Our last full day on Bornholm was full of wonders. It began with Mark and me being up in time for the sunrise at about 4:45 am and watching it rise from the deck (camera in hand).
Then, as we set out after breakfast at just after 8 am, we stepped out of our front door, we saw first one, and then a whole little cluster of FOUR baby hedgehog emerge from the hedge right by our front door. They wobbled like toddlers and were teeny, so we think it was their first time exploring outside of their nest, and they were clearly not able to see us since they came right up to us as they rooted around for something to munch on. It is hard to describe how adorable they were; Mark was even more delighted than the rest of us since he had never seen one in the wild before.
Then, another wonder, the bus was nearly punctual and a friendly Danish guy explained one of the things that has mystified us about the buses since Day 1: We managed to catch Bus 3 at a bus stop for Bus 1 and were very confused which bus we were supposed to wait for and where. But that’s because Bus 1 switches signs and BECOMES Bus 3 right after that bus stop, which is the most counterintuitive public transportation thing ever. Even the Danish guy said it was super confusing and took him years to figure out! So we took Bus 1 / 3 Northwest along the coast to a town called Allinge, just before Sandvig, where we went on our first full day, and walked from there to a site, Madsebakke, where the largest group of Bronze Age petroglyphs in Denmark are visible on a big piece of sloped granite. They are a bit hard to see, but Mark and Andrea and I spotted several; most are ships, and there is also a circle that is possibly a sun symbol.
We then walked back from the site, which is a little bit inland, back to the coast, and found our way back to the coastal trail, the Kyststi, which connects all these little villages and surprised us so many times with new and unexpected views. This time, it did so by actually leading us past two small sandy beach coves that WERE actually quite busy with tourists, to the extent that it was a bit of a challenge to make our way across without invading everyone’s space. But that also meant we were able to find both a public bathroom (sometimes a bit of a challenge) and a place with “coffee to go” and EXCELLENT cinnamon rolls that we took with us as we continued. We only walked from Allinge to Sandkås and on to Tejn, so about 5 km / 3 miles total, but it was a beautiful walk with gorgeous views (our guidebook called them charming picture book views and they really were). We also climbed around on a few more rocks, because rocks!
We then took the bus back home from Tejn, had some coffee and started doing a bit of packing and cleaning. But it was the warmest day of all the days we’ve been here (69 Fahrenheit, so about 21 C) and not windy, so Andrea and I decided to go to the swimming pier one more time and really go for a little swim. It was still cold, of course, but the kind of cold that goes away after a minute or two. We swam in the delightfully clear water for about 10 minutes and were very pleased with ourselves! Mark and Peter watched from the sidelines (Mark stuck his feet in the water, at least!).
When we got home, Andrea did some more packing, Peter and Andrea did some cleaning, and I prepped a dinner worthy of that cooking competition where you get random ingredients and need to make a meal out of them, so that we would use up everything in the fridge. So we had a pasta salad with peppers, onions, and olives (bought to spec in a little baggie), green salad with just green onion and carrot for extra flavor, an omelet with peppers, onions, and parmesan, and the last of our rolls with the last of our butter, cheese, and salami! A feast for kings on the deck, still in full sun. A farewell walk to the harbor, where Andrea and Peter had a local beer that does not get exported from the island (Swaneke Classic) and Mark and I had a locally made ice cream on a stick (Krølle Bølle), all at a rooftop fish restaurant with view of the harbor. The light was beautiful, but we were a little too tired to wait another hour for the sunset on top of the hill that the town is nestled up against, and went on the last walk back home, past the windmill, the one-story tudor frame houses painted in yellow, blue, and red, and all the pretty little gardens that combine vegetable growing, gorgeous flowers (wild roses, hollyhocks, hydrangeas, buddleia stand out), and in some cases, beehives. What a gorgeous little town on this amazing island–Peter picked the perfect spot.
