Two million people can’t be wrong, can they? Not when you’re talking about Wangerland, a town that sits on the North Sea coast in an area known as the Friesland.
Where did I get the number two million? Oh, that’s just how many tourists come to this coastal town annually!
I’m sure they come to sit on the sandy beach of the North Sea to frolick in the water. Yes, I’d come to Wangerland for that alone; but, there’s more to it than that.
Of course there is! People have lived here since the 2nd century B.C., though there isn’t anything that remains of that period. What does remain, is a bit from the glorious days of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. I know, I’m romanticizing, but Wangerland has that effect on me.
But, to be honest, most of it comes in the form of village churches from Wangerland’s nine local shires. In the village of Hohenkirchen, there’s a fabulous 13th century Romanesque church. And most of the other churches throughout Wangerland were built through the 13th to 16th centuries.
Art is a popular theme here; and how could it not with all this gorgeous scenery? You’ll find lots of it at the Künstlerhaus Hooksiel. Come here when you’re ready to ditch your 9-5 job in the corporate world and take up painting. There are lots of lectures, workshops, and even “scholarship” subsidies to help the proverbial “starving artist.”
If I thought with that side of my brain, I’d be out drawing pictures of the Burg Fischhausen. I’d be imagining what these ruins were like back in its Renaissance heyday. But, you can still see its stair tower and the fireplace in the Knights’ Hall.
One piece of advice when visiting Wangerland, some say it’s in East Frisia others say it’s not. I got an idea… debate it over a Jever beer. The brewery is only a few kilometers away — so you know it’s freshly brewed. ;-)
