Wining and Dining in Hanstholm

Travel Date: July 25, 2008 (a continuation of yesterdays post)
Travel Destination: Hanstholm, Denmark

After shopping in Thisted, (click here to see what Peter did with the girls) Peter's mom and I went back home to gather up the rest of the family (Peter and the girls, Peter's stepdad, and his brother and his girlfriend) so that we could go out to dinner in Hanstholm.

Here are the "young people" having afternoon coffee outside:







Then it was off to Hanstholm for dinner. As you've come to expect, here's the route we took:







And here's the aerial overview, courtesy of Google Maps:







See the two break walls that extend way passed the harbor? We walked all the way out to the end of the one on the right. Dangerous? Yep. Fun? You betcha.

But before we begin our tour, let me tell you some interesting things I've found out about this area of Denmark. When you first drive up to the little town of Hanstholm and look around, you get the feeling that not much happens. And you'd be right. The harbor provides the most activity - fishing and catching ferries to the Faroe Islands, Scotland, Iceland and Norway.

However, this little part of Denmark has a lot of history that makes it an interesting place to visit.

The name Hanstholm means "island of Hansted" which is a little confusing since it obviously is not an island. So did the Danes get confused when naming the town a thousand or so years ago? Nope. Over a thousand years ago this was a series of small islands, but rising tectonic plates and drifting sand dunes began filling in the coastal areas between them.

Another interesting fact about Hanstholm is that it has been inhabited by people since 1000 BC. Yeah, you read that right. 1000 BC. Pretty cool! Between 1000 and 150 BC it was inhabited by the Teutons and Cimbri but in 150 BC they began migrating south.

Then between 850 - 1050 AD the Vikings moved into the area and used it as a staging point for their invasions into England and France. However, English priests came over to Denmark and began converting the pagan Vikings to Christianity (most likely in an effort to get them to stop pillaging England). Their plan worked.

Since then, the harbor has been used as an industrial trade center, beginning with Norway in the 1600's.

So it is here that you can find some of the best seafood I've ever tasted. And when the restaurants in the area advertise "the day's catch" you know it was literally the days catch.

Here we are, parked at the restaurant.







I ordered the days catch:







After dinner we took a leisurely stroll around the harbor:







But first we had to climb over the wall we weren't supposed to. This is one of the few areas where Danes break the rules.










And see, we weren't the only ones. Many Danes come to fish here, since there's some good fish to catch.











Oh, did you want to see some pictures of the harbor? Peter will have those up later on, so I'll link to them when he has them posted.

Of course no post about Denmark would be complete without a tour of....a....(can you guess???)...German bunker from World War II!

This bunker, however, is no ordinary bunker. It was a fortress. The largest that the Germans built in Europe.

Here's the aerial view from Google Maps:







Unlike many of the smaller bunkers you've seen on the beaches, this bunker was equipped with some huge guns and cannons. See this one?











It was mounted on this:







and theoretically could have fired a missile halfway to Norway. It was never used, or even tested. And there are rumors that it would not have worked.

The fortress is now a museum, which was closed by the time we got there. You can click here to read more about it:

MuseumCenter Hanstholm

So we just walked around. It was pretty cool.