Fall is such a beautiful season, especially from above. The air is clean and cold, visibility is good (best case scenario!), with all those colourful trees that create so much beauty.
Flemming and I agreed, a trip to the island of Ærø would be very suitable for a sunny afternoon.
We soon reached the island, landed and got our bikes.
It was so warm in Flemming’s Piper 28 – we quickly noticed how cold the air was when we began biking to Marstal, the largest town on the island.
Many places the residents were selling pumpkins and other fruit of the season.
One of the beautiful houses on our way:
In Marstal, we just biked around without any specific purpose, and explored the town. In the harbour, we stopped by the outdoor exhibition of the Maritime Museum. In 1855 a shipbuilding site was established in Marstal, and since then 12 shipyards were building wooden ships there.
A schooner with the ribs partially raised is being built to scale and according to the drawings of the schooner Bonavista that was once built in Marstal:
The dinghy by the schooner’s side was used in prison escape during the First World War. In October 1915, six Russians that were imprisoned on the island of Als, managed to escape in the exhibited dinghy, and were accommodated in the Quarantine Station. A total of 59 Russian prisoners of war escaped to Ærø during the First World War.
The red building on the photo below is an art gallery. Though it was open, we didn’t go in (another time!). The sun was getting down, and the air temperature was falling. Flemming and I thought it was time to find a nice warm restaurant.
After biking around, getting lost, and getting back on track, we chose Pad Thai – a cozy thai restaurant on Kirkestræde 22. It was warm inside, smelled of good food, and we could relax.
The owners – Aor and Lars – were very welcoming, and we began talking. It showed up, Lars’ dad, Erik Hugo Brammer, was one of the first pilots on Ærø! He flew Cessna 172 and was a very passionate pilot, who took pilot jobs in many different countries in the world, like Indonesia or Afghanistan, just to name a few, and the family followed him. Lars and his brother got a very international upbringing.
Aor and Lars have some memorabilia in their restaurant, both from Thailand, Aor’s home country, and things that Lar’s dad brought home from his adventures. And not to forget – the food was great, we recommend!
Flemming has the Night VFR rating, so we didn’t have to worry about time. When we left Pad Thai, it was very dark. We turned on our headlamps, and biked back to the airport, occasionally stopping by various stands to see what’s on offer. I bought a bunch of Ærø apples – they looked so good!
At the airport, a kind surprise awaited us – 5 litres of freshly pressed apple juice! A lady from the airport who came in to turn on the airfield lights on our request, brought it to us. We thanked her many times, and got airborne.
At home, I made an apple cake. I basically never eat bread, cakes, pastry (too many calories affect the waistline!), but by chance saw a recipe in the French Vouge and couldn’t resist:
A couple of friends came by, and they were happy to eat it all – lucky me! 🙂