Christiansø Island, Denmark
No doubt, we will encounter other wonders on our trip across the Baltic but few will have more romantic settings or take us off the beaten path as effectively as the two little islands stuck out in the middle of Baltic have done today. Christiansø and Fredericksø, located a few miles off the coast of Bornholm, were completely captivating. Walking the island and seeing the remaining fortifications, one could sense the isolation of the sailors who were put ashore here to defend Denmark’s easternmost shore. Obsolete militarily since about the time the defenses were completed, they nevertheless convey the enormity of the task. The naturalists showed us a variety of flora and fauna and the most determined trained their binoculars on Græsholmen Island a ways off shore. This island, a nature preserve, is a paradise for birds. Together, these three islands are known as the Ertholmene Islands.
The islands were literally a backwater until a settlement between Sweden and Denmark (1658) made them militarily important to Denmark as a foothold in the Baltic. The king ordered a fortress built but saw little action in the eighteenth century. The most significant battle fought here was in 1808 when the British attacked the fort to stop the privateering centered on the island. In the meantime the island served for a time as a prison, an Alcatraz of the Baltic.
Now the one hundred or so residents fear neither the English nor the pirates and make their living primarily from fishing, with tourism an important supplement. Wintertime is fairly quiet and at times perhaps a little bleak, the only physical link to the island is a post boat that maintains a regular service. But in the early summer as we saw it: the romantic atmosphere of the islands captured many of us.
In the afternoon we visited the larger island of Bornholm taking in the round church at Østerlars Kirke and viewed the great ruins of Hammerhus with its grand vistas and an uncertain past that even locals have trouble unraveling.
Our two stops today were proof of the value of sailing the Baltic, for we saw things that the land-based traveler would be hard-pressed to see. As the day closed the Endeavour sailed off to the east headed for more adventures tomorrow.
No doubt, we will encounter other wonders on our trip across the Baltic but few will have more romantic settings or take us off the beaten path as effectively as the two little islands stuck out in the middle of Baltic have done today. Christiansø and Fredericksø, located a few miles off the coast of Bornholm, were completely captivating. Walking the island and seeing the remaining fortifications, one could sense the isolation of the sailors who were put ashore here to defend Denmark’s easternmost shore. Obsolete militarily since about the time the defenses were completed, they nevertheless convey the enormity of the task. The naturalists showed us a variety of flora and fauna and the most determined trained their binoculars on Græsholmen Island a ways off shore. This island, a nature preserve, is a paradise for birds. Together, these three islands are known as the Ertholmene Islands.
The islands were literally a backwater until a settlement between Sweden and Denmark (1658) made them militarily important to Denmark as a foothold in the Baltic. The king ordered a fortress built but saw little action in the eighteenth century. The most significant battle fought here was in 1808 when the British attacked the fort to stop the privateering centered on the island. In the meantime the island served for a time as a prison, an Alcatraz of the Baltic.
Now the one hundred or so residents fear neither the English nor the pirates and make their living primarily from fishing, with tourism an important supplement. Wintertime is fairly quiet and at times perhaps a little bleak, the only physical link to the island is a post boat that maintains a regular service. But in the early summer as we saw it: the romantic atmosphere of the islands captured many of us.
In the afternoon we visited the larger island of Bornholm taking in the round church at Østerlars Kirke and viewed the great ruins of Hammerhus with its grand vistas and an uncertain past that even locals have trouble unraveling.
Our two stops today were proof of the value of sailing the Baltic, for we saw things that the land-based traveler would be hard-pressed to see. As the day closed the Endeavour sailed off to the east headed for more adventures tomorrow.
