Ipswich to Harwich - England
We dropped the hire car off in Ipswich which is approx. 43 miles from Harwich at 3.30 pm after getting a little lost finding Hertz. The taxi ride to Harwich was an interesting one. Our driver arrived in a flurry to the Hertz office. Inside the taxi looked like a bomb had hit it. The driver, an eccentric Englishman, had to stop for petrol and couldn’t get the driver side window up. He then proceeded to spend 15 minutes getting the window up manually. Finally on our way, we suggested he do up his seat belt, only to be told that this was only needed for the passengers. Phil said “so if we have a prang, we remain motionless and you hurtle out the window’. His response to that was “yes”. On arrival at Harwich, went to pay the fare, he opened the glove box and money dropped out all over the floor. He didn’t seem too concerned.
On the Deck of the Dana Serina
Phil really excelled this time by booking us into “Commodore Class” on the DFDS ferry for our overnight trip to Denmark. The cabin was huge (larger than on our cruise ship), grog and snacks were included and also free wi fi. The Commodore lounge overlooked the back of the ship so it was very nice relaxing sitting there drinking champagne as we sailed out of Harwich at 6pm. We had a good night’s sleep and arrived in Esbjerg, Denmark at 1pm.
Our cabin
We were greeted by Ove and Else-Marie, waving Australian flags. What a lovely start to our stay in Denmark. Off this ferry and onto a smaller one for the 12 minute journey to beautiful Fano Island where Ove and Else-Marie live. Fano is the most western point of Denmark with a population of around 3000 people. The island has a tough seafaring history, the Danes are great seafarers. We stayed in Ove and Else-Marie’s 200 years old summer house with a thatched roof. It was very quaint and comfortable with a kitchen and bathroom downstairs, living/bedroom upstairs and a lovely little courtyard at the side of the house.
Else-Marie Marilyn, Ove at their summer house where we stayed
Ove hired bikes for us and after a light lunch, it was off to cycle and explore the village of Nordby which is where the ferry comes into the island. Nordby has narrow little lanes, lovely little thatched cottages with small colourful gardens. Cycling around the narrow lanes was fun and I didn’t fall of the bike once. We cycled down to the beach where Phil and Ove explored the WW2 German bunkers which stretch across the island.
Heading off to explore
Ove and Else-Marie’s house is next to a small crepe restaurant and their garden adjoins the garden of the restaurant. We were sitting in the garden listening to a group of local singers singing sea shanties in Danish. We applauded and when we mentioned we were from Australia, they immediately said “South Australia?”. As most know, Phil is from Adelaide. They then sang a hearty rendition of the sea shanty “We’re bound for South Australia”, which Phil had learnt as a child. This was a delightful welcome. There is a close connection between South Australia with the Danish clipper ships of the late 1800’s picking up grain from Adelaide and Wallaroo.
The following day, Ove took us for a16 km (the length of the island) drive along the beach. It was a very windy day and there were lots of people on the beach getting ready for the worlds largest kite festival. I have never seen so many different kites of all shapes and sizes, very colourful. We had a delicious lunch at a very old Inn in Sonderho which is an old sailing village at the most northern tip of the island. We also visited a very nice art gallery and local museum.
Kites of all shapes and sizes
All shapes!!
On the Monday morning we had a sleep in, relaxed and after a traditional Danish hamburger lunch, we walked down to the small marina where some local children from about six years old were learning to sail. This was very interesting, particularly being a windy day and things got a little tricky with a few mishaps. However, the sailing skills were spectacular in the squally conditions.
We loved the wonderful traditional Danish meals that Else-Marie prepared for us, complemented with great wine and schnapps.
Ove and Else-Marie took us on the ferry back to Esbjerg and to the railway station for our two hour trip to Odense. It was a wonderful couple of days. We wished that we could have spent a little longer there. I should have mentioned earlier, Phil met Ove first met in 2001 when he was with the Queensland Government Trade Office and visited Denmark to work on an agricultural training project. Ove later stayed with us when he visited Australia. 
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