Skagen is Awesome

Before moving to Denmark, I had never heard of anywhere inside this country other than Copenhagen. Like many Americans, it was all I could do not to mix up Denmark with the Netherlands. Dutch? Danish? Meh.

Now that I have been here a year and a half, I realize how small my world was before moving abroad and how much larger my world has become in this little country called Denmark. Not long after moving here, we began to hear about this magical place loved by artists and tourists where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea. Skagen (pronounced: Skayn) is a tiny town at the tip of the Jutland peninsula with neighborhoods of yellow houses, amazing beaches, an old stone lighthouse and bike paths for miles.

We were magically gifted a warm (but not too warm) sunny day for our Skagen adventure and we made the most of it. We rented bikes first thing in the morning, pedaled to the parking lot for the beach where the seas meet (Grenen), rode the tractor bus to the tip and marveled as waves crashed into the shore on both sides of us. (An incredibly bizarre and awe-inspiring experience.) While we were standing on the beach wondering about tides and gravitational pull, we saw a seal near the beach on the North Sea side.

The North Sea to the left and the Baltic Sea to the right

Family photo at the tip of the peninsula

We visited the remaining white church tower of an old church that was rendered unusable by drifting sand dunes that buried the main building of the church.

After playing on the beach and in the sand, Riley decided to take a nap in our rented bike trailer which gave me the chance to climb the old stone light house in Skagen and get a view of the meeting seas from the top.

The lighthouse, which has a lot of steps to climb and...

an amazing view at the top.

After lunch at the delicious Skagen Fiskerestaurant, we biked to Gl. Skagen and spent time on a rocky beach and in nearby sandy fields.

Our day finished with an expensive but delicious meal at Ruth's Hotel Brasserie in Gl. Skagen. It was one of those sun-drenched, exhausting and simultaneously exhilarating days that makes you remember all the things that are wonderful about life and wish that summer never has to end. We were charmed, probably even enchanted by everything about Skagen. We could not have asked for a more pefect day.