Solvang, the Danish Town

We started really early in the morning and drove until we got hungry. In Pismo Beach, we found a place to enjoy a traditional American breakfast that could keep you full for most of the day. We chatted with our server, who recommended a cozy little hidden beach that was only known to the locals. Awesome! A chance to experience something that other tourists might miss. To get there, we had to climb down some cliffs since the beach was nestled in a small lagoon. It was incredibly warm, and we were excited to dive into the waves. However, the server had sent us to a nudist beach, where people also had a bit of a tendency to get frisky outdoors. Sure, we’re from Denmark, where nudist beaches aren’t exactly a foreign concept, but still, that wasn’t quite what we wanted to be part of, so our visit to that beach was brief. There’s a little Danish town founded in the U.S. by many travelers who came to the states in the early 20th century. The town is called Solvang, and it’s America’s idea of that little country far away. The streets, hotels, and shops all have Danish names. There are still a few people living there with Danish roots. We stayed at Svendsgaard Lodge, which was in the best traditional Danish half-timbered style. It’s an incredibly charming little town, but for us Danes, it doesn’t really remind us much of the country we know. In the evening, we wanted to go out for dinner and chose a super cozy Mexican restaurant called "Manny," where they serve cheap but delicious food. Later that night, we took a long walk and ended up in the residential neighborhoods. There were tons of expensive villas—almost nothing else! It was amusing to see that the names of the streets were as Danish as they could get: Jyllandsgade, Århus, Vejle, and Esbjerg, among others, were all represented. On our way home, we stopped by a restaurant in town that had live music. There, we struck up a conversation with a guy who could tell we were from Denmark. His grandfather was Danish, and he even knew a few words in Danish. Solvang is definitely a must-visit that you shouldn’t skip!