Picture post the first

[oneiriad]

Some time ago I asked for requests of pictures of my new town. Well, time to start posting some, isn't it?

poetic_self wanted pictures of those big white statues aka Man at Sea.






Pretty big, aren't they?

fairlyironic asked for used bookstores - I've found a grand total of one, but it's big and full of interesting stuff, although I'd wish for more shelves with science fiction and fantasy...

...cafes popular with the locals - which I'm not that good at spotting, but I couldn't resist this one...

...and pet stores. This is just a tiny one - there's supposed to be some big ones outside the main town.


doolabug wanted pictures of historical sites. I could only really think of this.


Right, that warrents an explanation. You see, 200 years ago there wasn't a town here. Oh, people have been living here since the stone ages and there's plenty of archaelogical finds both from then and from the vikings. But town? No. Farms and villages and fishers, sure, but with Ribe - the oldest town in the country - just south of here there was no reason for that. No battles, no intrigues, no castles, no monasteries. Nothing.

Then - in 1848 - Denmark became a democracy. All citizens (except the so-called five "f"s) had a say in goverment. And they soon proceeded to prove that while democracy might be the least bad form of goverment, then it is by no means automatically wise. Having just managed to win one war against a young and fierce Germany, it is not wise to provoke a new one in 1864. Does it surprise anyone we lost? And we lost Schleswig-Holstein. And part of Schleswig-Holstein was Altona, an important porttown handling the ships that didn't feel like hazarding the trip north round Skagen.

The Danish government decided they needed a new western port. Unfortunately the Danish west coast is not really hospitable - stormy and with a reputation for shipwrecks - there's a reason for a name like Jammerbugten. But to the south of it, sheltered behind the island of Fanø and a convenient peninsula, just at the north end of what wikipedia informs me is called the Wadden Sea, it was decided to build a harbour and connect it to a railway. Somewhat predictably, a town grew. That it would grow to be the fifth largest urban center in the country probably surprised quite a few people.

This gentleman is King Christian IX, founder of Esbjerg.

And this is the memorial for those who has been lost at sea since about 1900.


But when all is said and done, the only historical site Esbjerg truly has, is the sea. Always and ever the sea.