Helsingør

Helsingør's name is derived from "hals," or neck, after the narrow neck of water separating it from Sweden's Helsingborg. That slim waterway made the town wealthy in the 1420s, when Erik of Pomerania established a tariff for all ships passing through it. Shakespeare anglicized the town's name to "Elsinore" and made its massive castle the home of his fictional character Hamlet. Today about 34,000 people live in Helsingør, which still has a maritime flavor.