Is it me or is it the boat that’s rocking? It’s impossible to tell. Here on the rolling seas, at a bar on a ferry going back and forth between Denmark and Sweden, hiding your inebriation is fairly easy. As we cross the Øresund strait and approach Sweden, I fix my gaze on the Helsingborg harbour, its medieval steeples peeking out flush next to more modern constructions. Since I’m a Danish citizen and I’ve forgotten my passport, I won’t be stepping off here.
This seafaring pub isn’t just a pub. It’s a ferry belonging to shipping line named Sundbusserne, or “The Harbour Buses”. It’s a smaller-scale alternative to the larger ferry operator Scandlines, and only for pedestrian passengers.
The ferry goes back and forth daily between two cities: Helsingborg, Sweden and Helsingør, Denmark. It takes only 20 minutes one-way, and runs until 10PM. But many of its passengers don’t take it to get from A to B – they just get on to stay in the bar as long as they can.