Spiekeroog, Germany - The word hectic is unknown on the East Frisian islands off the northern coast of Germany and that applies to the cosy isle of Spiekeroog more than to any of its six neighbours. The bathing resort on nearby Norderney was better known. But as early as 1846, guests started coming here instead because it was "less noisy and luxurious". On the first glance, nothing has changed much.
Spiekeroog measures just 18 square kilometers and is shared among 820 islanders whose numbers are swelled in the season by the occupants of 3,500 tourists beds - most of the them in holiday apartments.
There are no cars or any other motor vehicles on the island and even riding a bicycle is deemed to disturb the silence. In some cases it is even forbidden. Needless to say there are no bicycle hire stations.
"Trips with a horse and carriage are possible," says tourism director Silvia Nolte by way of compensation.
There are not a lot of excursions to be had on what is essentially a huge sandbank along the Wadden Sea. The highest elevation is a dizzy 24 metres and "East Frisia's tallest mountain" at the same time.
There is however plenty of woodland, thanks to a forestry director from Hanover who came as a guest in 1862 and could not resist planting little copses of pine, birch and oak trees. The islanders followed his example and today Spiekeroog is decidedly green. It is even home to the long-eared owl.
In contrast to the other Frisian islands, Spiekeroog's main settlement escaped the ravages of the post-war reconstruction. A village has been known at this site since 1600. The broad belt of sandbanks around the settlement affords it protection from the North Sea and there are consequently many older houses to be seen which have withstood centuries of wind and weather.
The village church built in 1696 is the oldest house of worship in the East Frisian Islands. Among its treasures is a picture of the apostles said to have come from the flagship of the Spanish Armada which sailed against England in 1588.
Norderloog is the location of an eccentric little museum with all manner of stuffed birds, including a pheasant which crashed into the door during a storm and broke its neck. The flotsam and jetsam preserved here includes the 16-kilo lumbar vertebra of a whale and a stuffed crocodile which must have been thrown overboard by a passing sailor.
One who passed this way many years ago was Irish nationalist writer Erskine Childers whose famous spy novel The Riddle of the Sands (1903) revolves around two amateur yachtsmen who sail along the Frisian coast on holiday and end up foiling a plot by Kaiser Wilhelm to invade Britain. Spiekeroog plays a part in the story.
The best thing about Spiekeroog, however, is its tranquil landscape. The so-called "Ostplate" in the east with its wide sandy beaches can only be enjoyed on foot. Countless seabirds give birth to their offspring here and the seals come to sunbathe. Long walks along the beach - the best time is when the tide has just gone out leaving the sand nice and firm - are among the most relaxing attractions on the island.
The drift line is littered with objects abandoned by the waves. Sometimes the sea shells pressed into the sand and garnered with seaweed are like still-life arrangements, so delicate that the visitor is loath to disturb them by pocketing a souvenir.
INFO: North Sea resort Spiekeroog, Noorderpad 25, 26474, Spiekeroog, Germany. Tel: 0049-4976-919 31 01. Internet: www.spiekeroog.de
