It was a few years ago that me and my friend Elke visited the Sylt Island. Of course, I was not aware of it’s existence. It was Elke who said when we were proceeding in our car to Denmark via Kiel, that we should visit Sylt which is the northern most German Island, part of Nordfriesland. I therefore made a short study of the island and found that it belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is its largest island. It is the fourth-largest German island and the largest North Sea island. It is believed that the island was separated from the mainland about 8000 years ago.
The island is situated at 9 to 16 km off the mainland and is connected there by the Hindenburgdamm causeway. The island of Sylt extends for 38 km in a north-south direction and on its northern peak at Königshafen is only 320 m wide. Its widest distance, from the town of Westerland in the west to the eastern Nössespitze near Morsum, measures 12.6 km. The western and northwestern shore contains a 40 km sand beach, and to the east of Sylt is the Wadden Sea, which belongs to the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and mostly falls dry during low tide
. We were traveling in a car on our way to Denmark, Norway and Sweden as we always believed in discovering all the places on our own. Hence we took a detour from Kiel to Sylt. There is no road connection or bridge connection to Sylt. Construction of a conventional bridge from Schleswig-Holstein to Sylt has never really been feasible The only link by surface is a narrow rail cauaseway. Therefore one is not allowed to drive to Sylt. There is a Ferry Service which we were not keen to take and hence we preferred to go by the causeway. .
As we wanted to take our car to the island, we made enquiry at the railway junction called Neibull. They said that one could take his or her car by loading it on the train from that junction. The cars loaded onto flat cars and hauled out across the Hindenburgdamm rail causeway to the railway station of Westerland. The drivers of the cars stay in the cars, with the doors locked, eventually arriving at the Westerland station which is 12.3 km long, after about 30 to 40 minutes. I learnt that the said link to the mainland was made in the year 1927.
We accordingly loaded our car and locked ourselves in. The journey was slow. One should know that the causeway being very narrow and as it passes in the middle of the sea, one gets panicky very easily. The visibility is poor as the entire area is windy and foggy. One felt as though we are going into nowhere or might fall into the sea. I cursed my stars as to why I got that idea of going to that island. However after reaching Westerland, the important town of Sylt, I felt it was worth visiting as the environment is clean and the atmosphere is calm and tranquil.
We stayed in a house which is unique in it’s construction. They have thatched roof. There were some important landmark buildings to see. The beaches are beautiful and clean but since we had gone there in the early part of April, all the beaches were empty. There were unique kind of beach chairs in the beach. They were unoccupied. Otherwise during season, they are rented out. We just sat in one such beach chair to have the experience. In German language it is called as strandkorb. They are equipped with armrests and footrests, storage space below the seats, rain proof covers, sunshades and each chair can accommodate two persons. . They are the specialty of this area because the beaches are hit by strong winds.
After visiting Sylt, I felt that it was good that we visited that place. The island has a peculiar type of grass which I think used for the roof of the buildings. But I am told removing grass from the sea shore is considered as an ofence as it helps preventing sea erosion. One can see sand dunes everywhere which I learn shifts on the velocity of strong winds. It has marshy lands.The sea coast off Sylt appears to be an ideal habitat for common Seals, Grey Seals and Harbour Purpoises. That is why the UNESCO has declared it as the world heritage site or as National park.They can be observed from the beach, sometimes at few meter’s distance. We ere taken on a tour in a boat but we had no permission to go to the beach where they stay or have their nesting places. We could not take close pictures of the seal. But one could see from the boat the way they move around in the sea or on the beach.
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