UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site Wadden Sea

 

After our first night in Aurich, one of the middle sized towns in Ostfriesland (East Frisia), we went to have breakfast in a lovely bakery. The breakfast was divine - I chose the cheese breakfast with two rolls and three different cheeses and homemade jam. The delicious coffee is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday - of course! 

After that we took off along the country roads. Many of them are lined with trees which at that time of year were bare. Like the day before, it was gray and rather chilly.

It was Sunday, so people enjoyed a traditional Northern German game called "Boßeln". It's a kind of road bowling played on rural roads. I had read about it in books where the plot takes place in East Frisia, but I had never experienced it myself. It was interesting for us to see.

Along the way we also passed quite some windmills. They seem to be everywhere.

Our destination this morning was Bensersiel with its natural beach.

The Bensersieler Naturstrand (Bensersiel Natural Beach) is part of the Wattenmeer (Wadden Sea) which is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The text on the sign in the following photo on the right side reads: "Please be considerate of nature and animals. For migrating wading birds and waterfowl, the Wadden Sea is the hub along the East Atlantic Flyway. Millions of wading birds, geese, ducks, gulls, and terns use this unique natural area on the North Sea coast. Because of its importance for birds, the Wadden Sea is unique in the world and protected as a national park and World Heritage Site."

Despite the gray weather I found this site pretty remarkable. It's lonesome out here, perfect if you're looking for some solitude.

The Wattenmeer is the world's largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mudflats. It is a diverse environment that inlcudes sand dunes, salt marshes and lagoons and has a rich biodiversity.

Some areas of the beach were littered with shells.

Even though it seemed like it looked the same everywhere, I was fascinated by the views we had over the beach and the Wattenmeer. This looks very different during high tide.

I loved all the plants, but of many I have no idea what they are.

And just like almost everywhere, someone had built a little cairn on the beach.

We spent a long time at the beach and then walked back to the little town of Bensersiel. Guess what we did at this food truck? Yes, of course we got our Krabbenbrötchen (roll with North Sea shrimps) - how could we not? The "funny" striped chairs you see are the typical roofed wicker beach chairs we have in Germany, a Strandkorb.

Apart from the natural beach there isn't anything else in Bensersiel, so we drove to Neuharlingersiel. You might notice that many places here end with the word "siel" - Bensersiel, Greetsiel, Neuharlingersiel. "siel" is a Frisian word that means sluice or flood gate. If the name of a town or village ends with "siel" it indicates that it was built around a sluice that controls the water flow. Neuharlingersiel is also the coastal town from where the boats to the German island Spiekeroog depart. The schedule of these boats depend on the tidal schedule of course and change every day. In 2014 we left for Spiekeroog from this harbor.

In the photo above you can see one of those boats leaving for Spiekeroog in the background. They are not particularly big because they need to fit in the shipping channel of the Wattenmeer.

I liked this sculpture of fishermen.

In the following picture you see an old Stockanker on the left side - I don't know the exact translation for this, it's a kind of anchor that was used for 3000 years on sailboats in the North Sea. This one from the 16th century is made from wood and was found in 2003 between the islands of Spiekeroog and Langeoog after a storm had exposed it. The smaller anchor to the right was found in the 1980s at the same location. 

Being so close to the sea, the town needs a Hochwasserschutzmauer (flood masonry wall). This one was built in 1961 and 36 years later increased in height. We visited the café Dattein behind the wall.

Dattein is a café as well as a Kneipe (pub), very gemütlich (cozy) and charming. We wanted something warm to drink - Kaefer and I ordered each a hot chocolate (hers was with rum and mine with amaretto) and the Geek got a Grog, a classic winter drink from Ostfriesland made of rum, sugar and water and heated up. The hot chocolate was served in traditional mugs. Of course, this is also for T Tuesday.

We were warm again and ventured out for another walk on the natural beach of Schillig that was very different to the one in Bensersiel.

We were almost alone on this beach except for a few hardy people.

Finally it was our last dinner in Ostfriesland which we had in Aurich. My appetizer was a very delicious Krabbensuppe (soup with North Sea shrimp) and there's another Weißbier for T Tuesday.

Early the next morning we had breakfast at the same bakery again and then we drove back to Münster (a drive of less than two hours). The following day we were on our flight back to San Francisco. Four wonderful weeks had come to an end.

Moin Moin

 

We are getting into our last weekend in Germany. After visiting and spending almost the entire day in  Miniatur Wunderland we spent another night in Hamburg and left early the next morning by train, back to Münster where we met up with my brother and his partner in the afternoon and evening. The next morning we left for Ostfriesland (East Frisia) in the Northwestern part of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). The last time I spent in Ostfriesland was for our Bartz Family reunion on the island of Spiekeroog in June 2014. This time we went in the middle of November, a rather gloomy month in Germany when the weather can be described with just one word: grey. You can also add damp and cold. All those four-letter words...

A defining feature of East Frisia is that it is not dominated by a larger city. There are five midsize towns and five small towns as well as a multitude of villages and small communities - and there is a chain of islands off the coast, including before-mentioned Spiekeroog. The vernacular in East Frisia is Ostfriesisches Platt (East Frisian Low German) which I can understand a little bit, but cannot speak. The Platt dialect is being found in many regional varieties; where I grew up Sauerländer Platt was spoken. Platt is only spoken in the Northern parts of Germany. Bilingualism is promoted by the East Frisian Landscape, for example through assistance with bilingual teaching in kindergartens and elementary schools by the Plattdütskbüro. The standard greeting in East Frisia is “Moin” and is used at any time of the day or night.

Located so close to the North Sea seafood is something you can get at every corner (almost). We went to Greetsiel and the first thing we did is going to the Fischbude (fish stall) and getting a Krabbenbrötchen (roll with North Sea shrimps) and Kibbeling (battered and deep fried cod nuggets). Oh, it was so delicious! 

We walked through Greetsiel which is a very charming village. We visited little unique shops and I enjoyed all the little details.

It wasn't far to the harbour. The fisherboats and Krabbenkutter (shrimp trawler) were all lined up at the dock. Many people here make their living from fishing - and tourism in the summer.

Beautiful houses at the waterfront with lots of restaurants and cafés. All these houses are well cared for - people are proud of their homes and village. Reminders of the sea were never far.

Buildings are built of brick and often have interesting little details as well as old gates and doors.

A canal runs right through the village, the Neues Greetsieler Außentief. It is lined by houses, little shops and cafés and lots of trees.

As it should be, the church is in the historical center of the village - it has a very beautiful old tower. But that was not the only thing that was interesting about this church.

In the churchyard is one of the historical iron bells that were replaced by three bronze bells.

When you look at the church from this side you don't really see anything remarkable - it's just a beautiful building.

However, if you stand right next to it and look along its side, the strong lateral inclination of the church walls catches the eye. I wasn't able to find out the reason for this - maybe it's because it's very old. The church dates back to the 14th century. It isn't unstable, though - we were able to go inside and there is also a rather big organ hanging from the ceiling inside.

Greetsiel is famous for its windmills that you can see from some places within the village.

This one was very beautiful.

After we had walked around the village for a while we decided to drive out to the Pilsumer Leuchtturm (lighthouse). Despite the grey weather and overcast sky we could see the lighthouse from quite a way back due to its happy colors. It was proudly standing on the dyke.

It was cold and windy (Ostfriesland is one of the windiest regions in Germany), nevertheless, we decided to walk out to the lighthouse. We didn't walk on top of the dyke, but opted for the slightly less windy route next to it. Looking at Kaefer you get an idea how cold it was.

Despite the cold, Kaefer and the Geek still were in the mood for some goofyness, and I enjoyed taking pictures of their goofyness. What the heck are they doing here?

This:

Isn't this a pretty little lighthouse? So happy with its brilliant colors.

From the dyke we had a wide view acroos the land - well, at least as far as the clouds would allow. Many wind turbines are found all over Ostfriesland. This is the perfect location for this source of renewable energy.

We drove back to Greetsiel and stopped at the canal so we could take a few more pictures of the Zwillingsmühlen (twin mills). I think both are very picturesque, especially on this grey day.

We went back into Greetsiel for an early dinner. We found a lovely little restaurant called Moin Moin where we had the most delicious local food. Krabbensuppe (shrimp soup), Krabbenbrot mit Spiegelei (dark bread with North Sea shrimp and fried egg) and as dessert Zimt Panna Cotta mit Ostfriesischer Bohnensuppe (cinnamon Panna Cotta with rum-soaked raisins). It was so good!

The food was accompanied by a Bavarian Weißbier which was a perfect companion. Of course this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

It was such a lovely day! After our delicious dinner we drove to Aurich (one of the five midsize towns) where we had a beautiful vacation rental for two nights. I wouldn't mind coming back!