Helgoland
Created | Updated Dec 2, 2004
What is this anyway?
Helgoland is a tiny offshore island in the German bight. Its name derives from the Frisian 'Hallig Lan' ('holy land'), as it was once called by its inhabitants after a Frisian goddess.
Actually, it is rather two islands, with a brick red main part of about one square kilometre (and sticking up around 30 metres) and a sand dune (imaginatively called Duene) which is half as large again (and much flatter) a few hundred metres away.
You arrive there from Büsum, Hamburg, Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven and one or two other coastal cities by ship on a daily basis, or organize your own transport by air if you're feeling fancy. Yes, Helgoland is only little larger than a cow's droppings, but it has its own two-runway airfield on the Duene. On one end of one runway there are the only traffic lights of all Helgoland, which will stop pedestrians if a plane approaches.
About its history: Helgoland had phases under British occupancy (much hated by the inhabitants) but was returned to Germany in 1890 in exchange for Zanzibar. Bad deal, you say, as Zanzibar is so much bigger and nicer? Well, yes, but then Helgoland still belongs to Germany, eh? During WWII, the island was turned into one big concrete shelter under the Nazis and then duly bombed by the British. After the war, they filled the tunnels and passageways the island was emmentalered with with explosives and triggered the allegedly largest non-nuclear explosion in history in order to wipe out the island once and for all. Needless to say, this didn't work. Bits dropped off, but the island as a whole was so soft and spongy that it contained the explosion and survived. After this incident, the Brits kept on using the island as a aerial bombing exercise target and dropped bombs, bombs and more bombs on it. Bizarrely, the only building to survive this ordeal was the old flak tower which is now the island lighthouse. The British name for the island is 'Heligoland', an intermediate spelling between the old 'Hallig Lan' and its modern version. But most British, if they know the island, know it as 'Target'.
The main island houses about 1600 permanent residents, who are united by one desire: Cut the purses of day tourists. The above mentioned ships all arrive shortly after noon, disgorge their shiploads of day trippers and then stay there for about three hours before the trip back. Meanwhile, their passengers will crawl all over the island to do what they all want:
Shop for cheap booze, cigarettes and perfume. It's an offshore island, remember? That means it not only gets lots of storms, it is also, in the warped and distorted world of customs law, outside the German border so that it is tax and customs free. This status has bought it its fond nickname in the rest of Germany: Schnapsfelsen, which means 'booze rock'.
Tourism is the major of only two employers on the island (three if you count the sheep), the other is the BAH or Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, a marine research outpost on the island wich also maintains some research vessels from there.
On the island, cars with combustion engines are forbidden, so there are a bunch of e-carts doing transport. But even they can't qualify for 'traffic'.
Is there any reason to go to Helgoland apart from the cheap booze? Well, yes. Bird watchers can see the Northern Gannel (Sula bassana), Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and the Common Murre (Uria aalge). If you manage to come in June or early July, you may even witness the youngs of the latter leaping death-defyingly from their precipitous nests. Or, as it is, sometimes they leap without defying death which is a case for the seagulls you can also see in great numbers and of all sorts. And don't forget to see the famous 'Lange Anna' a 30 metre column of red rock that sits beside the island at the north end.
There is also a bird station on the island which offers walks through their premises. You would not believe how many small birds make it and live on such a small alcoholic island.
Crossing the channel to the Duene by ferry, you can walk around the island which is mostly beach and have a swim with, if you are patient and a little lucky, Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) and Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus). Or even with their young, if you are really really lucky. Don't try to approach the seals on land as this will just cause them to go into a mass panic and splash into the sea.
Anything else? Well, no, not really. There are facilities for people who want to stay on the island for a few days, such as holiday apartments, a swimming pool and a mini golf course. No 'big' golf as this would necessarily be larger than the island. There are also exactly four 'supermarkets', each about the size of a large bed which offer all the day to day fare for the local residents. Oh, and booze.
In all cases you engage in any commercial transaction with the locals, watch every move they make. From several personal experiences I know that they will try to cheat you 'accidentally' with your change or key in wrong prices into the register.
One thing that will strike you about Helgoland is how expensive it all is. Well, apart form the booze and the cigs and... well, you know. But what they of course don't tell you is that everything else is massiveley more expensive. Look at any restaurant menu and you can see that they charge roughly twice as much as city restaurants on the mainland. Their local specialty, 'Knieper' which are the claws of the edible crab (Cancer pagurus) which is as common as muck there comes with baguette bread, one or two sauces and costs from EUR 15 to more than 20. And that's only made a specialty because the lobster hs become so rare you can't feed more than a handful of mouths with it. Hardly a main course is available under EUR 10. If you don't believe me, consider this: There is a reason why Helgoland cosists of two islands. Until a few hundred years ago, this was all one bigger island. But in the middle there was a large stretch of easily accessibe lime, so the inhabitants cut that up and sold it off to the mainland cities. Shortly thereafter, the bridge they left broke up and then there were two islands. They literally sold off the land they were standing on. Should tell you something, that.
So better bring your sandwiches. If you didn't, there is, of all things, a Turkish Doner Kebab vendor in one of the row of colourful houses (Hummerbuden) at the south harbour called 'Doner King'. It is not really sensational but absolutely edible, and it is a good meal to be had for 3.50. For some reason this Turk is the only one on the island not regularly overcharging people. Perhaps he hasn't been on the island for long enough yet.
If everything is so expensive, is there a way to survive on Helgoland with less than ten units of universally accepted currency a day? Well, yes. Start studying Biology in Kiel, Hamburg, Bremen or any northern University and sooner or later you may get an opportunity to visit the island by way of the BAH and their guest house. Use the excellently equipped kitchens to prepare your own meals and catch your own mackerels and cod from the sea just twenty metres away.
If that way isn't open to you, stick to the one-day visit or cough up the money for a holiday apartment. Sorry.
Helgoland is a tiny offshore island in the German bight. Its name derives from the Frisian 'Hallig Lan' ('holy land'), as it was once called by its inhabitants after a Frisian goddess.
Actually, it is rather two islands, with a brick red main part of about one square kilometre (and sticking up around 30 metres) and a sand dune (imaginatively called Duene) which is half as large again (and much flatter) a few hundred metres away.
You arrive there from Büsum, Hamburg, Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven and one or two other coastal cities by ship on a daily basis, or organize your own transport by air if you're feeling fancy. Yes, Helgoland is only little larger than a cow's droppings, but it has its own two-runway airfield on the Duene. On one end of one runway there are the only traffic lights of all Helgoland, which will stop pedestrians if a plane approaches.
About its history: Helgoland had phases under British occupancy (much hated by the inhabitants) but was returned to Germany in 1890 in exchange for Zanzibar. Bad deal, you say, as Zanzibar is so much bigger and nicer? Well, yes, but then Helgoland still belongs to Germany, eh? During WWII, the island was turned into one big concrete shelter under the Nazis and then duly bombed by the British. After the war, they filled the tunnels and passageways the island was emmentalered with with explosives and triggered the allegedly largest non-nuclear explosion in history in order to wipe out the island once and for all. Needless to say, this didn't work. Bits dropped off, but the island as a whole was so soft and spongy that it contained the explosion and survived. After this incident, the Brits kept on using the island as a aerial bombing exercise target and dropped bombs, bombs and more bombs on it. Bizarrely, the only building to survive this ordeal was the old flak tower which is now the island lighthouse. The British name for the island is 'Heligoland', an intermediate spelling between the old 'Hallig Lan' and its modern version. But most British, if they know the island, know it as 'Target'.
The main island houses about 1600 permanent residents, who are united by one desire: Cut the purses of day tourists. The above mentioned ships all arrive shortly after noon, disgorge their shiploads of day trippers and then stay there for about three hours before the trip back. Meanwhile, their passengers will crawl all over the island to do what they all want:
Shop for cheap booze, cigarettes and perfume. It's an offshore island, remember? That means it not only gets lots of storms, it is also, in the warped and distorted world of customs law, outside the German border so that it is tax and customs free. This status has bought it its fond nickname in the rest of Germany: Schnapsfelsen, which means 'booze rock'.
Tourism is the major of only two employers on the island (three if you count the sheep), the other is the BAH or Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, a marine research outpost on the island wich also maintains some research vessels from there.
On the island, cars with combustion engines are forbidden, so there are a bunch of e-carts doing transport. But even they can't qualify for 'traffic'.
Is there any reason to go to Helgoland apart from the cheap booze? Well, yes. Bird watchers can see the Northern Gannel (Sula bassana), Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and the Common Murre (Uria aalge). If you manage to come in June or early July, you may even witness the youngs of the latter leaping death-defyingly from their precipitous nests. Or, as it is, sometimes they leap without defying death which is a case for the seagulls you can also see in great numbers and of all sorts. And don't forget to see the famous 'Lange Anna' a 30 metre column of red rock that sits beside the island at the north end.
There is also a bird station on the island which offers walks through their premises. You would not believe how many small birds make it and live on such a small alcoholic island.
Crossing the channel to the Duene by ferry, you can walk around the island which is mostly beach and have a swim with, if you are patient and a little lucky, Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) and Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus). Or even with their young, if you are really really lucky. Don't try to approach the seals on land as this will just cause them to go into a mass panic and splash into the sea.
Anything else? Well, no, not really. There are facilities for people who want to stay on the island for a few days, such as holiday apartments, a swimming pool and a mini golf course. No 'big' golf as this would necessarily be larger than the island. There are also exactly four 'supermarkets', each about the size of a large bed which offer all the day to day fare for the local residents. Oh, and booze.
In all cases you engage in any commercial transaction with the locals, watch every move they make. From several personal experiences I know that they will try to cheat you 'accidentally' with your change or key in wrong prices into the register.
One thing that will strike you about Helgoland is how expensive it all is. Well, apart form the booze and the cigs and... well, you know. But what they of course don't tell you is that everything else is massiveley more expensive. Look at any restaurant menu and you can see that they charge roughly twice as much as city restaurants on the mainland. Their local specialty, 'Knieper' which are the claws of the edible crab (Cancer pagurus) which is as common as muck there comes with baguette bread, one or two sauces and costs from EUR 15 to more than 20. And that's only made a specialty because the lobster hs become so rare you can't feed more than a handful of mouths with it. Hardly a main course is available under EUR 10. If you don't believe me, consider this: There is a reason why Helgoland cosists of two islands. Until a few hundred years ago, this was all one bigger island. But in the middle there was a large stretch of easily accessibe lime, so the inhabitants cut that up and sold it off to the mainland cities. Shortly thereafter, the bridge they left broke up and then there were two islands. They literally sold off the land they were standing on. Should tell you something, that.
So better bring your sandwiches. If you didn't, there is, of all things, a Turkish Doner Kebab vendor in one of the row of colourful houses (Hummerbuden) at the south harbour called 'Doner King'. It is not really sensational but absolutely edible, and it is a good meal to be had for 3.50. For some reason this Turk is the only one on the island not regularly overcharging people. Perhaps he hasn't been on the island for long enough yet.
If everything is so expensive, is there a way to survive on Helgoland with less than ten units of universally accepted currency a day? Well, yes. Start studying Biology in Kiel, Hamburg, Bremen or any northern University and sooner or later you may get an opportunity to visit the island by way of the BAH and their guest house. Use the excellently equipped kitchens to prepare your own meals and catch your own mackerels and cod from the sea just twenty metres away.
If that way isn't open to you, stick to the one-day visit or cough up the money for a holiday apartment. Sorry.
