Swalking along the beach with the sound of the sea on the spectacular Red Cliff or rather in the mystical silence of the Green Cliff, like Thomas Mann letting your gaze wander into aimless expanses at the end of the cliff, immersing yourself in the life stories of whalers, enjoying Frisian teas with traditional local pastries – the Germans favorite island is relaxing in many ways and always worth a trip.
Windswept and spoiled by the spring sun, Roland Kaiser stands between breakwaters on the Odde, Sylt’s southernmost tip near Hörnum. Two lighting technicians follow the photographer’s instructions to put the singer in the desired soft light under a steel blue sky. “Are you okay, Roland?” asks a lady dressed in red, maybe his manager, during one of the breaks in the shooting. “Yes, of course,” replies the hit star.
The onlookers wandering the beach notice that his smile is open, relaxed and full of joie de vivre. Just spring fever. Even the seagulls, which let themselves be carried by the wind high above their heads, are in good spirits: sun, the best view and tourists chewing shrimp or herring rolls – there will be something for us, you might think.
Hike along the beach from Wenningstedt to Kampen
The weather stays sunny and we set off on an extensive beach hike along the Red Cliff from Wenningstedt to Kampen. This cliff on the German edge of the North Sea, which is the most impressive after Helgoland, only gets really red at sunset, but it also indulges in whitewashing during daylight.
The evening sun bathes the red cliff near Kampen in a warm light
Source: pa/Zoonar/Thorsten Schier
We continue hiking in the west of the island, past the “Uwe Dune”, the highest elevation on Sylt at 52 meters. It is named after the lawyer Uwe Jens Lornsen, a committed pioneer for a united and independent Schleswig-Holstein. 110 wooden steps lead to a viewing platform from which we let our gaze wander over the center of the island to its northern tip and the Danish mainland.
The house “Kliffende” is our next destination. Today privately owned, it housed the painter Emil Nolde, the publisher Ernst Rowohlt and the writer Thomas Mann as a luxury hotel in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as Nazi greats such as Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Göring. One might think that chansonnier Reinhard Mey dedicated the song “Im Hotel zum Eternal Course of the Tides” to the historical hostel on his last album:
“In the hotel to the eternal course of the tides
High above the cliff with the windows to the sea
Wait without a word, eyes slipping away
In aimless expanses, they sit in the lee…”
We also sit downwind – on a bench with a view of the house to which the song is written and the sea surging below it, letting our eyes and thoughts wander, accompanied by Reinhard Mey’s song via smartphone. Admire once again how well the artist can capture places and moods with words and music, feel the inspiring powers of this timeless place.
They once prompted the publisher Rowohlt to invite his authors here, and Thomas Mann to make profound statements like this one: “It’s not good luck or bad luck, it’s the depth of life that matters. By this shattering sea I have lived deeply, and what agitated it will, God grant, somehow come to fruition honorably.”
The “Kupferkanne” café is idyllically situated in the countryside on Kampen’s Wadden side
Quelle: pa/imageBROKER/Sabine Lubenow
At the end of the hike, we let ourselves be spoiled with rhubarb and strawberry crumble cake and coffee specialties in the renowned “Kupferkanne” café, which is idyllically situated on the Kampen Wadden Sea. A rain shower has passed, the large umbrellas are optimistically closed by the team, the view of the mudflat hiking trail from Kampen to Keitum is free and the idea for our next venture is born: to hike from Keitum to Kampen on the “Green Cliff”.
Keitum is one of the most beautiful villages in North Friesland
Before we start the next morning, we have a stylish North Frisian breakfast in the “Kleine Teestube” in Keitum, which is rightly considered one of the most beautiful villages in North Friesland. Lime trees, beeches, chestnuts, lilac bushes and wild roses seem to compete for the most luxuriant growth. 200 years ago there was a treeless heath village where Sylt is greenest today. But since the 19th century, when the teacher Christian Peter Hansen advocated planting trees, enough time has passed to give Keitum its green face.
It’s still quiet here on this spring morning. Most tourists are probably hanging out somewhere on the beach or enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the already warming sun. So we can walk undisturbed on the winding paths that run through the old town center and are lined with magnificent Frisian houses. These are mainly from the 18th century, some are even older.
In May, the roses and hydrangeas bloom profusely in the garden of this old Frisian house in Keitum
Credit: pa/blickwinkel/McPHOTO/I. Schulz
In the then economic heyday of Sylt almost every family made a living from seafaring. The men sailed all the world’s seas as merchant seafarers to return home to Europe with valuables such as spices, fabrics or tea, or made a fortune as whalers. Since almost every man traveled far from the island, women determined the fortunes of the village and the families. You can still see this early emancipation of the self-confident Frisian women today.
Life was good back then. The “Altfriesisches Haus” museum, the home of a whaler with original furniture from 1793, bears witness to this. And people died with honor: in the cemetery next to the medieval church of St. Severin there are dignified tombstones of the captains and their wives at the time. Charismatic personalities of our time, such as the publisher Peter Suhrkamp and the journalist Rudolf Augstein, also found their final resting place in this Nordic stillness.
Mystical silence at the green cliff
Keitum and its surroundings have something mystical, quiet, remote from the world. We feel it as we take the path down from the “Altfriesisches Haus” to start our hike via Munkmarsch to Kampen: silence, only occasionally interrupted by the screams of seagulls, reed grass gently swaying in the wind, herons strutting silently through the mudflats, blue clear sky with a few dabs of cloud, here and there a spicy scent of heather.
The bridge of lies between Keitum and Munkmarsch protects walkers from wet feet during high water
Source: pa/Geisler-Fotopress/Burkhard Schubert/Geisler-Fotopr
With every step we are more and more seized by a peaceful stillness. The small and big worries of everyday life, all the strife of our world seem to be absorbed by the quiet, green expanse.
“How wonderfully deep you can breathe here – it’s as if all world pain slags were completely cleared away. (…) It’s so strange that everything you think you have to worry about just melts into nothing here. So – I radiate joie de vivre from every pore,” wrote the painter Kurt-Claude Lambert to his future wife in 1955.
The writer Max Frisch also loved this hike and gave it the name “Green Forgetting”. How right they both are! Sylt in spring is the best medicine against winter blues – guaranteed without side effects.
Source: Infographic WORLD
Tips and information for Sylt:
Coronaregeln: The 3G regulations have been lifted in Schleswig-Holstein since March 20th. There is only a partial mask requirement. Detailed information: Info-Center Westerland, telephone: 04651/99834.
Museums: The Sylt local history museum in Keitum am Kliff explains the history of the island from the beginnings to the 20th century: soelring-museen.de/syltmuseum/
The old Frisian house in Keitum am Kliff shows the Sylt life and living culture of the 18th and 19th centuries: soelring-museen.de/altfriesisches-haus/
More tips: Historical center of Keitum: Most of the old Frisian houses are located to the north of the Gurtstig, between Erich-Johannsen-Wai and Mühlenweg, many older than 200 years.
Church of St. Severin: the largest medieval building on the island, chancel and apse from the early 13th century, baptismal font from the 11th/12th Century. Jewels are the Gothic winged altar and the Renaissance pulpit.
“Green Cliff” hiking trail: Direct access from the two museums mentioned above, the path can be walked in a southerly direction to Morsum or northerly to Kampen.
Further information: sylt.de
So you can get as much vacation time as possible with bridging days
Even if many public holidays fall on a weekend again in 2022, you can still arrange your vacation days in such a way that you have as many days off as possible in a row. With these tips you can use the bridge days as efficiently as possible.
Source: WELT/ Viktoria Schulte