Bornholm, Denmark
The Baltic Sea has incredible stories about adventures along its waters. One of them began today, as we tried to approach the small City of Svaneke on the island of Bornholm, also called "The Venice of the North". Winds had picked up and were quite strong, so we sailed around the island to the western (and therefore more protected) port of Rønne. In the slight drizzle we boarded our buses for an interesting tour of the northern half of the island, learning about the history of this typically Danish place. Our first stop was one of the many glass houses on the island, near Gudhjem, where glass is formed into multi-coloured art. Incredible forms with lovely colours were to be admired! Further on, at Allinge, we stopped to taste a delicious smoked mackerel with brown bread and local beer, both local products. Fishing in the Baltic Sea has diminished very strongly, probably due to over fishing, and the fish we ate today was from the North Sea or the North Atlantic. Only two fish processing plants are left on the island today. But was it tasty!
Even further on we saw the old castle ruins of Hammershus, with another great part of the history of the island. They are northern Europe's largest castle ruins, with a history harking back to the 13th century. And eventually we re-appeared at Rønne, where we boarded our ship, and began our next leg of the trip: Poland, due south.
The Baltic Sea has incredible stories about adventures along its waters. One of them began today, as we tried to approach the small City of Svaneke on the island of Bornholm, also called "The Venice of the North". Winds had picked up and were quite strong, so we sailed around the island to the western (and therefore more protected) port of Rønne. In the slight drizzle we boarded our buses for an interesting tour of the northern half of the island, learning about the history of this typically Danish place. Our first stop was one of the many glass houses on the island, near Gudhjem, where glass is formed into multi-coloured art. Incredible forms with lovely colours were to be admired! Further on, at Allinge, we stopped to taste a delicious smoked mackerel with brown bread and local beer, both local products. Fishing in the Baltic Sea has diminished very strongly, probably due to over fishing, and the fish we ate today was from the North Sea or the North Atlantic. Only two fish processing plants are left on the island today. But was it tasty!
Even further on we saw the old castle ruins of Hammershus, with another great part of the history of the island. They are northern Europe's largest castle ruins, with a history harking back to the 13th century. And eventually we re-appeared at Rønne, where we boarded our ship, and began our next leg of the trip: Poland, due south.
