Tag Archives: flensburg

Strandhotel Glucksburg

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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).

Eating out: Restaurant Bind

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Ask people in the Sonderborg area to recommend a good restaurant to go out to eat at for some celebration, and you can be sure that Restaurant Bind in Kollund will be one of the top suggestions.

So when we had something to celebrate (new house! But more about that later) we decided to give Restaurant Bind a try.

First Impressions

You find the restaurant by driving along Flensburg Fjord towards Germany and find the restaurant close to Kollund, just before you reach Annie’s Kiosk/Okesøen. The restaurant is not very well marked, having just a small sign, similar in size to a Danish street sign. There is enough parking for the small dining room inside, and from there you make your way to the restaurant by following the signs.

The dining room itself is set out looking on the water, giving you very good views over Flensburg Fjord. On the day we were the first to arrive, so it was absolutely delightful to have the quietness of the restaurant and the view of the fjord all to ourselves.

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If possible I would recommend arriving for dinner before the sun has gone completely down to have the opportunity to enjoy the view. We were seated in the middle of the restaurant, but for even better views I would consider asking for a table next to the window next time.

The Food

First thing you should know about Restaurant Bind is that, unlike most other restaurants, there is a 3-course set menu that changes every 2 weeks, together with 2-3 other dishes that also change depending on what is in season. This does make your choice very easy! You can have a look at the menu online before you go to see what is on offer. It does, however, seem that there is no vegetarian option.

As a lot of people have said, the food is really one of the stars of the plate. Everything complemented each other beautifully. The portions were also, although as to be expected not on the huge size, plenty big enough to make you feel nicely full at the end of the meal. Having bread and water continuously supplied (for free!) to the table when needed also helped make the experience for me (a bread loving Mediterranean).

The Service

Arriving at the restaurant we were warmly greeted by a number of staff. The service remained impeccable throughout the rest of the evening. Considering this, I was very surprised to hear that one of the servers had only been there one week, and for the other it was his first day! So Kasper and Michael I bow my head to the excellent job you did.

Having said all this, if there is one downside to the place is that there is a sort of subtle upselling pressure from the owner that arrives at intermittent points during the evening, namely, aperitifs on arrival and tea after your dessert. This was not something I expected from such a restaurant, but I am sure it works, considering that even though I really don’t like most teas-except British black teas-I was close to saying yes to them! It was also a surprise to see that the alcoholic and non-alcoholic (juice) aperitif cost the same when the bill came. Nevertheless, this was a very very minor blip in an otherwise perfect evening.

Would we go again? When we have something to celebrate and want to treat ourselves, Restaurant Bind will most definitely be high on our list of options! I just need to remember to say no to things I do not like, but I guess that is my problem…

Places to eat in Flensburg area

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Being so close to the German border, a trip over to ‘the other side’ is a great way of spending a Saturday. Once there, finding somewhere to eat is probably also a good idea, not least because it is typically cheaper than in Denmark. We always ask people from the area for recommendations of where to eat. This is what we have tried, and liked.

Restaurant Italia, Solitude

This restaurant is not actually in Flensburg. To visit you have to drive a bit further round Flensburg Fjord to an area called Solitude. However, it has been the most consistently mentioned restaurant by all. As the name indicates, it is an Italian restaurant, serving pizza, pasta, meat and fish.

The area it is located in is very picturesque. Do take a walk down to the water before or after your meal, or eat on the terrace if the weather is good. The food arrived quickly and was eaten just as quickly. The Italian friend we took there pronounced the pizza ‘as it should be’. If planning to visit on a weekend, do book. We called around midday for dinner that day and were told they are full after 7pm.

Gnomenkeller

Another regularly mentioned restaurant, this time in the centre of town. We tried this one when I had family over visiting. You have to go down into the ‘cellar’, as the name implies, but the atmosphere is quite charming. The restaurant’s main attraction is its meat. Service was quite slow and not very attentive, but the food made up for it.

Im Alten Speicher

This is one of the latest we were recommended. Located in one of the alleyways off the main street, it is in a very ‘hyggelig’ location. The decor inside continues on this theme.

Besides a mainly meat-based regular menu, they also have a seasonal menu. When we visited this was all asparagus based, and we both opted for something off this one. The food was great, as was the service…and they had English menus. A place to revisit when looking for great atmosphere with good food.

Hellas, Wassersleben

We were taken here by some friends of ours. As you probably can guess, it is a Greek restaurant a bit closer to the border than the town centre. The food was good at decent prices, and you also get an Ouzo with it! What’s not to like? Again, would recommend booking. The place was full when we went there.

Have you visited any of these restaurants? Or have any others you would recommend?

Kieler Woche

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Kieler Woche, or Kiel week, is the largest sailing event in the world combined with one of the largest town festivals in Germany, attracting over 3 million people every year. Events are organised all along Kiel Fjord, with most of the cultural programme focussed on the inner parts of the Fjord and the sailing events focussed around the Olympic harbour (Schilksee).

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Every year Kieler Woche falls on the last week of June, with the events starting on Saturday 22nd June and ending with a fireworks display on Sunday 30th June this year (2013). We made it down there on the opening Saturday to get my first ever taste of Kiel.

Getting There

Driving from Sonderborg to Kiel takes around 1.5hrs. However, Kiel week is particularly crazy, with parking being a big issue. For a more relaxing arrival and departure, leave your car in Flensburg and take the train from Flensburg directly to Kiel. There are trains every hour during the day, and running into the night (extra trains are organised at night on this route during Kiel week). If you are 2-5 people in the group, a Schleswig Holstein group ticket is your cheapest offer.

Getting around

An issue with Kiel week is that the events are spread all over the Fjord. Good walking shoes are a must, but even those will not be enough to get you from the central harbour area to Schilksee for the races. There are two options here: buses (if you have a Schlewsig Holstein ticket you can take a bus from the train station to there for free) or the more scenic option, a ferry. Buses 501 and 502 run from the train station (bus stop A1) to Schilksee every half an hour (3 €) and takes around 45 minutes.  The ferry (4€) takes around 1.5 hrs but is a good way of resting your legs on the way back after a day of walking.

What to do

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Where do we start? There is plenty to do, and having been there only once we don’t dare to even think that we figured out half of what is going on. However, a good plan if this is your first time is to arrive at the train station and have a walk around the harbour area. This area is mainly full with food stalls. From there, walk along the water to the Kiellinie (harbour promenade), where there is more food, fair ground areas, but also other stalls e.g. by the University of Kiel.

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At the end of Kiellinie your main next destination is Schilksee to see some races. We took a bus back to the train station, where we grabbed some lunch and jumped on a bus to Schilksee. This is probably not the best option. We later discovered the ferry: so what you can do is either back track a bit to Reventlou bridge or walk a bit further to Bellevue bridge and take the ferry from there to Schilksee.

Schilksee is the area where most of the sailors are located. It is nowhere near as busy as the inner harbour area. There is also a beach right next to it if a swim is what you are looking for. Having enjoyed Schilksee you can then take the boat or bus back to town, where you can grab some dinner and enjoy the atmosphere.

To know what is going on in Kiel, you can also download the Kieler Woche app to be able to quickly look through events.

When to go

Kieler Woche, as the name implies, is on all week. However, the weekends are the busiest so if you’re going for the atmosphere that is your best bet. We also arrived in Kiel around 10:30 am (it should have rained later and wanted to get in as much as possible before it arrived). In the circumstances, the rain didn’t arrive, so 10:30 was a bit early. Arriving around 11-11:30 is probably a good idea, especially if you want to enjoy the night life of the place.

If you want more information, a good website we found for planning our trip was this one.

Define Festival this weekend

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Music versus photography

It’s time again for the annual, cross-border, electronic Define Festival and this year they have a really interesting lineup. From partyman Bjørn Svin to a full on symphony orchestra there should be some great music and beats in store for people. And it’s cheap – about 50DKK per session.

2 days, 3 locations, lots of music
The interesting thing about this festival is that it is not confined to one location but takes place in a number of locations. You can go to one location, or you can travel around to the venues. The other years there was a cheap bus taking people from Sonderborg to Flensburg but I can’t find it mentioned this year.

Underground @ 8pm Friday Kuhlhaus, Flensburg
Young talents from the Tonespace education in at the music conservatory in Esbjerg show their latest creations: Alexander Holm, Thomas Vedel, David Nordentoft og Louis Lennert.

Electronic Movement @ 11pm Friday Kuhlhaus, Flensburg
Electronic dance music with Rainer Weichhold , Johann Nielson and Hit Asmussen.

Symphony Orchestra @ 4pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg

First Run Time Error @ Alsion a site-specific performance for joystick-controlled video. Second an ouvertures for the classical Chinese instrument ghuzeng, samples and orchestra. Both creations by Simon Steen-Andersen, a Danish composer who is getting a lot of international attention lately.

Underground @ 5.30pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg
Young talents from the Tonespace education in at the music conservatory in Esbjerg show their latest creations: Alexander Holm, Thomas Vedel, David Nordentoft og Louis Lennert.

Fuzzy & Bjørn Svin @ 8.30pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg
Fuzzy (Jens Vilhelm Pedersen) has a wide range from jazz to film music to experimental electronic music. He has music for cartoons and avant garde exhibits.
Bjørn Svin (Bjørn Christiansen) is a self taught composer and producer who has been active on the electronic stage for many years.

Wet and Dirty @ 10pm Saturday Zanzibar, Sonderborg
Electronic dance music with Rainer Weichhold , Wet and Dirty DJ team and Hit Asmussen.

Take the Flensburg-Glucksburg ferry

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Sonderborg lies in a region of islands and fjords. Water is a dominant feature of the area, making travelling by boat a realistic and practical, not to mention pleasurable, proposition.

MS VIking

A pleasant ferry ride in the region that is less about the transport and more about the pleasure goes from Flensburg to Glucksburg. The ferry M/S Viking, leaves from the Flensburg pier and arrives in Glucksburg, close to the Strandhotel. From there you can decide to either laze on the beach or walk up to the castle, around 20-30 minutes away.

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On the way from Flensburg to Glucksburg the ferry takes you around the ‘Okse’ islands, close to the Danish side of the fjord while the way back is along the German side of the fjord. I have only done the Glucksburg-Flensburg part of the trip, following a visit to Glucksburg castle, but look forward to doing the Danish side of the trip!

The ferry ride costs 6€ one way/9€ for a return trip. You can also take your bike along to explore the area around the fjord for 3€. Tickets are simply bought on the boat so don’t worry about finding a ticket booth before hand.

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Flensburg Nautics 2012

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The coming weekend, 17th to 19th of August, it’s time for the biennial Flensburg Nautics – a celebration of the city’s maritime history. There will be big sail boats visiting and a lot of things going on.

Some of the big ships that are scheduled to visit are:

You can even get on a sail boat yourself to experience first hand the historical activities on a traditional ship. There are short trips (1-2 hours) and long trips available (6 hours). Booking can be done from the page here.

On the harbour you can go see traditional crafts like rope makers, net weavers and carpenters and by some of them you can take part in them their craft. There will be all sorts of foods and drinks you can try. Plus live music from a couple of stages.

Friday the 17th August there will be a ‘parade’ as all the ships arrive and on Sunday around 3pm-4pm they will all leave again in another parade.

Friday night at 11pm there will be a 30-minute fireworks display, which you can enjoy good views of from all around the port.

From what I can tell from the website it might be even bigger than the Rum Regatta we went to earlier this year and that was a great experience.

Events south of the Border

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Every month we look at what is going on on this side of the Danish-German border. However, as well explained by the Sonderborg 2017 European Capital of Culture bid, there is a commonality between the two regions, and a need for all of us to work together if we want to succeed. So we decided to take a peek at some of the major events going on south of the border in August.

A good source of information for events going on in Schleswig-Holstein is the region’s own webpage. Although the website also has an English translation, we couldn’t find the events calendar in English. However, there are ample tools out there to help you translate the text and held you decided which events you want to travel for. This is what caught our eye:

Husum Harbour Days: Starting today, Husum is celebrating its connection to the sea with 5 days of activities around the harbour.

Busum kutterregatta: More sea-connected activities as shrimp boats compete for the ‘Blaue Band’ in this 2-day regatta (4-5 August)

Gottorf Castle celebrated its gardnes , especially the newly restored baroque ones on the 11th of August

Flensburg Nautics: Enjoy tall ships, gaff ships and yachts just across the border on the 17-19 August.

Lubeck Museum Night: Enjoy late night museum opening on the 25th of August (just after Sonderborg’s Culture night on the 24th)

So if you haven’t ventured south of the border during these holidays, what are your waiting for?

Enjoying the Rum Regatta

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The Rum Regatta is a yearly meeting of historic working boats from all over the world that happens every Ascension weekend. It is held in Flensburg Fjord to commemorate the sugar boats docking in Flensburg from the Caribbean in times gone past.

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The weekend started on Ascension Thursday when the boats arrived in Sonderborg harbour in the afternoon. It was lovely seeing these big historic boats sailing into the harbour past Sonderborg castle. It really made you want to turn the time back to when such boats regularly sailed in and out of a harbour.

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The boats left Sonderborg harbour on Friday morning. The boats were expected to leave the harbour at around 11am, after a captain’s meeting at 10am. However, when we arrived at the harbour at 10:30 with the aim of seeing the exodus start, most of the boats were already out of the harbour, waiting for the Flensburg Fjord Regatta to start at 11:30. Therefore, if you are interested in seeing the boats leave would be wise to be there earlier than 10:30 (maybe 10am?) next year!

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The end of the Regatta saw the boats arrive in Flensburg in the afternoon. We went down to Flensburg on Saturday morning once the boats were out participating in the Rum Regatta to soak in the atmosphere and see the boats returning home.

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Rum

Along the Museumshafen in Flensburg there was a great atmosphere all day long. The Gaffelmarket was on all day with stalls selling shipping-related items, craftsmen working in wood, metal and rope makers working at their craft, and stalls selling food (mainly fish and other sea food), and of course, rum!

Shtandart arriving in Flensburg after regatta

Once the boats starting arriving in the harbour at around 3pm it was another great scene as they approached on the horizon. Spotting Sebbe Als, which we helped launch a few weeks ago, keeping its own with the other boats made it that much more special.

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The boats were scheduled to leave Flensburg harbour on Sunday morning, seeing the end of the Rum Regatta for this year. A great experience that is surely worth your while to travel to see, either in Sonderborg or in Flensburg. When the boats are in the harbour you can also get the opportunity to look around some of the boats, and some of them also allow the public to join them for a trip out on the water. If historic boats is of interest, you will definitely find something for you at the Rum Regatta!

hotdogs

Annie’s Kiosk #18/99

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Annie’s Kiosk is a small snack hut on the scenic way from Sonderborg to Flensburg. Small as it might be, it punches above its weight; it even has a long wikipedia entry in German!

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The kiosk is famous for its hotdogs (and ice-creams). In typical snack hut style, you walk up to the window, order your hotdog – different choices of sausages, mustard, ketchup, remoulade, fried onions, raw onions and pickles – pay, and then get to enjoy it on the open-air benches and tables to the side. There you can get a good view of Flensburg Fjord and Store Okseø.

The kiosk is a favourite stopping point for motorcylists and drivers in the area. It served as a perfect stopping point for us after visiting Cathrinesminde Teglværk in Broager in the morning and before continuing onwards to Frøslev Prison Camp in Padborg, while allowing us to enjoy the scenic views down to the kiosk.