North Sea Archives - Walled In Berlin

Posts Tagged ‘North Sea’

The Strandburg (Beach Castle) – A Thing of the Past

Monday, June 20th, 2022

A Strandburg, which is German for “beach castle,” used to be an integral part of every German beach holiday. It is distinctly different from a sand castle. While the latter is intricately designed, the Strandburg is only a low, circular wall of sand that surrounds another German invention, the Strandkorb, or beach basket. The beach basket serves as the vacationer’s home away from home, and since it swivels, it also provides an excellent windbreak. The Strandburg demarcates the territory. Whenever you happen upon a Strandburg, you can be sure to find a German inside.

Typical Strandburg (Beach Castle) at the Baltic Sea around 1950. Photo © J. Elke Ertle. www.walled-in-berlin.com

History of the Strandburg

Until the end of the 19^th century, only the elite could afford to vacation at the beach. However, these upper-class lords and ladies did not stretch out in the sun or frolic in the waves. Instead, they stepped into a bathing cart, a contraption akin to a cabin on rollers, which was pulled into the water by a horse. Once knee-deep in the ocean, a servant opened the cabin door, and the beach goer jumped into the water. After a few strokes, he or she got back into the cart and was wheeled back onto the strand.

Once the general public could afford a beach holiday, the beach culture changed, and the entire family vacationed together. Now mother, father, and child spent all day at the beach. Upon arrival, the family rented a beach basket for the duration of their vacation. It didn’t take long before, the patriarch got bored with sitting in the Strandkorb with nothing to do. That’s when he reached for a spade and built a wall around his family’s beach basket. A new trend was born.

The decline of the Beach Castle

Until the 1960s, the building of a Strandburg remained a cherished pursuit. Children gathered sea shells, tiny rocks, and seaweed and decorated their beach castle. Sometimes, they adorned it’s rim with small paper flags. Spa towns sponsored contests, and the prettiest Strandburg won a prize. The beaches along the Baltic and North Sea soon looked like a moonscape due to the countless castles dotting the beach. While the building of a Strandburg was prevalent throughout the 1960’s, its popularity diminished in the 70’ and 80’s. By the 1990s, it had become a rarity. These days, no more than 5% of beach goers in Germany build a beach castle. Even fewer decorate it. Beach castles have become a rare gem on German beaches.

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.

Tags: Baltic, beach castle, Germany, North Sea, sand castle, Strandburg, Strandkorb
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Eiergrog – Magic Bullet for Frosty Days

Monday, December 18th, 2017

In the early days, there was no Eiergrog (egg grog). There was only grog, a mixture of hot rum and water. Over the years, the simple hot brew underwent many refinements and eventually became a popular drink among the Frisians, a Germanic ethnic group that is indigenous to the coastal islands on the edge of the North Sea. The people of the island of Helgoland went the extra mile and transformed the once simple grog into their potent signature drink, the Eiergrog, made from (you guessed it) egg yolk, rum, water and sugar.

A mug of steaming Eiergrog – hmmmm so good! Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com

History of Eiergrog

To prevent scurvy among the members of his seafaring crew, the 18th-century British admiral Edward Vernon provided his men with daily pints of dark rum. The only consequence was that they got drunk regularly. Hence Vernon – nicknamed Old Grog for the silk and wool cloaks he wore – issued Captain’s Order Number 349: From now on, all rum must be mixed with water, a little brown sugar and lime. None too pleased with the watered-down brew, the sailors named the drink after the admiral.

My Eiergrog Experience

On a recent trip to the Wadden Sea, which is the 4,000 square mile coastal intertidal belt that stretches along the coast line of the North Sea, http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/allure-of-the-wadden-sea/ I was introduced to Eiergrog. On a horse-drawn carriage ride to the tiny island of Neuwerk, we nearly froze off our noses. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke/ertle/wattwagenfahrt-endless-discovery/ Icy winds penetrated our jackets, hats and gloves. By the time we reached Neuwerk http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/neuwerk-worth-a-staycation/ we craved something – anything – hot. That’s when someone mentioned Eiergrog. I have to say that, when you are freezing cold, Eiergrog does the job. Sip by sip it warms , is simply delicious and knocks off your socks in the process. At least, the air did not seem the least bit icy on the way back to the mainland.

How to make an irresistible Eiergrog in 3 minutes

Needed per mug of Eiergrog:

1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/3 to 1/2 cup mild Rum (already warmed), and enough hot water to fill the mug. Important detail: Use room-temperature eggs to keep them from curdling when the hot liquid is added.

Preparing one mug at a time:

Separate an egg and place the yolk into the warm mug. (Save the egg white for another use.) Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and whisk vigorously until foamy. Slowly whisk in the warmed rum. Do this one spoon at a time to keep the egg from curdling. Top off with hot water and voilà, you just created an Eiergrog. All that is left to do is to raise your mug and say PROST! It’s definitely the magic bullet for frosty and festive days.

Tags: Edward Vernon, Eiergrog, Eiergrog recipe, Germany, grog, Helgoland, North Sea, Wadden Sea
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Allure of the Wadden Sea

Monday, July 24th, 2017

Whether you call it Wadden Sea in English, Wattenmeer in German, Waddenzee in Dutch or Vadehavet in Danish, what takes place twice each day within this 310-mile stretch along the coastline of the North Sea is nothing short of spectacular. I am referring to the coastal intertidal belt that encompasses an area of almost 4,000 square miles. Twice each day, the North Sea rises to its highest level (high tide), covering the intertidal zone; and twice each day, the sea level falls to its lowest level (low tide), revealing the intertidal zone. Each day, land appears and then disappears again.

The Wadden Sea near Cuxhaven at low tide. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2014. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Where are the Wadden Sea National Parks?

The Wadden Sea National Parks are located along the German Bight of the North Sea and include the wetlands of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. In 1986, UNESCO declared the Wadden Sea a biosphere reserve. The area stretches from Den Helder in the Netherlands, past the Elbe and Weser river estuaries of Germany, to Skallingen in Denmark. Divided from each other by only administrative borders, the parks form a single ecological entity. The landscape of the Wadden Sea was formed by storm tides in the 10th to the 14th centuries, which carried away the land behind the coastal dunes. The small remaining islands within the Wadden Sea are remnants of former coastal dunes. Winds, waves and the tides continually reshape the landscape with constant pressure from every angle.

Flora and fauna of the Wadden Sea

The Wadden Sea is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and tidal flats on our planet. Geologically, it is an extremely young area. Its unique landscape hosts habitats found nowhere else in the world. Up to 6.1 million birds have been present at the same time, and an average of 10-12 million pass through the area each year. The salt marches host 2,300 species of flora and fauna. The marine and brackish areas hosts an additional 2,700 species as well as 30 species of breeding birds http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1314. The wetlands are home to creatures of all sizes ranging from the smallest, like worms and crabs of all sorts, to seals and dolphins that have re-colonized the area in large numbers. Hundreds of thousands of gulls, terns, ducks and geese use the Wadden Sea as a stopover, a wintering or a breeding site.

A typical inhabitant of the Wadden Sea is the Wattwurm (lugworm), which lives in a U-shaped tube beneath the surface. Their casts produce unique patterns in the sand. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2014. www.walled-in-berlin.com

From the shore, the Wadden Sea looks flat and almost uninteresting, but once you get away from the shore, you’ll find yourself in another world. It feels a bit like having left planet earth and travelling in a parallel universe. Much of the wetlands can be explored on foot or by horse-drawn carriage. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/wattwagenfahrt-endless-discovery/

Tags: biosphere reserve, high tide, intertidal belt, low tide, lugworm, North Sea, UNESCO, UNESO, Vadehavet, Wadden Sea, Wadden Sea National Parks, Waddenzee, Wattenmeer, Wattenwurm
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The Strandkorb – Distinctly German

Thursday, August 21st, 2014

August is beach season, and a “sun-sand-sea-and-wind holiday”on Germany’s North Sea and Baltic beaches almost always involves renting a Strandkorb. These distinctly German beach baskets allow their occupants to soak up the sun while avoiding the scouring sand that frequently travels the windswept beaches. Besides, a Strandkorb quickly becomes “home away from home” when beachgoers build a low wall of sand–called a castle–around their basket and decorate it with seashells. For generations, Germany’s beaches have been dotted with legions of these beach baskets each summer.

What is a Strandkorb?

A Strandkorb is a sturdy, adjustable armchair for two, made from wicker, cane and/or wood and allows its occupants to curl up in the basket’s interior or to soak up the sun’s last rays while all stretched out. A small built-in table makes it possible to lunch or dine at water’s edge. But the Strandkorb is much more than a utilitarian piece of furniture. It is a uniquely constructed piece of art that comes with many options, such as drawers at the base that serve as foot rests and storage, backward-tilting roofs, armrests with foldaway trays, heated seats and rainproof covers. There are even special models for children and pets.

Strandkorb around 1950 , Photo © J. Elke Ertle 2014, www.walled-in-berlin.com

Strandkorb History

In 1882, the noble woman Elfriede von Maltzahn asked Wilhelm Bartelmann, chief basket maker to the Imperial Court of Emperor Wilhelm I, to built her a beach chair. She asked for protection from excessive sun and wind while accommodating her rheumatism. Mr. Bartelmann designed a large, canopied, single-seated armchair. Considering that beach furniture was unheard of prior to 1882, Mrs. von Maltzahn’s Strandkorb became the envy of beachgoers in Warnemuende that year, the sea resort on the Baltic Sea she frequented. Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception of his armchair, Bartelmann designed a two-seater the following year, and his wife opened a beach basket rental service. Since then, the Strandkorb hasn’t left the German beach scene.

The Strandkorb Today

Todays Baltic and North Sea beaches are dotted with more than 70,000 of these covered wicker beach baskets. Two distinct variations have evolved: The straight angular North Sea Strandkorb and the rounded Baltic Sea model. But these beach baskets are no longer relegated exclusively to the beach. You also see them on balconies and patios. A friend of mine received a Strandkorb as a retirement present and uses it to relax in her garden. Despite their weight (up to 200 lbs), the baskets are shipped all over the world. It takes around $700-$3,000 plus shipping costs to become the proud owner of a Strandkorb.

Tags: Baltic, beach basket, Elfriede von Maltzahn, North Sea, Strandkorb, Warnemuende, Wilhelm Bartelmann
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