Tag Archives: Germany

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).

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.

Hedeby – a Viking town

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Hedeby, also known as Haithabu and variants thereof, was once Northern Europe’s largest Viking settlement, growing largely due to its strategic position at the end of the Schlei fjord. Due to the distance this fjord goes inland into mainland Germany, this point was the narrowest part of the Jutland peninsula. Going round Skagen, at the far north of the Jutland peninsula was a dangerous proposition for seafarers in the past. Therefore they preferred to cross from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea at this point using the rivers connecting the two.

Hedeby

Having control of Hedeby meant that you had control of the North Sea-Baltic Sea traffic, and helped in the development of Hedeby as a major trading town. It was first mentioned in 804 AD and grew significantly in economic power in this period to 1000 AD together with the increasing power held by the Vikings. It was, however, burnt down in 1050 during conflicts between the Danish and Norwegian kings. This was the start of the end for Hedeby.

Over time, the location of the site was lost, until the 1900s when excavation work started in the area. Since the area was never built on and was preserved in waterlogged soils, a significant amount of material survived to the present day. This material is today found in Hedeby Viking Museum, which sits close to the original location of Hedeby, on which there are now a number of reconstructed Viking houses.

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We recently visited the museum on a cold winter day. The main museum inside is open, the reconstructed houses outside are not open until spring. You can walk over to the site of the houses and walk along the semicircular mount surrounding the site of the town and made our way back.

The museum is worth a visit in its our right. I have visited quite a number of museums and would say this is one of the better made exhibitions. I liked that, although most of the text was in German, we were given a booklet with the relevant text in English (or Danish). Things were very well signposted with easy-to-follow numbers, meaning that I could spend my time actually looking and reading rather than finding my way around.

Besides excellent explanations there are also some gems of exhibits. I particularly liked the visual exhibit in the first room showing the development of Hedeby from its founding to its downfall. For this exhibit you can select between speak and text in English, Danish and German, for the explanatory text. I thought this was very nicely made, and allowed me to take a break from reading from the booklet.

Multimedia display showing the history of Hedeby

Another exhibit that deserves special mention is the rune stone. I appreciated the fact that as the text on the stone was being recited, the relevant areas on the stone were highlighted, so you could follow the text on the stone. I always thought that rune stones are read in some complex way, so it was fascinating to realise that the way they are read is not much different to how I would lay text out if I was inscribing words on a stone.

On the day we visited there were also two men dressed in costume in the last room holding a big ship. If you visit and they are there, do go have a chat. They were extremely friendly and happy to explain that they have been building a replica Viking boat. They were sewing the sail on the day we visited. After that, all that is left is to build the mast, yardarm and mast-fish and they are ready to go. The plan is that the boat will be ready for sailing this summer.

Ship builders at the museum

It seemed to me that there is a lively community around the Hedeby site, actively striving to improve the experience of the visitors. Schleswig and the museum is just an hours drive from Sonderborg making it within easy reach and well-worth the trip!

Expect to spend two hours for the inside of the museum (if you read the displays). And another hour or two to explore the site and houses outside on foot.

Map of Jutland peninsula with Hedeby by Caravaca

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.

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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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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?