow sandy seas

found all around Denmark.

During early autumn,

it washes up on beaches in huge quantities

where workers collect it,

and dry it on nearby fields,

much like hay for farm animals.

Laeso's traditional roofing craft was lost to time for nearly 90 years,

until Master Thatcher Henning Johansen resurrected the unique skills in 2012.

\When you're born on Laeso, you can walk around

\and touch a new grass roof, which is 300 years old,

and know that one's great, great, great, relative has made it.

With Laeso in the midst of winter's grip,

Henning's been called to repair a leaky roof

on one of his neighbor's homes.

He is joined by daughter, Kirsten, and two apprentices.

Heading on to the roof,

they begin by removing the damaged and old eelgrass.

It insulates as well as modern insulation,

and sometimes the roofs will go all the way down to the ground,

so you just had to cut holes for the doors and windows.

That meant that nobody was ever cold on Laeso.

Henning and the team must now prepare the new eelgrass to fix the leak.

They create long ropes of eelgrass by twisting eelgrass together,

much like spinning wool into yarn.

Today, Henning has created his own machine to do the job.

Utilizing a modified hand drill to speed up the spinning of the eelgrass.

Traditionally, it would have taken up to 50 island woman

to do the same work whilst the men were out at sea.

Henning is keen these resurrected skills continue to survive

and is teaching the next generation.

\I learned how to make the eelgrass roofs from my father.

He's not an old man, but he will become an old man soon.

So, I'm very proud that I can be a part of making sure that the craft will survive.

The team now carefully weaves the eelgrass ropes

around the wooden eaves of the house,

leaving a thick untwisted end to form the bulk of the roof.

The substantial layers of material this technique produces

keep out the rain and snow that hit the island in winter.

They work to complete the repair before the next snowstorm strikes,

helping to preserve one more of these distinctive homes

and a craft unique to Denmark.

Denmark's state religion is Christianity.

King Harald Bluetooth converted this Viking nation from paganism

more than 1,000 years ago.

Iconic white chapel's of the Lutheran church

dominate the countryside.

Today, only three percent of Danes regularly attend worship within them.

But on Christmas Eve, over a third of the nation will fill the pews.

And this enthusiasm for Christmas is also embraced by a Copenhagen landmark.

Denmark's capital, is home to a quarter of all Danes.

At its center is a warren of narrow, historic streets.

From above,

there is one patch of green that stands out from the gray urban landscape.

This is the historic theme park of Tivoli Gardens,

the world's third oldest theme park.

Since 1843, six generations of Copenhageners

have grown up with the enticing view of the park,

that today is dominated by the 18-meter-tall Star Flyer ride

visible across the city.

Christmas at Tivoli is part of the DNA of the capital.

And it's Neringa Janusevicute's job

to make sure the park lives up to expectations.

When we start decorating Tivoli for Christmas,

\I think a lot of people noticing that decorations coming up,

\Christmas lights coming up, I think it signalizes, in a way

\that Christmas is around the corner.

The park is a hive of activity

as the Christmas preparations hit full swing.

Today, Neringa has some of the most important jobs

to complete for Tivoli's facelift.

She and her team need to decorate

the 12-meter tall centerpiece Christmas tree.

This giant tree will be covered in two-and-a-half kilometers of lights,

along with hundreds of baubles.

Young children, smaller ones especially,

whenever they come enter the Tivoli,

I think I could see amazement in their eyes.

So, that's really, really nice.

I love it.

Tivoli's tree is almost complete.

Neringa's team places the final baubles at the very top.

After two weeks of work, the park is finally ready.

It bustles with families enjoying the winter fairy tale of twinkling lights.

Parents leave children onto rides they enjoyed as kids.

As this city center icon opens its doors to a million locals and visitors.

I can't imagine Copenhagen without Tivoli.

I see it as a heart of Copenhagen.

\Denmark, a historic nation shaped by the seas

\that swirl around it,

\a place rich in tradition,

\but whose people are boldly embracing the future.

\A country at the forefront of the dynamic Europe of today.