Frisia Coast Trail.com

Imagine a time unlike ours. When there were no engines, amplifiers, and speakers, and the sounds you heard were made by the actions of men, beasts, or the elements of nature. Be quiet and listen. Can you hear the chatter of children and vendors, and the hooves of horses on the streets? Can you hear the loose sails of docked ships flapping, drying in the wind? A time when communities, villages, and towns were of manageable size. This soundscape was a world where the sound of t

April 2024. One of the bastards  of the Frisia Coast Trail hiked a stretch of the Lycian Way— Likya Yolu  in Turkish. This coastal track spans over 700 kilometers along Turkey’s southern shore, often tracing ancient paths once used by the Greeks and Romans. Lycia is the historical name for the Teke Peninsula, a region still largely untouched by the hotel chains and resorts found further east around Antalya. Instead, this coastline is peppered with forests, pastures, rural vil

There are theories suggesting that the tribal name 'Frisians' originates from the Old Frisian word frisle , meaning ‘lock of hair’—a term...

Man-made hills to dwell upon. Long thought of as typically Frisian, but they are anything but unique. Consider the Kincaid Mounds of the...

When re-enactors bring early-medieval Frisia to life, they are often seen wearing a small iron hammer on a leather cord around their...

Recently, regional newspaper Leeuwarder Courant published an article about how the town of Stavoren  was tampering with the stones of the grave of King Aldgillis (Walinga 2024), a king of Frisia in the seventh century. This grave used to be the spot where the members of the Frisian student association D.S.S.F.S. Aldgillis of Delft would gather to drink and share some jenever together. Hopefully with some jenever as libation for the dead spirits too. A yearly tradition that st

lighthouse Kleine Preuße 'little Prussian' at the marsh near Wremem, Land Wursten Near a terp called Fallward, close to the village of Wremen in the region of Land Wursten, archaeologists uncovered a remarkable site that opens a rare window onto life during the Migration Period—the world of the so-called ‘Old Saxons’ who once inhabited the tidal marshes of the Wadden Sea at the mouth of the River Weser. Excavations at the Fallward terp revealed two burial grounds dating from

Despite the fact that some Frisian forenames still find their way into modern name-giving, like Bente, Dirk, Doutzen, Eske, Femke/Famke,...

Carving runes into combs and stones is basically the same as spraying tags on subway cars and bicycle tunnels. Those who create runes or...

Haubargs . Cathedral-like farmsteads with hipped roofs soaring up to twenty meters high, icons of the Eiderstedt peninsula in the region...

May 8, 2021. Visual artist, photographer Arie Bruinsma approached one of the Frisian bastards . Arie explained to him that his wife...

Who’s afraid of Jóða Fenris , 'the offspring of Fenrir'? Afraid of hund hrynsævar hræva , 'the hound of the roaring sea of corpses'? Who, today, fears the wolf? The dark creature that once haunted the shadowed forests of the East is rising again in Europe. Nearly two centuries have passed, yet the wolf has returned to the southern shores of the North Sea. Returned to former Frisia, rekindling ancient fears thought long extinguished. It is killing sheep. More unsettling still,

You might say: “Sure, the study of history is evidence-based and free of politics. For this reason, it is called a science, isn’t it? It...

On the Facebook page ' Frisian Americans ', the question popped up regarding the role certain Frisians played in the Whiskey Rebellion in...

Let’s go to the omega. To the end of the Frisia Coast Trail . To Ribe in southern Jutland, Denmark. The oldest town in Scandinavia. A town located on the banks of the Ribe Å. A modest river that flows out into the Wadden Sea stoically slow, opposite the islands of Fanø and Mandø. Ribe started as a seasonal marketplace. Year-round settlement began around the year 700. Everything in peaceful times yet. Only with the raid on the island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland in 793 did

Dockyards, quays, terminals, warehouses, wharves, anchorages, lighthouses, and beacons. Craftsmen, shipping companies, customs offices,...

Hiking demands careful preparation, especially when it comes to personal safety. What is in your First Aid Kit? Do you have basic first...

The heart of Western democracies is the joint assembly of Parliament, Cabinet, and High Councils of State. Its Celtic-Germanic origin is the thing , also called ting , ding , or þing  in other writings. Today, national assemblies in Scandinavian countries still refer to this ancient tradition. For example, the parliaments of the Faroes Løgting , of Greenland Landsting , of Iceland Alþingi , and of Norway Storting . However, the oldest written attestation of the thing  institu

At the end of the eighth century, by decree of Charlemagne and under the supervision of the wise men Wlemar and Saxmund, the customary law of the Frisians was codified. It is called the Lex Frisionum . Its jurisdiction included the land between the Flehum and Sincfalam rivers 'between Vlie and Sincfalam River'. The River Flehum flowed into the North Sea, where the sea strait Vlie is located today, between the islands of Terschelling and Vlieland. Sincfalam , also written as

Are these white letters on the wall encrypted gibberish to you? With learning a handful of keywords, you'll have deciphered them in no time. Even better, tens of thousands of town names will hold no longer any secrets for you. Each placename will reveal its unique story to you. You will make a great impression on your fellow citizens or travellers! These words reveal everything about the history of the place you are in. Regardless if you travel the Frisia Coast Trail or live