Ausflug 39

We were somewhat tired after our Grand Sailing Adventure, but the weather held fine the next morning (Sunday), and we thought we would take our ebikes back down the string of beaches to Scharbeutz and Timmendorfer Strand and see what, if anything, was going on. Although we were by this time well past the tourist season, when the weekend weather is good folks from the nearby cities still flock to the Baltic beaches. Very few people were actually IN the water, however, although one hardy father was playing ball with his two sons out on the sandbar. Mostly, though, people were just strolling up and down the beach enjoying the views out over the Baltic.

The tide was out, and we could easily walk along the exposed seafloor just offshore, which is called "Watt" in German. The Watt is a curious kind of packed-wet-sand surface that is best walked in bare feet, assuming the weather is warm enough! The wet sand is firm but slightly yielding, so it perfectly supports and cushions your bare feet as you walk along, and the overall sensation is very soothing.

Although the weather was cool, some people were still out sailing, and one guy was even zipping up and down just off shore on a jet ski kind of thing. That was very fast and probably exciting, but it also made a lot of noise. All things considered, I decided I would far rather be sailing a sailboat, even with the ever-present danger of capsizing!

In the off season, people are apparently allowed to have dogs and ride horses on the beaches, and when we reached Sharbeutz the city fathers were even staging a horse race for children right on the sandy shore! The littlest kids, of course, rode ponies and could not actually compete with the teenagers on full-grown horses, but it was all in good fun.

Just beyond Scharbeutz we reached Timmendorfer Strand, and were astonished to find a full-blown arts and crafts fair set up in a public park across the promenade from the beach! We are both suckers for hand-crafted items, and this was no exception. Several booths tugged at us, but we finally ended up with wooden egg cups, special wooden spoons for eating soft-boiled eggs, and a serving spoon to take home with us.

No fair is complete without food stalls, of course, and this one was no exception. Monika played it safe and had a traditional German bratwurst, but when I saw a weird wood-fired metal oven with the sign "Flammkuchen" out in front, I was intrigued. The Flammkuchen appeared to be some type of baked, rectangular, thin-crust pizza-like things with various toppings. I chose the salmon topping and the guy coated a pizza/flat bread thing with the salmon, cheese, and spices, and then slid it into the wood-fired oven. The Flammkuchen took a few minutes to bake, but the bread dough was thin enough that it was done to a crispy turn in about 5 minutes. It was hot as the dickens right out of the oven, of course, but boy was it good!

While eating we watched the crowds kind of surging through the aisles between all the pavilions. Next to the food vendors some enterprising soul had also erected a big inflatable slide and a small Merry-Go-Round for the kiddies to play on. All in all, what with shopping, eating, and people-watching, we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours, but finally it was time to unlock our bikes and start back home.

After zipping back to our condo and storing the bikes in the garage, we returned to the beach for one last walk. The sun was setting in the West, but the slow, northern sunset so typical of Germany lit the beach and the sky with golden light for a good half an hour. The tide was still out, so we walked on the sandy sea floor near the shore and could even take pictures of the sunset reflected in some of the tidal ponds. We also saw the beach chairs being put away for the year, the life-saving boats being hauled out of the water, and some of the last sand castles of the season.

We were sad to have to leave, but clearly the season was over and we could at least look forward to coming back and visiting the next Summer!