Travel Tuesday: Buddelschiffmuseum

Insider’s tip: here by the harbour of Neuharlingersiel you can also find the famous Buddelschiff Museum, a museum dedicated the fine art of building ship models inside an empty bottle (Low German dialect: Buddel – speak booddle).

This tradition was quite common along the German coast because of many men have been sailors on big ships. You know, sailors are known for drinking much alcohol and so have many empty bottles. One day in the past, one of the sailors came up with the idea of building a model of the ship he was working on and place it inside an empty bottle along with a symbolised ‘landscape’. The Buddelship was invented. And nowadays you can find them everywhere along the German North Sea coast.

The Buddelschiff Museum is a small private museum with about 100 different Buddelschiffen. Unfortunately, it was closed when we were there, because we visited Neuharlingersiel off-season. But, I was already in a few years ago. It’s really astonishing what a filigree work the rough sailors hands have been able to create. So, check the opening times in advance on the web. It’s worth a visit. And you can also learn, how to get the ship inside die bottle 🙂

But, at least I have the one Buddelschiff from the outside window for you 🙂

Take care!

 

Travel Tuesday: more harbour

As I mentioned in my last travel Tuesday post, the harbour of Neuharlingersiel is used by shrimp fishers. It’s not a harbour for sport boats and the ferry to the offshore island Spiekeroog stays further out. You can walk by the boats. Some owners offer tours to the seal sandbanks in the sea or other road trips.

As you can see in the image, you can walk near-by the boats. In the front, a fisher uses a fence for dying his nets.

Several cafés and restaurants surrounding the harbour. So, the harbour is even the touristic center of the town.

Take care!

 

Travel Tuesday: Neuharlingersiel harbour

Here we are. The small harbour of Neuharlingersiel. Here you won’t find sport boats of big yachts. You can see three of the shrimper boats. These boats used to be common here at the German North Sea coasts. Nowadays only few of them are left and going out for fishing on a regular basis.

The most left buildings in the back (now a café) has platform on the roof, where you have a fantastic overview.

Take care!

 

Travel Tuesday: Encounter with sheep

Last week I told you a little bit about the landscapes at the Germany North-sea coast and the dikes.

The dikes are very sensitive buildings. To keep them in good shape, there are no machines allowed to use for i.e. mow the lawns on top of them. Therefore sheep are here to keep the grass short and their feed don’t endanger the soil. Perfect. In some areas there are meadows bordered with fences and in other areas the sheep are allowed to move over large areas freely while the people can simply walk across them.

That evening, we were faced with hundreds of sheep on our walk along the dike. Although, it wasn’t our first meeting with a herd of sheep on a dike, it was a remarkable encounter.

There are fences to hinder the sheep from running away or crossing streets. All the fences have gates for the people. Some gates have doors, while other gates are equipped with grids in the ground. Sheep won’t cross these grids while people can cross them easily with bikes, children’s push chair or strollers.

Take care!

 

Travel Tuesday: on top of the dike

Last week I told you a little bit about the landscapes at the Germany North-sea coast and the dikes.

In this image you can see the path behind the dike and the small Pilsum lighthouse. It’s located near the town Greetsiel.

Nowadays, most of the lighthouses are not in operation anymore. They are only tourist attractions. Here, i.e. you can legally get married when booking in advance.

Take care!