I’m visiting the South Fyn Archipelago. I grew up in Odense on Fyn, the island in the centre of Denmark. Both my parents were born on Langeland, a long island south east of Fyn. Almost every weekend, we took the one hour drive to visit grandparents and other relatives. Weekends and public holidays we drove to scenic destinations along the coast. For family picnics, to go for a swim, visit a museum or to queue up for delicious icecream.
This year I’m returning to some of the places I remember from my childhood.
With my kids now 10 and 12, I decided to show them parts of Denmark that I find special, places that are distinctively different from where we live now. I showed these places to my wife when we married. So it’s also an opportunity for us to reflect back to who we were back then, our dreams and desires, and where we are now in our shared journey through life.
The South Fyn Archipelago is an area of large and small islands separated by shallow waters. Stone Age burial mounds on top of rolling hills overlook belts and sounds as evidence of fertile lands inhabited since the ice age glaciers retracted ten thousand years ago.
The technical term for the Stone Age burial mounds abundant in the area is passage grave. They were open and used for generations to bury and honour ancestors. Many have been lost to farming in times where they were seen as hindrance to development. But many remain and have been excavated and restored and are open for the casual explorer. The modern Danish term translates to Troll Cave, indicating that these sites were ancient and mysterious since generations.
Sailing ships still today crisscross the waterways almost always catching a wind to get you on your way. Today made of fibreglass and aluminium and crisscrossing for leisure. Not too many generations ago, wooden ships built and provisioned here were the economic backbone of not just local trade but between distant shores.
Sandy and rocky beaches, rolling hills, eroded cliffs. Pasture, farmland and patches of deciduous forest form a harmonic landscape to explore especially in summer where the lush green grass and the ripe yellow fields meet the sea and the ever changing sky filled with cotton candy clouds.
Then venture into the picturesque towns and villages and explore the calm and quiet small town city life where hollyhocks line the cobble stone streets in front of cosy townhouses. Balsam for the soul. Makes you wonder why people choose to live in crowded cities, commuting on congested trains and freeways to get to stressful jobs in soulless office spaces to make money to spend on expensive vacations in faraway places.
But maybe I should keep this little holiday gem a secret and only share with those truly special people in my life?
