Skanör

Description

NV Cruising Guide

Navigation

For those unfamiliar with the area, the approach is only recommended during the day. A good landmark is the water tower south of the harbour.

Berths

Guests berth on free spaces to be arranged with the harbour master. The quay places in the eastern part of the harbour are reserved for fishermen. The water depth is 2 - 4m.

Surroundings

At the harbour itself, apart from the usual offer of a good marina, there is also a free bicycle rental for errands in the city. In this well-kept town, about 1 km from the harbour, you will find a supermarket as well as other supplies. Good bus connections to Trelleborg and Malmö.

STF guest harbour standard

NV Land Guide

"Skanör was paradise, Skanör was hell," a medieval poet is said to have said. And another poet created the rhyme: "Da Christus lod sig föde, stod Lund og Skanör i gröde (When Christ was born, Lund and Skanör came to life)". Even if it is doubted that Skanör has actually existed for 2000 years, the once prominent position of the headland in the Middle Ages is undisputed. The cause of the peninsula's boom was the exceptionally profitable herring fishery in the 12th century, which became the basis of the development that lasted until the 16th century.

From Skanör and Falsterbo, the Hanseatic League supplied all of Europe with herring for Lent. During the fishing campaigns the two towns were hopelessly overpopulated, for Skanör and Falsterbo were not just any centre of herring fishing; the waters off the headland were the fishing grounds par excellence.

The great Danish chronicler Saxo described the situation, mutatis mutandis, as follows: Every year the nets of every fisherman were bulging. Not infrequently the catches were so abundant that the ships and boats were dangerously overloaded. There were days when you could shovel the fish into the boat with your bare hands. The herring was precisely classified. There were 22(!) quality characteristics. Barrels with the best grade of herring were marked with a double circle. The worst quality grade was marked by two half circles.

30,000 people - an incredible number for the Middle Ages - took part in fishing, salting and herring markets every year. The wealth from the immense herring catches was matched by the disastrous housing conditions of a place barely able to cope with the crowds - not to mention the hygienic conditions. From this point of view it is easy to understand why the poet spoke of Skanör as both paradise and hell.

This was where life pulsated in the summer months, where the interests of economic and political power intersected. Danish state revenues were to a considerable extent met by the export duties on herring. Therefore, it was a particularly hard blow for Queen Margaret when the Hanseatic Convention in Lübeck in 1393 banned herring fishing in Skåne for one year. With the ban on the herring trade, the Hanseatic League wanted to persuade the Danish queen to take more decisive action against the pirates, who were causing the Hanseatic League considerable damage. In addition, the Hanseatic League stood for years as a mediator between the hostile Mecklenburgs and Danes. The hostilities affected the economic interests of the Hanseatic League, as pirates increasingly took advantage of the lawless conditions on the Baltic Sea and attacked Hanseatic ships with increasing frequency. So Margaret was to be forced to make peace with the Mecklenburgs and go to war against the pirates by the ban on fishing.

The dispute over the Danish heir to the throne was the cause of the discord between the Danes and the Mecklenburgs. Margaret had succeeded in raising her son Olaf to the throne. But because King John of Mecklenburg had already intended this role for his grandson, he declared a caper war against Denmark in 1390 out of anger. In addition, the power-hungry Margaret had captured the Swedish King Albrecht and his son after King Albrecht's armoured, immobile knights had been defeated by the Danish force in the marshes near Falsterbo (1389). Albrecht was a member of the Mecklenburg ducal family.

Not powerful enough to attack Denmark, Mecklenburg Duke John equipped the pirates (also called the Vitalien Brothers) with letters of marque to harm the kingdom. However, Margaret later turned the tables and used the pirates in her turn. Among the Vitalienbrüder was the feared Klaus Störtebeker, who was beheaded many years later in Hamburg and around whom many a legend has grown up.

The Hanseatic League had its difficulties in persuading both parties to make peace after years of negotiations. With the castles of Malmö, Skanör and Falsterbo, the Hanseatic League had a trump card in its hand, which had remained as a pledge from the Danish-German peace of 1370.

Only remnants of the castles remain today. North of the church of St. Olof lies the ruined mound of Skanör, surrounded by a moat, remnants of the castle built in the early 13th century. Surrounded by ramparts, the small fortress consisted of a main building and a number of smaller outbuildings. Here lived the bailiff of the Danish royal house, who, among other things, collected the taxes.

In the course of the centuries, Falsterbo of Skanör increasingly took over the role as a trading place. The bailiff moved to Falsterbo Castle. The castle had a main tower, the lower part of which is still visible today. Attached to the tower to the east was a long building. Even today, the location of this extension is indicated by stones that used to be part of the complex. The castle was surrounded by a ring wall and a double moat. A model can be found in Falsterbo's museum in Sjögatan, where historical items from the Hanseatic period can be admired. A model ship from the 12th century, the beginning of the peninsula's heyday, is also on display, as well as models of the lighthouse from 1796 and the old tipple fire, where an open coal fire burned. The lighthouse on Ule Nabbe in the south of Falsterbo signalled the dangerous shallows of Øresund to ships (see also Höllviken, Falsterbo Channel). With the lens device from France installed in 1843, the fire is still equipped. The museum also includes the beautiful yard of Andreas Lundberg from 1653, which is now partly furnished as a 19th century skipper's house.

Due to devastating fires in Skanör and Falsterbo, only the churches are fully preserved from the medieval buildings: the church of St. Olof in Skanör, equipped with votive naves, and the church of St. Getrud in Falsterbo. The church of Skanör can be found by the castle ruins at the north end of the village. If you come over the road embankment from the harbour, you turn into Östergatan (third crossroad on the left) and after one kilometre you come to the sights. The old Bock Mill on the road embankment between the harbour and the town is open to the public from time to time during the summer.

The church, museum and castle ruins of Falsterbo are located at the southern end of the village of Falsterbo. It is recommended to walk along the five-kilometre Flommens Nature Reserve walkway, right along the Øresund coast, to the Falsterbo lighthouse (see map), and from there to the three sights. The walk through the nature reserve is an extremely impressive nature experience. However, if you don't have time for a walk, you can take the bus from Bangaangen (see map) to the terminus at Falsterbo Post Office, where there is another museum worth visiting: the Migratory Bird Museum. Because numerous flocks of migratory birds stop off in the nature reserve every year, this shallow coastal belt is an excellent observation area for ornithologists. In the Falsterbo ornithological station next to the museum, numerous migratory birds are ringed every year.

It is worth visiting Falsterbo because the old road network is still preserved here in the southern part. The oldest surviving buildings in Falsterbo and Skanör date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, for example the town hall at Raadhustorget (1778) not far from the castle ruins in Skanör. Fires did not leave much of the original Skanör. To prevent fires, the town was given an extensive road network.

With its villa areas and upmarket holiday homes, the peninsula is Malmö's dormitory town and holiday resort. Around 40 kilometres of sandy beaches, golf courses, horse riding and hiking trails make Skanör and Falsterbo popular destinations.

Skanör's Gastgifvargaard (on Mellangatan in northern Skanör not far from the church and town hall) is famous not only for its high school cooking, but also for a daily ceremony during the summer months. The geese practice the walk from their meadow to the cooking pot, led by a goose boy and a goose girl. Anyone who wants to watch the goose march must be on hand in the early afternoon (at 3pm)

Marina Information

Contact

Surroundings

Electricity

Water

Toilet

Shower

Restaurant

Imbiss

Crane

Atm

Internet

Grocery

Ramp

Public Transport

Bikerental

Garbage

Sewage