Postcards from the Edge – Hallig Trivia

Eva

Posted on August 5, 2015

Map of the North Sea Island Hallig Hooge

Life on Hallig Hooge slows down as soon as you disembark from the ferry. Your immersion in nature starts soon after you leave the mainland: you pass by one or more sandbanks where seals are lolling about, always an awesome sight. After an hour and 15 minutes, you tie up at the ferry landing on Hallig Hooge. Your first impression: Wow, no towns, no T-shirt shops, clean and wide open views. The only “traffic” is provided by the horse-drawn carriages — and by bicycles you can rent.

Horse-drawn carriages – the only way to go!

Bikes for rent

Nobody seems to be in a hurry. You learn that everybody says “Du” to each other, but they use the formal “Sie” with visitors, who are not used to addressing people besides children with the informal “Du”. People don’t lock their homes, nor their bicycles — why should they?

Parked bicycle

Laundry is hung out to dry, in front of their houses, in the side yards, even in front of the firehouse. It gaily flutters in the constant wind.

Blowin’ in the Wind

The Hallig has 9 Warften, and 107 inhabitants (as of today). Total area 5,6 square km, or 2.2 square miles. There is one school, and six students are presently enrolled. Also a nursery school. One grocery store supplies the locals, visitors, restaurants, as well as vacation rentals that serve meals. Of course, provisions have to come on the ferry from the mainland, and people are invited, with adequate time given, to special order groceries not carried in the store.

The Delivery Truck

The hub, “downtown”, of the Hallig is Hanswarft. I have already mentioned the commercial activity there, but it is also home to 40 locals living in private residences.

One of the homes on Hanswarft

Another residence

Hanswarft also boasts a walk-in clinic which is open just a couple of hours a day. There is one nurse and a caregiver on the Hallig, but in case of serious illness or accident, the emergency doctor has to be called. He comes in his helicopter from the mainland and flies the patient to a hospital somewhere in Schleswig-Hostein.

The Doctor is Here!

Preparing to fly a patient to the Mainland

The Chopper is Ready to Fly the Patient to a Hospital

There is a central recycling station. Here Suzi disposes of the bottle we enjoyed the night before.

Glass Recycling Station

The Hallig is administered by “The Community”. The mayor is at the helm, with a number of councils and committees helping to make decisions. Most people are involved in running the day-to-day business, if not paid, then as volunteers, and it seems to me they are really interested in taking care of each other and their Hallig. Theirs is such a unique place, so small and compact, and a larger city’s problems are simply not present here. They wouldn’t want to trade this kind of life for anything. Sure, they need to go to the mainland for medical treatments, dental appointments, and major shopping, but when they are back on the ferry they are going home.

One of the ferries connecting Hooge with the mainland and other islands

The Community sponsors many events — movies, a theater group, guided tours to learn about the flora and fauna of the Hallig, game afternoons, concerts, and singing in the church or parish building. One of the most popular activities is participating in a Wattwanderung, or a Walk on the Bottom of the Sea. I was able to join in one of them, and will write about that in a different post.

And you walk. You walk everywhere.

Walking along the Dike

One of the most photographed bridges on the Hallig

Unless you ride a bicycle. You can bring your own or rent one here.

It’s a wonderful morning for a bike ride

But if you don’t have a bike, you walk. From my Warft to the Hanswarft and the grocery store, or if I want a restaurant meal, it is 10-15 mins. From there to the next Warft, about the same. The path along the coast, all the way around, is 12 km, or about 8 miles. We walk a lot, needless to say. And on each outing we enjoy the profusion of wildflowers, the birds and their young, the grazing cows and their calves, and the eternal tides, coming in, going out …

Meadows and Meadows of Wildflowers

Sea Swallow Fishing

Is the Water going out or coming in?

And at night we are usually rewarded with a flaming sky.

The Evening Show

It stays light a long time after the sun sets, which entices us to take even more walks after most people have turned in for the night.

Evening Stroll at 9:30 pm

Maybe you have a little idea now that this is not a hectic, running-around, doing-stuff kind of vacation. It is different: a real slowing down of body and mind. And we like it.