Hamburg; Sunday, 17 June, 2007

Most of today was to be spent travelling. I was booked on the 10:48 train from the Hauptbahnof to Westerland on Sylt.

Sylt in part of the North Friesland islands, a string of islands that lie in the North Sea off the coasts of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Sylt is the largest of the German ones and the most spectacular to get to. The only access onto the island is by a thin embankment, wide enough to take train tracks, but not much wider, which runs across from the mainland. It's a bizarre experience sitting on a train watching it shoot off the edge of the continent and across the water on this thin bank of land to Sylt.

Sylt, not only being the largest, is also the most northerly of the islands in Germany, and at it's northern most point Lise is officially the most northerly town in Germany (directly across the water you're actually opposite Denmark). From Westerland a regular, if expensive, bus network runs up and down the island, so I took the bus up to Lise. At the final bus stop is the harbour home to the most Northerly post office in Germany, the most northerly cash machine in Germany, the most Northerly etc, etc. As tacky sites it comes in a respectable third behind Lands End n Cornwall and the runaway winner, Santa land near Rovaniemi, Finland!

It might come higher, if it weren't for the beautiful setting, fine golden/white sand dunes and clear blue sea that are a short walk along the beach. I had a long walk along the lower dunes and beaches before catching the bus back into Westerland and then on to Hörnum at the southern tip of the island. Again this has beautiful sandy beaches, but a bigger and uglier port which spoil the view a bit.

By now it was half five and time to head back to Westerland and the train journey back to Hamburg. By the time I finally arrived back in Hamburg it was almost half nine. I had spent nearly seven hours on trains to spend four hours on Sylt, but the beauty of the island made it worth it. I managed to grab a late snack of a Bratwurst before heading across the platform to my hotel and packing!