Ærø: Wedding boom and maritime traditions

Tine Tolstrup ?ref=br_rs

Ærø is island Denmark at its best. The island attracts tourists, sailors and bridal couples, all of whom seek romantic maritime coziness. Bring Tine and Sarah from Ødysséen - where they will visit Ærø this time. Read more about the island here

Af Tine Tolstrup

Colorful Ærø

Ærøskøbing's winding old cobbled streets have houses and hollyhocks in all the colors of the rainbow and testify to the island's old stories. On a trip with the security guard (the old city guard) around Ærøskøbing, we found out, for example, that in the old houses there was always room for a ship's mast in the attic; that the island had been a smuggler's paradise when Sønderjylland was German, and that the Ærøske flag is actually identical to the Lithuanian flag and is due to the efforts of a somewhat clumsy historian.

As we walked around the streets, we also stumbled upon the many bridal couples on a completely ordinary summer weekday - what the hell were they all going to do on Ærø?

It turned out, however, that the island is known for a fast case processing, which especially foreign couples take advantage of. An entire wedding industry has sprung up on the island, with 4.000 couples getting happily married each year.

Travel deals: Short break in the Danish mountains

Denmark - Ærø, Ærøskøbing, half-timbering, walker - travel

Busy summer

The wedding and association bustle on the island, however, was nothing against the bustle of the many harbor parties, we could understand the young carpenter Mikkel, who had grown up on the island.

Take the bus from Copenhagen to Odense - see the offer here

See Around Denmark: 20 fun places to spend the night

“Every weekend in July there is a harbor party. Last weekend in Søby, this weekend in Marstal and next weekend here in Ærøskøbing ” he told. "Many who have grown up on the island come home during the summer, and that way we can still keep in touch".

Mikkel had also worked at one of the island's shipyards, and while we were sitting and talking, one of his comrades, who had just returned home after sailing around the world's oceans for several months, swung past. Ærø has long maritime traditions, we understood, but for two land crabs like us, we had to show a trip to Marstal to fully understand what it was all about.

Find your Funen holiday home here - click on 'Additional information' to get the final price

You can see the video from Ærø at the top of the page.

About the author

See everything

Tine Tolstrup

Tine has a degree in geography from the University of Copenhagen with a focus on environmental management and has a solid knowledge of the Danish natural and cultural landscape, urban development and settlement patterns.
From March to September 2018, she and Sarah Steinitz will explore the island kingdom and travel around to 37 islands in Denmark. It's going to be an adventure. An adventure they call The Odyssey. They are part of a generation that flies around the world after the book "1000 places you must see before you die", but still have never been to Avernakø or driven over Storstrømsbroen. They will seek out the adventures that await around the corner - on Fejø, Fanø, Fur and the 34 other islands that they travel around on their Ødyssé.