Day #4: Denmark's Town in a Bottle

I spent my fourth day abroad in the scenic village of Ærøskøbing. Denmark's self proclaimed fairy tale town definitely lives up to its name. Located on an island in the far south of Denmark, Ærøskøbing is only accessible by ferry. The town has basically remained the same since the 17th century, first by choice and now by Danish law.

I started off the morning by simply wandering around the village, enjoying the cobblestone streets and quaint houses, as seen here:


The main historical attraction us the bottle ship museum, which houses over 250 ships in a bottle. All of which were created by one man (called, wait for it, Bottle Peter) over the course of his lifetime. Peter boasted that he personally emptied the contents of all the bottles before he put the ships in, except for the milk bottles, for whatever reason. This particular bottle is my favorite, depicting a boat with a diver going down to a sunken ship.

In the afternoon, I rented a bike from my hostel and took a ride across the rural parts of the island, passing through little towns, pastures, and farms.


To end the day, I walked out to the beach where several Danes have beach "cottages." I put cottages in quotation marks because as you can see from the following picture, they are closer in size to monopoly houses than what we would consider a cottage!


As I walked along the beach, it got rather windy and the waves were kicking up as the tide came in. I saw one boat in the water that was being buffeted by the winds and the waves, but managed to stay afloat and in place, due to it being tied to a stake driven in the seabed.



I couldn't help but think of the boat as a metaphor for life. Because the boat was tied a firm anchor, no matter what the wind and the waves threw at it, it remained in place and did not capsize. Just like the boat needed the stake, so do we need something to tie ourselves to. God, family, and friends provide that steady stake we can tie ourselves to keep us tethered when the storms of life stir up around us.

I know that was a little heavy and philosophical for a light-hearted travel blog, but I thought it was worth sharing. Until tomorrow!