Biking Bornholm: Day 2

On our second day in Bornholm, I took a little time to admire the beauty of the little town of Gudhjem where we were staying. 

Some picturesque rocks near our hostel.

A very intrepid family of ducks braving the surf.

For our adventure of the day we decided to bike up to the northern tip of the island, to the ruins of a castle called Hammershus. It is the remains of the largest medieval fortification in northern Europe. So that's pretty cool. It was built in the 13th century, and was long believed to have been constructed as a residence for the archbishop of Lund. However new evidence suggests it may instead have been built for the Danish King Valdemar II for use as both as a residence and a base for the Danish crusades. Which I didn't know were a thing.

Some quick research reveals that the Danish crusades were part of the larger Northern Crusades, a series of wars by Danish and Swedish kings against the pagans of norther Europe. Apparently a group called The Sword Brothers was also involved, which is a pretty sweet name. If my memory serves me correctly, this was the same group that built the fortress I stumbled upon in Sigulda, Latvia. Pretty sure they were a Latvian group. Fun connections!

Check out this here fortification.

The keep.

Some walls.

On the way back down to Gudhjem we stopped off at a fish restaurant that had been recommended to us. I had chicken. We also made a brief pit-stop at a cave on the coast, known as the Black Cauldron.

There were come cows near it.

Cliffs.

Inside the cave. It was uncomfortably narrow. And damp, 
due to the ocean being right outside of it. Slightly creepy, 
but really cool.