Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
I crossed the border from Denmark into Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state in Germany. This area had historically been under Danish control so I didn’t sense a sharp cultural difference but I definitely appreciated the ability to read and converse again in German.
Prussia absorbed Schleswig-Holstein and its ethnic German majority in 1867 after decades of conflict with Denmark. Still, 150 years later, Danish flags could be seen fluttering from a few houses. By the way, the word Holstein probably rings a bell because this is where the white and black-spotted dairy breed of cows originated.
I found an interesting place to stay in the town of Schleswig via Booking.com instead of Airbnb this time. It was an old brick house converted into apartments with several units reserved for travelers like me. In the entrance there were photos of the German couple who originally owned the building and, this being Deutschland, a concise cleaning schedule for residents in the corridor.
It rained on my drive down from Denmark but the drops had finally begun to taper off. I quickly dropped my bags and hiked into the center of town to get my bearings. Despite the gray weather I immediately felt more at home with the familiar German street signs, cars and architecture.
You probably associate a certain type of font with Germany. It’s the Blackletter family, with a Gothic, hand-drawn look commonly used throughout western Europe in the Middle Ages. Although its use fell off in the 1700s, it continued in Germany until the 1940s when Hitler’s distaste for the supposedly “Jewish-influenced” script saw it officially discontinued.
Today, you still see it in older street signs and used where it communicates traditional, conservative values, like the masthead of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
Another sign Schleswig-Holstein was a border region was the greeting people said to you as you entered restaurants or passed them on the street. Instead of the hearty “Guten Tag” or “Grüß Gott” you’d get in southern Germany, the people here said “Moin” which rhymes with the English word “coin”. Sometimes they’d even double it up.
My hike around Schleswig eventually led me to a small fishermen’s quarter called Holm. Originally an island, the sturdy brick houses were arranged in a tight circle around a central churchyard. This way everyone had equal access to the water.
The modest church was reserved for residents of Holm as, I assumed, was the cemetery. There were two groupings of engraved rocks, one for each World War, with an astonishing number of dead for such a small neighborhood. I stopped to study one rock which displayed the names of three sons from one family. They appeared to have died one after the other in 1943, 1944 and 1945. The anguish, even now, was hard to comprehend.
There was an ongoing memorial service of some sort at the time I first approached the church. The sign on the gate read “funeral, silence is requested”.
I also noted 1863 on the fencing and thought about Civil War events like the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg happening across the Atlantic that momentous year. Geman-Americans were the largest ethnic group to fight for the Union. More than 200,000 native-born Germans, along with another 250,000 first-generation German-Americans, served in the Union Army.
I choose places to stay that serve as a central base for further exploring in different directions. This “hub-and-spoke” method of travel works well for me. Schleswig provided easy access to the city of Flensburg to the north and the village of Friedrichstadt to the southwest.
The next morning I drove about 30 minutes north to explore Flensburg. Only four miles from the Danish border, this was the northernmost city in Germany. Although rain again was expected, I luckily dodged it for most of the day.
By the afternoon, the clouds were breaking apart to reveal a dramatically blue sky. I walked along the harbor front and admired the boats. Schleswig-Holstein is virtually surrounded by water, with the Atlantic and North Sea to the west and the Baltic here on the east.
Soon I was back in the car and headed southwest toward the small fishing village of Friedrichstadt. I research possible destinations online as much as possible, even plotting them on Google Maps. But I find myself often pulling to the side of the road when I see something interesting.
Perhaps it was the afternoon sun finally breaking through but I immediately warmed to this little village. As in other parts of Schleswig-Holstein, the architecture reminded me of my time in the Netherlands. The stepped gables were classically Dutch.
I optimistically left my jacket in the car and slowly wandered the cobblestone streets. Again, water was everywhere with small boats lining the canals. April is such an interesting time to visit quiet places like this. There are virtually no other tourists and although the weather can be hit or miss, when it does clear, everything just feels so alive.
By the time I made it back to my temporary home in Schleswig in the evening, I was ready for a warm shower and bed. Twenty-five thousand steps in a day will do that for you!
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