Bisune

First morning in Büsum was calm and pleasantly warm. It was Saturday, and many people went for a walk on the promenade by the sea.

Flemming and I wanted to go for a swim, but it was low tide, and we had to wait.

We went to the town instead of. The Town Hall of Büsum, protected building from 1915:

The town was full of vibrant life: all shops were open, many cafes and restaurants, and lots of people that were enjoying the sunny day. After walking down the central pedestrian area, we had a coffee break (with desert of course):

Flemming had read an interesting story about the local church, and we decided to visit it. The church was very old, very beautiful, and very special. The first Büsum church was built around 1281 on the former island of Bisune. It was dedicated to St. Clement, the patron saint of sailors and coastal residents. The first church was wiped out by a storm surge, the Saint Marcellus’ flood that took place around 16th January 1362, causing at least 25,000 deaths from British Isles to Denmark. The second church was destroyed in a fire. The third church was built in 1442 on a raised terp, which offered protection in storm surges.

There were many interesting things in that church we wanted to see, but in respect to praying people we didn’t walk around, just observed from a distance. The story that made us to visit the church was about its buptism fund from approx. 1300. The story goes, a pirate called Cord Widderich, who was active around 1390, took the nearby island of Pellworm together with a hoard of other sea rovers. They made a base for themselves in the ruins of a local church. Could it be the church of St. Salvator I saw from air when on Pellworm? The pirates took many posessions, and among them – a bronze buptism fund, which Cord Widderich later gave to the St. Clement church in Büsum. The Cord Widderich’ adventures didn’t end good – he was hung from a treetop.

Flemming and I realised, the tide became high, and we hurried up to the sea:

After a refreshing swim, we walked to the fishing harbour that was home to surprisingly many ships:

We really enjoyed our lazy Saturday and the Indian summer in Büsum…

The first wooden lighthouse was built in Büsum in 1878 and stood on the dike where the entrance to the south beach is today. The fishing beacon with the number 730 was removed from the beacon list in 1913.

A replica was built in 2007 at the end of the Büsum museum harbor (photo above). The maritime treasure is a square wooden tower from which a round wooden mast protrudes with a hanging lantern.