When asked to name some of the most beautiful palaces in Europe, most people mention the ones that they are most familiar with. The Buckingham Palace in London, the Royal Palace in Madrid, The Schronbrunn Schloss in Vienna and Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany are some of the most famous castles people give at the top of their minds.

In a region as vast and diverse as Europe however, it is almost inevitable to miss and/or overlook some of the gems that can be found in its far reaches.

Take for example, the Amalienborg Slotsplads in Copenhagen.

Built in the early 18th century, Amalienborg is the winter home of the Danish Royal Family, situated at the heart of Copenhagen Denmark.

The complex boasts of four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard.

The four buildings are

1.Christian VII’s Palace (also known as Moltke’s Palace, used as guest residence),

2. Christian VIII’s Palace (also known as Levetzau’ Palace, used as guest palace for Prince Joachim and Princess Benedikte),

3. Frederik VIII’s Palace (also known as Brockdorff’s Palace, home of the Crown Prince family), and

Christian IX’s Palace (also known as Schack’s Palace, home of the Queen and Prince Consort).

Actually, the four palaces were intended to be used by four noble families of Copenhagen but the fire at the Christiansborg Palace convinced the royal family to use Amaliensborg as their winter Palace in 1794. In return, the four great families were offered 40 years of tax immunity for their services to the Danish crown.

All palace facades sport a late Baroque, 18th century design and all facades are washed white, immaculate and stunning, catching any visitor off-guard.

The centerpiece of the complex is a grand statue of King Frederick V, attributed as the founde of Amalienborg. The statue depicts the Danish king in an equestrian pose.

According to historians and observers, Amalienborg boasts of the most spectacular example of Rococo (Late Baroque) architecture in all of Europe.

Inside the palaces are the Amalienborg museum which will give you an idea of the lavish lifestyle lived by members of Denmark’s royal family. The current Queen Margrethe’s photos and memorabilia can also be found inside the palace halls.

But Amalienborg is frequented by visitors to Copenhagen because of its famous changing of the guard ceremony.

Every day at noon, visitors can catch a glimpse of the changing of the guard.

According to the copenhagen.com, the ceremony is called “The King’s Watch” or “Kongevagt” when Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark is in residence. During this time, the guards are are accompanied by the Royal Guards music band.

The route, that starts at 11:31 at the barracks, goes: Rosenborggade, Købmagergade, Østergade, Kongens Nytorv, Bredgade, Sct. Annæ Plads, Amaliegade, and Amalienborg.

Meanwhile, it is called “The Lieutenant’s Watch” or “Lojtnantsvagt” if one of the Royal Princes is residing at the palace in the capacity of regents, and drums and flutes will be heard.

When the Crown Prince or Prince Joachim are in residence but not n the capacity of regents or when the palace has no residing member of the royal family, the guards march Copenhagen without musical accompaniment and this is called “Palaevagt” or Manor Watch.

I had the wonderful chance of experiencing the Lieutenant’s Watch during my visit to Copenhagen and I was thoroughly mesmerized by the richness of tradition still observed in this northern European country.

It was indeed one of the coolest things I have seen and experienced in Europe and if you have the chance to come visit Denmark, this item should be high on your bucket list

It was my second day in Denmark, and against all the alarm signals blaring inside my head, I took a tentative step into the hidden, and as I later found out, sometimes, scary autonomous region of Freetown Christiania, a former military barracks area in the Christianshavn side of Copenhagen.

Freetown or Fristaden Christiania is a definite must-see in Copenhagen. From its humble beginnings as a former military barracks in 1971, it has grown to be an independent community with its own charter, the Christiania Law of 1989.

Artists, musicians, social outcasts, gypsies and people of questionable habits have all gathered and formed the community. It’s hard to keep track of the number of people who live in Christiania, but rough estimates place the number of regular residents between 800 to 1,000.

Even with the questionable reputation of the people who live in it, however, the neighborhood continues to attract the interest and wonder of its global visitors.

Tourists who are after a different ‘trip’, travel to Christiania to buy cannabis and other controlled pharmaceuticals in Christiania’s Green Light District. Some residents grow their own cannabis at the comfort of their own backyard, and Copenhagen authorities seem to look the other way.

The main rule you should observe at all times? No cameras allowed to protect the identities of both Christiania’s residents and visitors. You’ve been warned.

Unfortunately, I learned of this rule only after I entered Christiania’s gates.

Like what any sane and curious traveler would do, I started taking pictures of the place as soon as saw its entrance gate. I continued to snap photos as I approached the entrance gardens and alternative sculptures until I passed the opening threshold.

Not a minute sooner, however, a guy, tall as a Viking approached me and ordered me to erase the pictures I took. It’s either that or he breaks the camera.

He wasn’t physically threatening me at all, but one look at his huge frame and bulking biceps, as compared to my humble 5’7 frame, convinced me that he could easily swat me like a bug, hahaha.

In short, I didn’t need further encouragement.

Without another word, I deleted the incriminating photos. My only consolation was he let me keep the pictures of the opening gardens of the community. But the rest of the pictures including of the weed stores inside the Green Light District are gone forever.

Fortunately, I had a good look of the place so I know how it looks like. There are stalls in the middle of the Green Light District offering smoke pipes, weeds, bags, tie-dyed shirts, and flags bearing the face of Bob Marley (how cliché, I thought). I don’t take drugs, but I know enough to see the paraphernalia used for such hobby. I saw glass tubes used for Ice (methampethamine), ecstasy, cocaine. It was crazy.

The prices are a bit expensive, but its Scandinavia so prices are really higher than the rest of Europe.

I wasn’t happy at all with the Viking guy ordering me to delete my photos, but to be fair he was only enforcing Christiania’s main rule so I eventually found peace in that fact.

Despite that incident, I later, got to realize how cool the place was after joining a mini musical jam among some of the residents and international visitors at the small hill near the Green Light District.

In a loose circle, we sang to some reggae songs and the rest sang traditional Danish folk songs. Some cannabis was obviously passed around our circle but I happily declined. I settled for some herrings and cheese.

Scanning the faces of the people gathered in that circle, I imagined myself living in Denmark, able to come back to this happy place again and again, singing song with some of the most amazing people you will ever meet.

I went back to my hotel pas midnight, and I still couldn’t shake the fun I had inside Christiania.

I also had an important realization about life, people, and their tendency to judge without knowing.

Boris, a German guy I was jamming with, said it one thought-provoking statement. “People in Christiania are happy, because they don’t give a f**k about what other’s think, or say”

People, in general, he said, are sometimes quick to judge others based on personal appearance and their religion, habits or sexual preference. There is very little we can do about it, because let’s face it, that’s life, and no matter the country or culture, there will always be people who won’t like you for who you are.

The subject of these judgments or can feel all the negativism or they can just shrug them off, and face each day with a smile treating each other with kindness. The people who live in Christiania, decided to band together and live in a place where everyone understands the others.

I won’t claim to really know everyone in Christiania, but the few residents and visitors I have met had a great impact on me.

And it dawned on me that if you can find positivism in a place condemned by others, maybe there is still hope for some kind of understanding and acceptance.We just have to keep searching and fighting for them.

In the 2015 World Happiness Report, Denmark, the gateway of Scandinavia  emerged as the happiest country in the world. This title is computed based on a host of several factors including per capita GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy and freedom to make choices among others.

This year, Denmark remained in the top three countries, suggesting an all around positivity from about the country and the people who live in it.

A lot of this can be attributed to Denmark’s concept of the “hygge” (pronounced hooga). Simply put, the art of making hygge is to make something cozy or relaxing.  It’s actually a close relative of the ‘dolce far niente’ concept in Italy. Friends and family having dinner or simply hanging called can be considered hyggeligt. A cozy fellow or a hygge fyrcan be a friend who’s fun to be with.

The overall happiness of Copenhagen and the country as a while is also thanks to the existence of Tivoli Gardens, one of the most famous amusement parks in the world and one of the most visited pleasure centers in the whole of Europe.

Tivoli Gardens is also dubbed as “the happiest place on Earth’.

To better understand why Danish are such a happy people, I burned nearly P700 or about 100 krones to buy my way into the world famous Tivoli Gardens, dubbed as “the happiest place on Earth”.

Long before Walt Disney was born, The Tivoli Gardens located in Vesterbrogade street near Kobenhaven Hovedbanegarden), has been entertaining Copenhagen residents with its rides and fairgrounds.

Established in 1843, it is the second oldest theme park in the world. It has about 25 rides including Himmelskibet, one of the highest chain carousels in the world, about 30 or so restaurants and about 100 or so events/concerts every year.

One of the most famous attractions in Tivoli Gardens is the Rutschebanen or what locals fondly call as Bjergbanen or the Mountain Coaster. It is one of the world’s oldest wooden roller coasters, which, surprisingly, is still in perfect condition nowdays.

The Danes are also veryu proud of the The Demon or Daemonen, another roller coaster inside Tivoli Gardens which features an Immelmann loop and zero-G roll all within one minute and forty six seconds, which is the average time of the ride.

In 2009, the Tivoli launched the Vertigo, a looping plane ride which allows the riders to pilot the plane, and in 2013, the Aquila was inaugurated. The Aquila is a giant swing and spinner ride.

There is also the Odin Express, a super cool train ride for kids and kids at heart.

At the Tivoli, you can also fnd here traditional carnival games such as rifle games, that offer free baloons and toys.

It has a grand theater, an open air stage called The Plaenen, and several promenades where people can just sit down and take in the atmospher of sheer joy.

At night, Tivoli Gardens takes a different personality as thousands of lights illuminate the entire park.

The sea of colorful tulips glisten in the evening light and couples hang around the very romantic spot.

After spending four hours trying some of the rides, I joined some of the locals who were lying around the tulips garden, whiling away the time, savoring every happy moment with their friends and families.

I rested at one the benches near the gardens and under the waning sun, I suddenly had a glimpse of what makes the Tivoli, one of the most magical places in the heart.

And the smile pasted on my face, for hours, was a great affirmation that Tivoli Gardens is indeed the happiest place on the planet that night.

Why do you keep on traveling? What is it that you are looking for? People always ask me these questions that I practically lost count how many times I answered them.

I travel to search for a place where I belong.  I travel to experience an unspeakable high. But my main motivation for leaving the comforts of home, and embarking on grueling journeys, is to satisfy my endless desire to see the raw, sheer beauty and simplicity of this world,

A decade after taking my first step into the backpacking circuit, I know that what I have seen so far is just a mere fraction of what this world can offer. Every country I visit, gives me a piece of the puzzle. But during my recent visit to Copenhagen, the main gateway to Scandinavia, I think that I was given more pieces than I have ever been given before.

Copenhagen is such an astoundingly picturesque capital that it took my breath away.

In particular, the city’s crown jewel, “Nyhavn” or New Harbor, froze me in my tracks during our first ever encounter. It also left a long-lasting impression on me, that I know that I won’t be able to forget its magnificence anytime soon.

Nyhavn is the main commercial and tourist district in Copenhagen. Its canals are lined up with 17th and 18th century houses boasting of strikingly colorful facades. The collection of houses were built side by side each other, painted in various colors in the most vibrant hues.

Along the canal, ancient and modern wooden ships were parked. Set against the bluest sky I have ever seen, it was almost like a landscape portrait, it almost didn’t seem real. I just had to take a moment to admire and adore its beauty.

During the 17th and 18th century, Nyhavn was a hectic port that served as the convergence point for merchants and sailors from all the countries in the northern hemisphere. Ladies of pleasure were also known to be a constant fixture along Nyhavn’s canals. Denmark’s King at the time, Charles V spearheaded the construction of Nyhavn and commissioned Swedish prisoners to dig up the main canal.

Nowadays, Nyhavn has become the commercial and entertainment hub of Copenhagen and the houses had been converted into expensive restaurants and clubs offering beer and traditional Danish delicacies such as smorrebrod (spread bread) with a choice of toppings like herring, beef or seafood.

Sheer beauty comes at a price. As Nyhavns cements its reputation, as the place to be in the city, expensive clubs and restaurants with prices 30 to 40 percent higher than other cities in Europe, started mushrooming, catering to tourists who have the extra dough to burn.

Knowledgeable of actual local prices, the Copenhagen residents  understandably veer away from these establishments, and opt to sit at the harbor.

I was told that such a scene is the quintessence of everyday Copenhagen life.

Because of a very effective tax system, and a government that cares, Denmark has been voted as the happiest city to live in and its people as the happiest and most contented on the planet and leisurely activities such as chatting with friends and family at the banks of the canal, is the favorite pastime among locals.

As the day crawls to an end, locals indeed converge at Nyhavn to see the sunset. I was in Copenhagen at the tail end of winter and at the early stages of spring and the crowds arrive in droves, probably to take advantage of the abundance of sunlight.

Completely captivated by such scene, I ran to the nearest convenience store and purchased a six pack and some sausages.

I originally planned to spend only a short time in Nyhavn and linger at the other places of interest in the city, instead. But I was overly enamored by this gorgeous place, that I just decided to join the multitudes of travelers and locals alike, in just simply chilling out at the Nyhavn quay.

When dusk came, the sun cast a yellow hue, giving the harbor a dramatic, almost sepia look and feel. The sky’s reflection on the glistening waters, and on the brightly colorful houses created an unforgettable scene that I know, would be forever ingrained in my heart and soul.

Today, weeks after leaving Copenhagen, I am still haunted by the sheer beauty and the very welcoming and relaxed atmosphere of Nyhavn and I am constantly praying to the universe to re-align  the heavens and stars, and let me come back to that place that just completely stole my heart.