An old lighthouse in one of the rapeseed plantations on the island of Sylt
It is a narrow strip of land, the largest in the frisian archipelago dotting the eastern shore of the jutland peninsula , with 40 kilometers of beach and a picturesque landscape of houses covered with compact thatched roofs. The island of sylt rustic getaway german upper class . The main towns and tourist complexes are Westerland, Wenningstedt and Kampen . In this last town is the most expensive street in Germany, explain the locals with a mixture of fear and pride.
Before that, following the fable of Spanish fishing villages turned into golf courses, Sylt was a hippy and protonudist haven , where actresses like Birigitte Bardot and where artists such as the architect and plastic artist sought refuge Anatole Buchholz , friend of Gunter Grass , collector of sick foxes and sculptor of pieces of wood collected on the beach. His house has become a foundation that grants scholarships to artists, such as the painter Thomas Landt , which shows us the house illuminated by a skylight in the thatched roof as he comments on the tactical deployment of the Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final second leg.
Traditional thatched-roof houses on the elite island of Sylt
To this remote, windswept island and former fishing base of a major whaling fleet , the press tycoon also arrived Axel Springer , the German citizen Kane based on hamburg , which in the absence of neo-Gothic castles, chose to buy a lighthouse . Nobody hunts whales anymore Sylt , and only a small part of the population is able to speak the language fluently. Frisian dialect , mix of German, English and Danish. The rural past of the isolated and remote whaling island can be imagined by visiting the 18th century house museum in Kampen, with its claustrophobic gnome cabinets
The oyster farm of the Dittmeyer's Austern company
After the trip to the past, it is time to visit the Dittmeyer's Austern oyster farm. I coincided in its facilities with a group of german chefs , to whom the rain had spoiled their day of golf, and who at the last minute changed the green for oyster tasting in catiuskas . In the middle of a gale it seemed like a great idea to accompany one of the employees to the bay where oysters are farmed . Just as the vacationers of Travemunde entered the sea in trailers, I made my grand entrance on the back of a tractor after crossing an immense beach lashed by a storm. Another harmless treat to add to the list: paddling in katiuskas in the North Sea.
This article was published in issue 54 of Conde Nast Traveler.
Bathing hut or strandkorb on the beach of Kampen