Friday was an extremely windy day, with western winds and gusts up to 53 knots. Jens and I decided to spend the day on the eastern coast, and we chose a small town of Sæby as our first destination. Evening before, Jens red about The Lady of the Sea, a sculpture in the Sæby marina that has become the trademark of the town:
The sculpture refers to the main character in the drama “The Lady from the Sea” by Norwegian playwriter Henrik Ibsen, which he wrote in Sæby in 1888. There, the sea is referred to as a symbol of all the dark forces within and outside of ourselves, and the woman sees herself like a mermaid washed up on shore. The main point of reference is the figure of the Lady as a protection against unknown dangers.
Around nine hundred children in Sæby were asked to think of a dangerous situation and then make their own protection symbols in glass or ceramics. They produced everything from parents and to pizza and smart phones, play stations, angels, cats and dogs. These reliefs are incorporated as a mosaic into the cape of the sculpture of The Lady of the Sea:
The Lady of the Sea was created by Norwegian sculptor Marit Benthe Norheim in 2001.
By the sculpture’s side, there was a rock erected to the memory of those sailors who, with their lives at stake, sailed refugees to Sweden during the WWII:
The harbour area in Sæby was very big; there were fishmongers and eateries, shops and cafes, old rescue station and a modern one. The area is under expansion – new harbour basins are being built there.
A helipad on a boat – helicopter pilot owner?
We were surprised by the size of this harbour, and decided to have a walk in the town. When we drove through it, we saw many old charming buildings. On the photo below is the St. Mary church (known for its fine frescoes from the beginning of the 15th century), the yellow house on the right was a hospital established in 1565:
The hospital was founded by Mogens Juel Knivholt and his wife Inger. The first building burned down in 1657 and the current one dates from 1675. The place served as a hospital for the city’s poor. A hospital at the time referred to a poorhouse or retirement home, and not an actual medical hospital.
There were many nice old houses in Sæby. We spent quite some time in the town, first walking around its harbour, then admiring its charming centre:
We had had plans to drive to Frederiksvæk, but got so many nice impressions in Sæby that we agreed to pay a visit to Frederiksværk another day. On our way back home, we noticed an old castle, and stopped by. It was Sæbygaard from the Middle Ages:
Surrounded by wide moats, it looked impressive. Today it is a museum, and visitors were welcomed.
On one of its walls there was a plate from 1688 (we couldn’t read it):
Late afternoon we drove to the Sindal airport to check our aircraft, whether the double tie-down setup could withstand the powerful gusts. It was ok, standing strong:
In the evening, Jens was cooking:
And I was relaxing in my bedroom looking at the weather and possible destinations. Jens is a gentleman (all my friends are) – he offered me to sleep in the bedroom, and took a couch for himself.
The weather forecast didn’t look good. We had planned to leave Sunday morning, but it was going to rain in whole country. Saturday was going to be too windy… Luckily, we had a nice place to stay, a car, and there were many interesting places we could go exploring:
That day we’ve only been to Sæby (blue circle, and our B&B is indicated with the red star) and around, but we can and would love to go to Skagen, Frederikshavn, Tværsted…
