Explore the city where the writer was born and create your own fairy-tale. In the old part of the city you can visit museums housed in places where Hans Christian Andersen was born and grew up. In July there is a real fairy-tale castle inhabited by witches, mermaids, princes and princesses. In the open areas and parks you can see large and small sculptures which you are allowed to touch! Many of them represent the well-known characters from his fairy-tales. Walk around the city with the night watchman on his rounds of the old streets and listen to his fascinating stories.
Continue on to Denmark's Railway Museum with its nostalgic collection of trains, ferries and busses spanning over 150 years. Then soak up the atmosphere at Brandts Klædefabrik, a cultural centre full of people enjoying themselves as they listen to music from the open air concert stage or just relax in the cafés.
A little away from the centre there is an attraction which will delight the younger visitors - Odense Zoo, with its fantastic animals and equally exciting playgrounds. Not far from there, from July you can see medieval knights recreating a battle on the meadow at Skovsøen. And then, again a mere stone's throw away, is the Funen Village where you can see how our great-great-grandparents lived. See traditional farming methods and join in ancient arts and crafts. In July and August, there are open-air performances of plays based on Hans Christian Andersen's stories.

Odense is a very shy city. It is somehow inside out. The canny visitor who shuns the obvious will find great beauty here. Although the old town has kept some of its half-timbered charm, there are greater and more unexpected rewards in the newer parts, in the space and the spaces. The pedestrian streets are wide and disinterestedly welcoming, scattered with wonderful, provocative statues. You can walk along the river out into the woods, where charming inns secretly nestle. You can sit outside the cafes in town, your kids can climb on the statues and no one will mind. You can have breakfast at four in the afternoon or a beer at ten in the morning, and no one will raise an eyebrow. Above all, you feel safe. All in all, it is a wonderfully rewarding place for the curious and imaginative to explore in peace.
 
Ivan Hill,  now sadly deceased, was originally from England but lived on Fyn for 11 years.