Skagen, Denmark

 Skagen (pronounced Skane) is located at the northernmost tip of Denmark across from Norway and Sweden and has a population of fewer than 10,000.  Its main industry is fishing, but it's also a vacation spot for lots of Danes.  Our guide for our early morning tour said there are also a lot of second homes owned by the rich, but not inhabited full-time which is a mixed blessing.  Today starts what is known as Week 29 and is exceptionally popular for Copenhageners to come and fill the town.  We didn't see too much traffic, but our guide said this afternoon it would begin in earnest.  

Many, many years ago they painted their homes with a local"whitewash" to protect the cheap bricks from moisture and something about the local water or soil turned the white more of a yellow.  Over the years that became Skagen's signature color (it's actually called Skagen Yellow) and now most of the homes are painted that color and have the red roofs.

The white paint on the edges of the roofs dates back to a tradition where the fishermen would paint the design on their roofs so they could be seen from the sea.

Our first stop was at the very tip of Skagen where the Baltic Sea meets the North Sea.  You can walk out there or, like we did, take the Sandworm, which is a trailer pulled by a special tractor.  There were many small campers parked around this area and it seems to be very popular with runners and dog walkers.

The waters here are very choppy and are always changing the coastline.

It was a bit windy

I'm sure these creatures made it to the next big wave or incoming tide.  They were scattered all over the place.

Our next stop was at the buried church.  It was a Catholic Church dedicated to St. Lawrence of Rome built in the 14th century (now Lutheran), but over the years, the shifting sands buried the main building up to the tower, which is all that's left.  Over the years the members would dig out the main door each week and finally had to enter by the windows before abandoning the church.  Now the main church is 45-50 feet beneath the ground.

It's a little hard to see, but the guide is holding up a comic book from 2018 showing Donald Duck and his nephews digging for treasure in front of this church tower as part of a "treasure hunt in Europe" edition.

Here's a clearer image.

Our last stop was at the Skagen Museum which had some really good paintings by local artists.  The area has been popular with artists for many, many years due to the exceptional light and landscape.  A former royal family vacation home has been converted into a place for visiting artists to stay for a week or more.

Unfortunately, we are docked a bit of a ways from town and we are sailing in the mid-afternoon.  I would have enjoyed exploring town a bit more.

Trivia was only 4 of us with Maureen and Jim gone.  We weren't any worse with 7/15, but again finished out of the running.  Terry Bishop did a talk on Norway and then it was off to dinner at Compass Rose.  We gave a pass to the show and returned to the cabin to watch a little TV before bed.  Captain Luksa warned us that it will be a bit rough tonight as we head west and north.