![]() You can find fame of other kinds on Sylt, which is an island for being seen, but Föhr is an island for disappearing, for anonymous walks and bike rides, for fresh air, books and contemplation. The Dane, who is buried in Oldsum, has become a parable for money not buying happiness.įöhr’s ‘enormous’ sun-streaked sky. A killer of 373 whales, he grew rich on the proceeds, only to see two of his sons murdered by pirates. Later, their lives were written on imposing headstones, with none more famous than Matthias Petersen, known nationally as Lucky Matthias. Despite their precarious status, the islands have always attracted incomers, whether they were Viking settlers or 17th- and 18th-century whalers, who returned from their bloody seasons and built large houses across the island chain. ![]() In any case, it was nice to arrive there dry, and even more pleasant to cycle the length of the island, glimpsing its broad white beach between pine trees.Īll of the North Frisian islands are vulnerable to climate change – affluent Sylt perhaps most of all – but Föhr is sheltered a little by its neighbours. For the first time anyone can remember, it’s quicker to take a ferry between the islands. Today the low tide is barely that rising sea levels now make a once-practical journey a drawn-out mission reserved for hardy sorts looking for adventure. Not so long ago, it was possible to walk from Föhr to Amrum at low tide in about half an hour, part of the reason the islands have such a close relationship and why their dialects (Fering and Öömrang respectively) are so similar. It’s a place where you can lose whole afternoons watching flocks of migratory geese silhouetted against the enormous sky Fretting about sugar intake was about as stressful as things ever seemed to get on Föhr, a place where you can lose whole afternoons watching flocks of migratory geese silhouetted against the enormous sky. We spent our days on the island as most people do, which is to say walking along its vital dykes, then heading to exquisitely twee cafes like Stellys Hüüs in Oldsum to eat vast slabs of cake, and washing them down with perhaps too much coffee. A train, connecting it to Hamburg, runs along that narrow strip, but getting to lesser-visited Föhr, Amrum and Pellworm has always required a boat.Ī windmill in the quiet town of Amrum. More famous is trendy Sylt to the north, which on a map looks like a bird tethered to the mainland, straining to fly into the North Sea. They used to run part of their family home as a B&B, but these days they’re content enjoying the island for themselves.įöhr is the second largest, most agricultural, and perhaps most sedate of Germany’s four major North Frisian Islands. ![]() Peter and his wife, Ursula, spend most of the year living near Lübeck on the German mainland, but their roots on the island run deep – they were married on Föhr, as was their oldest daughter. Although new properties are built every year as second homes for the rich and famous while the number of permanent residents declines, the new homes are usually built with a thatched roof, especially in towns such as Nieblum, where local law has made them mandatory. In ridding themselves of the traditional Frisian dwelling, the Dreyers are not typical of those staying on Föhr today. ![]() ![]() A general store in Nieblum where local law has made thatched roofs mandatory. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |