“Salt in the air, sand in my hair.”
Skagen (pronounced 'skain with a silent 'g') is in the northernmost town in Denmark, I call it the tippest tip of the country.
Located in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, 41 kilometers north of Frederikshavn and 108 kilometers northeast of Aalborg where we are based.
The settlement began during the Middle Ages as a fishing village, renowned for its Herring fishes industry. As of 1 January 2020 it has a population of 7,845.
Now tourists come in droves, drawn by the area's long sandy beaches and buzzing holiday vibe. Although the town gets packed in summer, it thankfully maintains its charm. The Port of Skagen is Denmark's main fishing port and it also has a thriving tourist industry, attracting 2 million people annually. Skagen is one of port of call for most cruises in the region too.
Painters from all over the places came to Skagen in 1800s,where they painted landscapes and open-air sceneries heavily influenced by their environment. Some of the paintings have found their way in galleries all over the world and have fetched handsome prices at auctions.
After spending the night surrounded by the sea breeze in Saeby, we took bus 973X from the bus stop 10 minutes away from our Summer House to Frederikshavn station. 973X travels between Aalborg and Frederikshavn.
The bus travel mostly on the highway, the journey rewarded me a 30-minute scenic ride with sea views and dairy animals roaming freely.
A washroom is located near to the exit. There are even group seats attached with table whether you want to use a laptop, have your meals or a place for kids to play.
Frederikshavn Station
As usual, the train platforms is open concept to bus terminal. There is a supermarket - REMA 1000 just at the side of the train station.
After you check in with the bus card and board the train, the conductor will hop up to double check if you had already tapped your card.
After you check in with the bus card and board the train, the conductor will hop up to double check if you had already tapped your card.
40 minutes of train ride from Frederikshavn to Skagen station. The train was clean & cozy, we were being rewarded a scenic train ride full of different colors of flowers and plants along the way. There are even horses and sheeps roaming along the green.
Skagen Station
As I alight from the train, the back of the Skagen station greeted me. From far, the bright yellow is shining like a forever sun greeting visitors. This tone of yellow is the signature color of Skagen. The railway tracks end here, this is the most northerly railway station in Denmark which opened in 1890, the current building was built in 1919 and been in use till now.
See the streets here, so deserted at early hours of 8am.
Grenen
NORTHERNMOST POINT : Grenen, commonly but erroneously believed to be the northernmost point of Denmark, where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet. Because of their different densities, a clear dividing line can be seen. As a result of turbulent seas, beaching and shipwrecks were common. Millions of tourists visit the sandy strait at the tippest top of the country to stand at the exact spot the two seas meet. Due to the strong currents, swimming isn’t allowed, but there are plenty of other beaches in the area where locals and foreigners can take a leap.
The car park where public toilet and souvenir shop located is the furthest point a private vehicle can reach. Unless you want to travel via an authorized vehicle - Sandormen a.k.a. "Sandworm", where you can purchase a ticket( DKK35 round trip) from the machine near the toilet or just pay cash onboard the wagon. Alternately, just trek over, mere 3 kilometers from the car park to the tippest tip. 2 ways will be 6 kilometers. We choose to walk as the wind is so breezy and the sea view is so fantastic, and we are trying our luck if we can run into a seal basking on the beach.
We start our 3 kilometers trek from this point where we are been seen in these 2 photos.
Before we reached the beach, beside the scenery we see on the cliff, we came across....
This beautiful bird greeted us with it's beautiful song
Finally, we reached the tippest tip! A great experience to see the place where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea. You get to put on foot in the Baltic and one in the North Sea.
This beautiful bird greeted us with it's beautiful song
The tomb of a famous poet and painter : Holger Drachmann
You may wiki here : Holger Drachmann - Wikipedia
This bunker was built and used by the Germen during WW2. It is now under the care of local authorities.
And now we are the sand area, we need to walk to the tippest tip which will take us another 10 minutes' walk.
The sand is so sandy and soft that both foots just sank into it, so we walk at the edge of the water where the sand is wet and feel firmer to walk. Along the way, seagulls fishing in the water, flying in the skies. Beached jellyfishes scattered over so it is advisable not to barefoot.
The wind is extremely strong, and the weather is very cooling, I must hold onto my hair when I took pictures, glad that we had a jacket on us.
We are standing inbetween of the North Sea & the Baltic Sea !!
The currents coming from each sea clashing onto each other can be seen clearly with endless horizon to the beyond. See this video
Wow. Why does nature create these wonders? This is such a special experience as we could stand on the most tippest tip of Denmark without any other people around us (we came early to avoid crowds). Beautiful walk along the beach admiring the light and the colours of sky and sea of this part of Denmark where it seems to be at the end of lands. Sand, wind and sea surround visitors. Very magical experience!
Got this photo from goggle where you get a full view how it look like when North Sea meeting the Baltic Sea.
Here come the Sandormen a.k.a. "Sandworm" with full load of tourists, it's the time we make space for other people after hogging this tippest tip for our own for the past 30 minutes. And we have to walk back the same path where we came from, another 3 kilometers.
Right over near here in Grenen, you can also pay a visit to Skagen's Grey Lighthouse, which is an active lighthouse.
250 steps to bring you to the top of the lighthouse and we gave up as we were too full after the lunch.
Blink Cafe - Lunch
Right by the light house, the menus are limited because it is seasonal.
Though it is not cheap, but the food is quite yummy, and the waiter is very handsome. 🤔
Take note : there are only 2 restaurants here, Blink cafe & Restaurant De2Have which is at the hilltop of Grenen.
We are heading to The Sand Covered Church next.
Den Tilsandede Kirke a.k.a. The Sand Covered Church or The Buried Church or Old Skagen Church
This is the name given to the 14th- century church dedicated to Saint Lawrence of Rome. Sand began drifting in from Råbjerg Mile (Sand Dune which is 15 minutes' drive away) around 1600, the area surrounding the church becoming affected by the desertification which destroyed the fields. In 1775, the church door had to be dug free for the congregation to be able to attend the service, and for the following 20 years, the Skageners struggled to keep the church free from sand, without being allowed to close it down. In 1795 the church was closed by royal decree and the body of the church demolished. Today, only the church tower still stands, rising above the sandy dune, it is opened during certain days where you can enter and walk up of the tower via the narrow steps. The church is one of the oldest building in Skagen, it was built of brick in Gothic Style in 1355.
Sct. Laurentii Vej
Diagonally opposite Skagen train station lies a stretchy walking street lined with various shops , cafes , restaurants, supermarket, bank and many more. I always love to stroll along the shopping streets in Europe as most of these buildings are nostalgic with stories of yesteryears but with fresh paints.
Like this as well, it is charming to have a relax walk through seeing the places and the people. Again, we attract quite an attention for being the only 2 Asian here.
Below 2 places are encouraged to visit too, it is a regret that we did not manage to visit them as time was not at our side.
1) Rabjerg Mile (Sand Dune) , 2) Gammel Skagen - photos are extracted from goggle.
Råbjerg Mile (Sand Dune)
The Dune of Råbjerg Mile is the largest migrating dune in Denmark. The region has for many centuries struggled with migrating dunes due to the harsh wind and sand-covered areas as it is very close to Skagen town. The migrating dune Råbjerg Mile, is about 1 kilometer wide and 1 kilometer long, each year the dune moves around 15 meters further to the Northeast, closer to Grenen, the tipest tip of Denmark. Multiples attempts of afforestation did not stop the migrating dune at all, it is estimated that the sand will cover the main road to Skagen town in a century or two.
Gammel Skagen
Another word for "Gammel Skagen" is "Old Skagen", these yellow houses with red roof is located in Hojan, west of Skagen, which is an old fishing village. There are not much permanent residents left in Gammal Skagen, so now these houses are mostly owned by people outside of Skagen.
Today, this place is filled up with private owned holiday houses, hotels, and restaurants. It is highly recommended to visit Gammel Skagen, where you can have a "relaxed and calmed" experience than the hectic holiday life in the downtown.
Finally, this blog of Skagen have come to an end, please look out for my next blog on Frederikshavn where we spent a morning relaxing in the walking street.
If you have more time to spare, I would like to invite you to check out further on the rest of my blogs while we are in Denmark.
1) Relocation from Singapore to Aalborg, Denmark
2) Settling down in Aalborg - A Resident's View
4) Lindholm Høje @ Aalborg - The Ancient Burial Grounds for the VIKINGS 5) One Day Silkeborg @ Denmark
6) Explore Copenhagen @ Denmark
8) Summer Holidays in Saeby Denmark
9) Top of Denmark : Frederikshavn
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