Tag Archives: beach

Pancake Hut at the Marina

Up to now if we wanted a pancake we drove to Genner Hoel to the pancake house there. However, now we have one just down the road from our house, in a wooden hut at the Lystbadehavn marina (opposite the Sonderborg Yacht Club).

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The pancake hut was opened on Friday by Emil Thusing. It offers, as is to be expected, pancakes, with toppings including honey, chocolate/strawberry/caramel sauce, sugar and cinnamon. Coffee, tea and juice are also on offer. At a cost of 25 DKK per pancake and 10 DKK for the drinks the prices are very reasonable.

The hut has no set opening hours, but Emil expects to open daily during summer (Except Mondays) from 15:00-21:00. We checked it out today for dessert during our after dinner walk. It did take a while to get a pancake, potentially as the pancake iron was cold, but once it arrived it was pretty good. I am sure once Emil gets more practice he will get quicker as well.

So if during the hot days coming up your are looking for something sweet on your walk along the water don’t forget to check out the pancakes!

Check the Pankagehytten on Facebook for updates. You can pay in cash or with MobilePay.

Strandhotel Glucksburg

To relax before the arrival of a small addition to the family in the next few weeks we decided to take a relaxing overnight stay at Strandhotel Glucksburg. The hotel is situated right at the water edge on the German side of Flensburg Fjord, across from the Okseø islands and Annie’s Kiosk in Kollund. This gives the rooms on the water side (called Premier rooms) great views across the Fjord.

The rooms

We stayed in a Premier Room overlooking the water. Our room was located on the fourth floor, which meant that we had to walk up stairs from the 3rd to the 4th floor. This is something to keep in mind if stairs is something you struggle with. However, the views over the water were well worth the climb, even if it was very grey, wet and windy when we were there!

View from Strandhotel Glucksburg

The room itself was quite spacious, with a sitting area on entry, quite a bit of storage if required, and a bed situated to look out over the water. I found the bed very comfortable, though Michael thought it was a bit soft. The linen, however, was some of the nicest I have ever used, particularly the duvet covers! I really need to find where I can buy some of it!

Hotel room at Glucksburg Strandhotel

Going on to the bathroom, again relatively spacious. We had requested a room with a bath and even though we had booked only a few days before for what appeared to be a full hotel, this is what we got. The soaps/shampoos etc provided were also quite nice to use (which is not normal in hotels), though no hair conditioner was offered (body lotion was instead).

Dinner

We had dinner in Restaurant Felix in the hotel itself. For some reason our reservation couldn’t be found, but we were anyways shown to a table (after some time of trying to figure things out). We were offered three 3 or 4 course menus, from which we could then choose individual dishes if preferred, as well as dishes prepared on a lavagrill. Both Michael and I opted for lavagrill dishes, with Michael going for a Husumer rumpsteak and I opted for a lamb fillet. This was then followed by a Valhrona chocolate dessert for Michael and a marzipan mousse dessert for me.

The food was well prepared and the portions were nicely proportioned. The highlights of the meal for me were definitely my lamb… it was very tender and very tasty… and the Christmas ice cream served with the chocolate dessert. This is not to say that the rest was not good, but that these 2 things were exceptionally good!

Throughout the meal the service was also very good… not intrusive but present, and everything done with a smile. All of the servers seemed like they were enjoying what they were doing, which always makes for a pleasant meal out.

Breakfast

Breakfast in the morning is again served in Restaurant Felix. As the previous night, the service was really friendly, and the food was good. There was a wide selection of items, from warm food (3 types of eggs, sausages, bacon and meat balls), good selection of cheeses and hams, toppings, yoghurts, pastries, bread, cereals and juices. There was also a make your own pancakes station!

My absolute favourite thing at breakfast was the home-made muesli porridge offered. To be honest it didn’t look like much and I was going to skip right over it. However, the name intrigued me so I decided to try it out. The home-made muesli is made into a porridge and served with fruit inside (I could distinguish apples and grapes at the very least). It was surprisingly really good… good enough for me to take another portion rather than opt for something else! The pancake station was a hit with Michael, although very few people seemed to be making use of it.

Wellness

Strandhotel Glucksburg is known as a wellness hotel. As such it offers a variety of saunas for use by the guests, as well as treatments. Unfortunately for me it is not recommended that I use saunas at the moment so we didn’t make use of the wellness facilities at the hotel. However, we did go to have a sneak peak and were very graciously offered a tour round by the receptionist there. Definitely something to check out in more depth next time we are there.

Things to do

We took it easy while we were at the hotel, went for a short walk along the water and went for a swim in nearby Forde Therme. Close by is the beautiful water castle Schloss Glücksburg that we have visited on another occasion. If you are into royal matters this is the ancestral home of the House of Glücksburg which includes the current royal Danish family and many of the other royals in Europe like Price Philip of Great Britain.

Glucksburg Castle

Overall Impression

The hotel is not cheap, but if you are looking for a relaxing place it is something to consider. We thought the price was worth it for somewhere close by where we could go to relax. The service was also great all around. What we need now is to have another opportunity to use it (and find what linens they use! They were divine… so if anyone knows, do let me know).

Learn about Sealife at the Blue Flag Station (Blå Flag Center)

Sonderborg Blue Flag Centre

A Blue Flag beach or marina indicates that a beach or marina has reach stringent requirements for water quality, safety, environmental education and information. There are 3 such locations on Als: Sønderborg Lystbådehavn, Sønderborg badestrand and Fynshavn badestrand. Sønderborg lystbadehavn, however goes one step further: it also has one of 14 Danish Blue Flag Centres.

 

What can you find there?

Equipment to borrow

The Blue Flag centre in Sonderborg is a mobile exhibition and activity centre equipped with nets, buckets, waders, telescopes, aquaria, and all you can think of to help you explore the water in the area – all free for you to borrow! The centre is also staffed by a biologist, who was very happy to answer our questions and help us along when we visited.

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Besides the activity centre, a variety of events are organised during the summer open season (Wednesday to Sunday 10-17 in weeks number 2635). A number of activities from the packed programme that caught our eye included:

  • Fjordsafari every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10-13 (100-150DKK)
  • Fishing Tour on Friday 13th July from 10-14 (50-100 DKK)
  • GPS Race (geocaching) on Friday 13th and Sunday 22nd July, and Saturday 4th August from 10-15
  • Canoe Tour on Sunday 15th July (book by the 10th of July) from 10-15
  • Beach Games on Friday 20th July from 13-16
  • ‘Eat your coast’ on Saturday 21st July and Sunday 5th Augustr from 13-16
  • Crab Day on Thursday 26th July from 14:30-16:30
  • Snorkel Safari on Saturday 28th July and 11th August from 10-13
  • Ship Builder for a day on Friday 3rd August from 14-16
  • Beach Art on Friday 10th August from 10-15
  • Closing event on Sunday 12th August from 15-17

We visited the Blue Flag Centre when our 9 year old nephew was visiting. He very happily spent 2hrs playing around on his own with the provided equipment, and could have easily stayed longer if it wasn’t time for dinner.

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A must-do for anyone who has children. As for adults? I’m sure you can channel your inner child and amaze yourself at the sealife there is around us.

A grand father helping his grand son look for sea life