Östliche Altstadt of Flensburg: Margarethenhof and Pilkentafel

My day off began early. Before going to Flensburg, I wanted to fly my drone, and … to work. Nothing was difficult, and at 6 a.m. I sent all the material I was supposed to get ready that day (worked longer the evening before), then shut down my work laptop, and headed on the road. I’m not a morning person, but you get a longer day if you start early – and I had a pleasure of watching the sunrise from my drone:

When I took off, there were still low clouds here and there:

I was going to Flensburg in Germany, where the weather forecasts promised less wind and more sunshine:

Well, the weather forecasts sometimes fail to tell you the truth… As clother to Germany I was flying, as lower the clouds became; it was raining and I had to zigzag my way between the sudden clouds:

In Flensbrurg, I parked my OY-9797, and took the bus to the city.

I often noticed in Flensburg, the city’s bus drivers were shouting at other drivers, if e.g. a car in front of a bus wouldn’t drive as fast as the bus driver wanted. Once a bus driver even opened a window (so that people on the street could also hear him, and maybe even other drivers), shouted with dramatic gestures at someone. This time, the bus driver shouted at me. My “fault” was that I pushed the stop button too late (for the bus driver). I guess he shouted something very bad – I could see the reaction on passangers’ faces. I don’t speak a word in German, besides danke, so I just laughed – it’s ok to laugh at such people, they don’t deserve better. As a reflection, I thought of my other encounters with the rude people in Germany, like in restaurants, public transport or on the street… Why would people behave badly towards others, especially when they see those people are foreigners? Strange, and luckily 99.9% of Germans I’ve met have been very nice, helpful and kind.

I’ve been to Flensburg several times before, and wanted to see something new. Searching the internet the day before, I found out, I haven’t been to the Östliche Altstadt, the Eastern Old Town of Flensburg. So I started from there.

The Süderfischerstrasse is probably the oldest street in Flensburg, it existed before the year 1100. One of the oldest houses on that street is that yellowish one:

It was built around 1800, but later burned down, and rebuilt in 1828. Different people lived in that house – a brandy distiller, a tanner, a wood turner, an antique dealer, a painting restorer, an artist… In 2003, the FolkBaltica music festival was founded in the house.

On the other side of the street, there was the oldest church in Flensburg – the St. John’s church from the 12th century:

The church was closed, and after walking around it to see the whole building, I continued on Süderfischerstrasse. There were many interesting things on the way, like this part of an old gate:

Johannisstrasse was also very charming, with pretty old buildings, I even saw one with a barrel roof:

A bunny by N.M., “the Banksy of Flensburg”:

She normally paints cats, many of them on Norderstrasse and nearby, it was first time I saw a bunny by N.M. That bunny was cute, but didn’t appeal to me – I prefer cats!

Margarethenhof – I had read about it before, but didn’t know what to expect – looked compelling, especislly the yellow building behind:

I went in, and look at that – what a lovely building:

It is not known, how old the Margarethenhof is. On some old papers from the 16th century, the historians have seen a drawing of the area with a farm that could have been a forerunner of the today’s manor house. The place changed owners frequently. In the 18th century, there was a soap factory. Later the same century, a sugar factory was established on the farm. Raw sugar was imported from The Danish West Indies (yes, slavery) and processed into sugar, rock candy and syrup. And finally, an iron foundry was built at the farm (later demolished). The name Margarethenhof was given in 1844.

Several narrow passages go from the Johannisstrasse down to the marina, one of them – Pilkentafel:

If you walk down, eventually you will stand by a yellow house which in the old days was an inn, often visited by the sailors. There they would drink beer and punch, and have fun with the game that gave name to the house – Pilkentafel:

The game was like a billiard, it was introduced by sailors either from Holland or Hamburg, and made the inn very popular.

The inn existed since 1612. The shortest route to it was by the ferry directly to the Pilkentafel, whose garden at that time reached down to the water. Two ferrymen earned their living that way. In 1771, the boatman Niels Ellefsen tore down the old house and had it rebuilt in its current form. He called the building Ellefsburg. A plaque over the entrance still proclaims today: “My name is ELLEFSBURG. God holds his grace hand over me. Give glory to our God. 1771”.

Meanwhile, it was raining more and more… I began considering looking for an accommodation; though the different weather prognoses still promised sunshine, I had my doubts…

But there was still lots of time left, and I went to the Braasch factory shop on Rote Strasse to buy some rum and chocolate. After shopping, I went “back stage” where Braasch has a museum on a very little space called the Queen’s street:

There was some inspiration for those who want to try making rum at home:

I also bought chocolate with rum – it’s so good (and expensive)! The Aviator and The Blue Bear love it, too:

We said goodbye to Rote Strasse, and took a bus back to the airport.

The weather has become better, and I was happy about it.

Flensburg from air:

Flying home I amired those stunning views and especially the light, and repeatedly said to myself “how beautiful!”

Over Zealand (the big island in Denmark, where Copenhagen is) I was met by a low local overcast with rain:

What a wonderful day I had in Flensburg! Every time I fly there, I think “I had already seen everything”, and every time I find new intresting things, places, stories, and I want to come back!