Cruising

There is really not so much on the the surface to detain the traveller in Kiel, or at least that is how I found it, even though it makes for a pleasant enough addition to a Scandinavian cruise itinerary. The atmosphere is quiet, relaxed, convivial enough, and for the short-stay visitor from the ship enjoyable without being exactly inspirational, certainly not compared with the dramatic scenery of the Norwegian fjords further to the north. The residents of Kiel at a very brief glimpse seemed for the most part to be absorbed in yachting and other water sports, and the less energetic passing their time by idly observing them over German sausages and beer.

Geographically, Kiel is just at the southern edge of what used to be known as the Cimbric peninsula, as Jutland, and as part of Schleswig-Holstein. The peninsula is now divided between Denmark and Germany. Kiel itself however is not so very far south of an ancient territory straddling the much smaller peninsula of Angeln, sometimes also called Anglia. In days gone by, the region was occupied by a tribe known as the Angles, speakers of a Germanic language. There were other tribes in the area also, including Saxons, and further to the north, Jutes, and from the fourth century onwards, members of these tribes started to move out of the peninsula, and explore alternative options for their futures.

One route taken by these audacious peoples, was across the North Sea to the British Isles. Many of them landed on the southern and eastern coasts of England. The county of East Anglia still retains the name of the original land of some these new colonists. So, for that matter, do Essex and Sussex, lands of the East and South Saxons respectively, and so did Wessex, the land of the West Saxons. Amongst their number may well have been the ancestors of today’s Eldridge family.

Map copied from Wikipedia