We spent the day at Skagen, Denmark’s northernmost point. This place is said to be windy 364 days out of a year, and today was not the odd day out! Along with the wind, sand dunes have played a big role in the area’s history. Dunes have advanced, burying buildings, then exposing them decades or more later. And there seems to be widespread agreement on building colors. Nearly every house was mustard-colored with a red-tiled roof.
We divided into groups and explored in a variety of ways. Skagen was admired for its unusual light, and a group of impressionist artists worked here. Some went off to see a museum hosing their work. Many went off the region’s largest dune. It is more than a hundred feet high and is so expansive that one has little notion of its crescent shape. We climbed this dune and some of its lesser neighbors. Abstract patterns were all around us – sand like drifts of snow, sand blowing like fog, sand layers forming “topographic maps.” But the overwhelming experience was the wind. Wind, wind, wind! Wind hissing in the grass and wind howling in our ears. Others walked the coast, seeing three lighthouses that were built over three hundred years as the peninsula gradually lengthened. These groups joined at the very tip of Denmark. Here, its seas, the Kattegat and the Skagarat meet in turmoil. Terns hunkered in the sand, and plovers scurried to and fro. But all were pleased with the seals. Two harbor seal pups lay hauled out in the sand. Scores of people surrounded them, making a rather odd wildlife-viewing experience, but the seals didn’t seem to mind. It’s quite normal for seals to leave their pups resting in the sand while they fish, and as long as the pups are not too much disturbed, this situation presents no problems. Some went off to the bunker museum, entering one of the many massive concrete bunkers that the Germans built here in World War II.
To start lunch, we had a taste of the area’s favorite snacking combo. We had locals tell us about herring and schnapps, and tried several varieties.
After lunch some went by bus to town; others hopped on bikes for a spin round the town and its environs. It was a nice look at a blend of cultural and natural areas.
