We spent this last week on the Danish islands of Ærø and Funen catching ferries, watching ships and boats, shining seas, walking up cobbled lanes in numerous pretty towns with roses and hollyhocks. The sun shone. It was great!
We started in Ærøskøbing. What a pretty place. We camped in the fields near the beach with a view of the long line of brightly coloured bathing huts which stand along the shore. Here is the Wildervan in position. And the line of huts against the sky.
It was irresistible watching the light change and the herd of black sheep and four horses crossing from one end of the grassy dunes to the other and we both painted it, me in watercolour and Alex on iPad.
We also went swimming from the bathing jetty which the Danish always provide (along with toilet and shower). Here it is in the evening light and proof that I did swim in these crystal clear but bracing waters!
From there we drove to the end of the island to stay in Marstal which we’ve been keen to visit since we read “We the Drowned” by Carsten Jensen who was born in Marstal and who interviewed many old sailors to get their stories of life as a sailor over the last 150 years. Shipping is still significant in this small place with active dockyards, a maritime school, and shipping companies but there used to be hundreds of ships here which sailed the world.
There is an excellent shipping museum in Marstal which contains more model ships than I’ve ever seen, brilliant descriptions of the changes in size and sail and engine over the years, helms you can take in high seas, captain’s study and cabin etc.
The town was not built around a square or the church but was a series of streets which stretched back from the jetties. The lanes are very pretty with their roses and hollyhocks. And the church, of course, contains a model ship as all churches do here. It was a perilous life on the sea.
Two ferries later we got back to Faaborg on Funen which also has a huge number of boats including this magnificent ship from Kiel with students doing the rigging up on high. We sent our 3 year old grandson the photo and he’s convinced that we are up there doing the rigging too!
There’s an excellent museum in town with paintings by the Funen artists in particular Kai Neilson who made this marvellous statue of the founder Mads Radmussen who looks just so pleased with it all. The striking architecture is by Carl Petersen.
We camped in several marinas which are great places to stay as they always have views of boats, showers and toilets and are near restaurants and cafes. Our view from the van in Faaborg.
And round the corner in the evening.
And so we left Denmark and the Baltic. We had no idea that we would spend so much time in the Baltic and would enjoy it so much. And what a great country Denmark is. Always one of the top three happiest countries in the world. And why? It believes in equality. It has free health care, free social care, free education through university. They say, “We have very few who have too much and even fewer who have too little”.
We drove down through South Jutland into Germany and visited Rendsburg where Alex’s mother lived as a child. Her parent’s flat no longer exists but we did see the park, the river Kiel, the transporter bridge and the thought provoking Jewish museum.
Our first night in Germany was spent in the small village of Wischhafen on a tributary off the Elbe which we crossed in a ferry which takes a tortuous journey across this vast river with its mudflats and geese (and which we had to queue for for almost two hours). In the morning we visited their boat museum and were met by the 90 year old former sailor who proudly told us about his life which included sailing to Dagenham on a regular basis.
Since we’re leaving the sea, here is Alex with one of the Wichshafen model boats and one of Carl Rasmussen’s paintings from Marstal.
And here is the map! Next week we are heading home…
