Germany Highlights 2024: Juist Part 2

The day after we had walked around in the mudflats, we rented bicycles to explore the rest of the island. As a reminder, the island was only 900 meters wide and 17 km long. Since we were located near the middle of the island, we could easily go either east or west. Our friends have a small child, so they rented an electric cargo bike and placed him in the front. I love the concept of cargo bikes and they work well in temperate climates. While I would love for them to become more popular in Alberta, they would likely only be practical for 5 months out of the year. 

Europeans tend to ride with their seats much higher than I am used to, so I had to lower the seat about 3 inches before the ride felt proper. I also have short legs. The bike had very large tires, so I could effortlessly cover ground. 

We ended up heading towards the west end of the island first. Without having to worry about vehicles, we made great time. We made a few stops along the way to sightsee. The first stop was a viewpoint of the Hammersee, a small inland lake. There were some signs at the viewing platform describing some of the local birds. It was all in German, but my wife translated everything with Google Lens. What an amazing technology. You just hover your camera over the text and it translates everything for you.

We continued until we reached the western end of the island. There was a large expanse of beach called the Billriff. We walked quite a ways along the beach. There was not much to see except for a dead seal.

Our group then hopped back on our bicycles and headed for the eastern edge of the island. We stopped at the airport and checked out some of the neat small aircraft that were parked there. This small airport was actually very busy. It was mostly small planes, and the occasional mid-sized aircraft. The diversity of planes on display was fun.

Our friends’ son was getting restless, so they went home while my wife and I continued walking along the path behind the airport. This path ended up taking us to a nature preserve called Kalfamer. During the walk, we saw quite a variety of birds. I even saw my first ever spoonbills, but I was too slow to get a good picture. I didn’t even realize that they were spoonbills because they look a lot like cranes from a distance, and you don’t really see the “spoon” unless they angle their heads to the side. I was FAR more excited than my wife for these birds, but that’s okay. She chose to marry a bird nerd.

On the way back from Kalfamer, we took another detour to Otto Leege Pfad, a trail dedicated to a German naturalist. If you ever find yourself on Juist, do yourself a favour and walk this lovely trail. There is a nice boardwalk, pieces of art (including a windharp), and a great viewpoint of the island. The trail itself isn’t very long. The windharp was a highlight, since I had never seen one of these before. The way it works is there is a metal pan and a set of strings that vibrate as wind passes over them. The sound changes based on the direction and intensity of the wind.

All good things come to an end. This marked the end of our time on Juist. On the ferry back to the mainland, we spotted some seals on the protected eastern edge of the island. It’s like they were saying goodbye to us.

On the mainland, we briefly stopped by a seal rehabilitation center. Seal pups that are orphaned are brought here, raised in captivity until they are deemed fit for release, and then returned to the wild. As a result, the number of seals in captivity fluctuates dramatically. There are 2 resident seals that will never be released. 1 is too friendly with humans, and the other has flipper deformities that would make its survival in the wild unlikely. The seals in this area are harbour seals and gray seals. The German word for seal is “seehund”, literally sea dog. For any else who views seals as the puppers of the sea, the Germans would agree with you.

After this warm send off, my wife and I hopped on the train to Berlin. The culture shock of going from a small island in the North Sea to a bustling city of almost 4 million people was going to be intense.