Frisia Coast Trail.com

On 28 August 1944, a desperate Hitler ordered the construction of a massive defensive line in northern Germany, stretching from the...

The much-celebrated Frisian Freedom refers to the period roughly between 1250 and 1500, when the Frisian terrae  (‘lands’)—bearing...

Man-made hills to dwell upon. Long thought of as typically Frisian, but they are anything but unique. Consider the Kincaid Mounds of the Mississippian people along the Cumberland and Mississippi rivers in the United States. Or the lomas (‘hills’) deep in Bolivia’s Beni district, raised above the Amazon’s seasonal floodwaters to provide ground for living and farming. Think too of the chinampas , the ingenious ‘floating gardens’ of the Aztec in Central America. And closer to ou

Like everywhere along the Wadden Sea shores in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the small republics of the tidal marshlands fought battle after battle against foreign aggressors seeking to subdue them. Counts, bishops, and cities alike tried to lay their hands on these fertile and strategically located lands. And if the threat was not from outside, it came from local headmen striving to establish dominion over a republic. The region of Butjadingen and Stadland, at the

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

Beauty is the best guarantee for quality and success. At least, this is how farmers in the province of Friesland thought of dairy cattle for (too) long. The better the exterieur ‘exterior’ of a cow, the better its milk yield. Velvety hide, size, expressive head, straight back, strong legs, sharply defined black and white spotted markings, fine horns, clear teats, etc. All features considered signs of good productive cattle. Even when evidence was piling up that the black-pie

Haubargs . Cathedral-like farmsteads with hipped roofs soaring up to twenty meters high, icons of the Eiderstedt peninsula in the region of Nordfriesland. These monumental farms embody the peak of the friesische Großhäuser  building tradition—yet also its end. This tradition, characteristic of the marshlands along the southern North Sea coast from Amsterdam to Husum, flourished from the mid-sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Haubargs , with the wealth they signified, so sti

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

The name Frisii  for the people who lived along the southern coast of the North Sea is ancient—very ancient. It dates back to Late...

In the year 1500, a girl by the name Tjede Peckes was born in the hamlet of Padingbüttel in the region of Land Wursten on the eastern banks of the River Weser. It was a salt marsh area the Wurstfriesen  'Wurst-Frisians' had managed to embank and cultivate. For centuries, they had enjoyed living in a lord-free farmers' republic. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the Wurstfriesen came into conflict with the bishop of Bremen and the duke of Sachsen-Lauenburg, powers tha

'In the navy', a song by the Village People. Of the small villages along the southern coast of the North Sea. A water people once united in the mythical Seven Sealands . Moreover, a people who laid the foundations of two of history’s most impressive navies: that of the Kingdom of England and that of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It should not come as a surprise we are talking about Frisians. In spite of the Latin saying Frisia non cantat  ‘Frisia does not sing

On the first of February 2020, one of the Frisian bastards  of the Frisia Coast Trail tramped the trail section from the town of Bad Nieuweschans to the small village of Termunten. It is a hike of thirty kilometers along the southern shores of the Dollart Bight. The day before, in the evening, the bastard arrived at a bed & breakfast called Kanonnier , meaning 'gunner' or 'bombardier'. The conversation with the owner brought the bastard from Bad Nieuweschans, to the city of B

If you want to track down who killed the whale, the Frisia Coast Trail  region is the place to start. Stop people on the streets along this southern North Sea littoral and ask whether they know anything, and you will likely hear: “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing.” Politicians and officials—say, in The Hague—will lament that they have no recollection of the affair. Better call them all Ishmael. In this blog post, we set out the unvarnished truth: how the peoples

The peoples of islands and archipelagos do not let others dictate how to live their lives. One of those archipelagos that meets these criteria as well is the Wadden Sea. For centuries, it is from here that sea explorers, tax evaders, sturdy Arctic whalers, self-righteous women, pirates, privateers, and other vagabonds have come. An archipelago that the Sea Beggars and the earliest trouser-wearing women call home. Even the first atheist of modern times comes from this archipel

Hjoggum vér með hjörvi —'we swung our swords'—as all the stanzas of the twelfth-century epic poem Lay of Kraka  begin, the tale of Ragnar Lothbrok’s death. When reading about the famous deeds of great Viking warriors, little attention is given to their moments of failure. Little is written about where and when those glorious men and women died. As it turns out, the coast of Frisia is one great Viking graveyard. It is here, in the (still) smelly blue mud, that legendary heroes

For those outdoor enthusiasts who consider hiking the mudflats of the Wadden Sea, it is essential to know that this is not just a worldly journey but a spiritual one. The entire Frisia Coast is, in a way, a spiritual belt, protecting the southern coast of the North Sea against northern darkness, according to early medieval sources. In October 1143, the bishop of Utrecht, Hartbert of Bierum—originating from Bierumen , a medieval ribbon settlement on the coast near the villages

When, on a moonlit night, you stand atop the dyke at Lake Lauwersmeer and gaze out over the water, you might just catch a glimpse of the...

Late in the afternoon, December 28, 2018. One of the Frisian bastards  arrives in the village of Anjum after a 30-kilometer hike along the coast, starting from Holwerd. It had been exactly 21 years since this quiet village was rocked by national news: the discovery of two male corpses buried in the garden of guesthouse Het Station. The killer? A woman—the guesthouse owner herself. Just to be safe, the bastard had booked a room at a different place: Hotel Wad Oars. But this ho

Over the past few years, we have written about the tall, strange-looking people who live in that twilight zone  between sea and land—the coastal strip along the southern shores of the North Sea. Lately, however, the repetitive long-calls alerted us to a blind spot: we forgot all about the iconic animal of that same zone—the seagull. The co-existence of humans and gulls is anything but simple. Opinions diverge wildly, from unalloyed admiration to utter disgust. In this blog po

High in the majestic Alps, in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland, many men, women, and children have witnessed the dreadful sight of dead Frisians marching home under the cover of darkness. The path they follow is known as The Frisians’ Way , a ghostly route linking the Haslital —the Hasli Valley in the Bernese Oberland—to the distant shores of the North Sea, once the heart of ancient Frisia. The dead do not speak the word ‘friend’ and simply enter when they want to pass through