Where autumn feels at home: the North Sea island of Sylt

Rain, wind and heavy fog can mess up the most beautiful city. When autumn arrives, the weather in Berlin adjusts to the color of the concrete buildings and Hamburg is suddenly no longer called Germany’s nicest city.

On the island of Sylt it’s a bit different. Here, it’s also cold and windy and the barren landscape disappears in uniform grey. Nevertheless, you somehow have the impression that the weather is exactly as it should be. In a strange way the uncomfortable season fits this island in northern Germany.

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When autumn arrives in Sylt, the sea unites with the sky until you can barely see the horizon. When autumn arrives, you have long beach walks, until you get into a cold rain and make it just in time to hide under one of the wooden huts of the lifeguards.

In autumn you see hundreds of deserted beach baskets that bear witness to the hustle and bustle of last summer. You see grasses and bushes, which could not be more varied in their colors: sometimes they are silver, sometimes dull and sometimes almost beige. And if you look close enough, you will gradually get the impression that they would constantly change their color.

Autumn in Sylt means cozy hours you spend thickly dressed on a dike, with a cold North German beer or a hot chocolate in your hand and your eyes resting on the sea. It means a certain inner peace.

It is the comfort, to take a break from hiking and sit down at a cozy restaurant to enjoy all the delicacies the North Sea has to offer: from freshly fried fish to smoked fish and matjes-rolls that almost melt in your mouth and that only here, directly by the sea taste so good – and of course only with this stunning view over the dikes and over to the sea.

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When fall arrives in Sylt, thousands of spa guests follow, who raise the average age on the island at least to 65, so that 40 years olds suddenly feel like teenagers again. And of course there are the people of North Frisia, who grow up here and ever since defy the weather with their indomitable sense of humor.

When fall arrives, it’s time to go out to the huge nature reserve full of dikes, dunes and meadows. And to all the sheep that graze on them totally unimpressed, as if there would not be such thing as an uncomfortable weather. And somehow these sheep look bigger and plushier then elsewhere.

In this merciless season, Sylt is quite colorless, almost completely desaturated. The remarkable thing is that the dreariness goes very well with this short stretch of land.
Maybe next time, when autumn arrives in your town to stay for a couple of months, you better head north. If you do, you won’t escape. But you’ll see where it feels at home. And soon you will understand why it does that.

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Have you been to the island of Sylt? What anekdotiques and tips do have from there? Leave a comment!

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  1. Sehr schön. Ich war mal im Februar auf Sylt, und selbst da war die Insel schön. Gefällt mir eh viel besser als sommerliche Menschenmassen. Kein Mensch in Sicht am Ellenbogen… hat was.

    Viele Grüße,
    Lena

    Reply
    • Clemens says:

      Hi Lena, da gebe ich dir total recht. War auch noch nie im Sommer dort. Aber auf volle Strände kann ich verzichten. Ich glaube Sylt entfaltet erst dann seinen Charme, wenn die Massen weg sind. Ruhe steht dieser Insel irgendwie sehr gut.

      Reply
  2. AnnaMaus says:

    Sylt ist einfach mehr – einfach anders als woanders!

    Der Sand ist nicht weißer aber anders,
    das Wasser ist nicht nasser aber anders,
    der Wind ist nicht stärker aber anders,

    die Luft riecht viel besser als woanders,
    der Fisch schmeckt viel besser als woanders,
    der Himmel ist viel schöner als woanders,
    die Sonne kitzelt viel mehr als woanders,
    der Regen kommt meist schräger als woanders.

    Ich liebe diese Insel,

    was will ich woanders?

    Bis im Sommer, liebe Insel – dann bin ich wieder da!

    AnnaMaus

    Reply

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