Rømø

Rømø was wealthier in the 18th century than its barren landscape would suggest. The island's men signed on with Dutch and Hamburg whaling fleets, many of them as captains. Money from the Greenland hunt flowed back into home construction, and this brief period of wealth still shapes the local landscape today.The most visible testament is the Kommandørgården in Toftum, a thatched captain's farm from 1748, now furnished as a museum. Dutch wall tiles, painted ceiling beams, and imported furniture show where the prosperity came from. Opposite stands the Toftum Skole from 1784, one of Denmark's oldest preserved schoolhouses, with a single classroom.Near Juvre, a fence made of whale jawbones stands by the roadside, erected in the 18th century from the jaws of hunted Greenland whales. Such fences were common on the Wadden Sea islands, but hardly any others remain. The Church of Sankt Clemens in Kirkeby, named after the patron saint of seafarers, preserves gravestones of the commanders.

Rømø is connected to the mainland by an approximately nine-kilometer causeway, which you can cross by car in a few minutes. To the right and left is the open Wadden Sea; at high tide, water reaches the roadway. The nearest train station is Skærbæk on the Bramming–Tønder line, from there a bus goes to the island.A special feature is the beach of Lakolk: It is firm enough that you can drive and park directly on it. With a width of several kilometers in places, traffic disperses, but you should pay attention to the tides and avoid getting into soft sand.Within the island, distances are short; towns are no more than ten kilometers apart. Cycle paths lead through dunes and pine plantations, though the wind makes direction a crucial factor. From Havneby in the south, the ferry operates to List on Sylt.