Saeby

Saeby is a small town on the Kattegat coast of Vendsyssel with an old centre of low yellow and ochre houses along narrow lanes, hollyhocks against the walls through the summer, and a stream running to the harbour. Its church began as the chapel of a Carmelite monastery in the fifteenth century and keeps late-Gothic wall paintings in the vaults along with a carved altarpiece. The harbour is a mixture of fishing and marina. The writer Herman Bang and the painter Michael Ancher both had connections with the town, and the artists who later made Skagen famous passed through here first. Bangsbo, a manor on the edge of town, houses a museum with a Viking ship find and a wartime collection.

The main sights

• Late-Gothic painted vaults - the church interior from the Carmelite period.
• Yellow houses and hollyhocks - the old lanes in summer.
• Bangsbo manor museum - a Viking ship find and local collections.
• The harbour - fishing boats and marina at the stream mouth.

When to go

May to September, with hollyhocks in July and August. Half a day. The church is open daily outside services. Summer weekends bring day visitors from Frederikshavn.

Good to know

It is small and quickly seen. Modern development around the centre is unremarkable. Museum hours are reduced out of season. The beach is modest compared with the west coast.

Nearby

Frederikshavn is north; Voergaard Castle lies inland to the south-west.