Svendborg

Svendborg is the largest town on the south Funen coast and remains a genuine working harbour rather than a preserved one, with shipyards, a maritime college, a fleet of restored wooden vessels moored along the quays and a constant traffic of ferries to the archipelago islands. Behind the harbour, the old town rises up a slope in a knot of lanes with half-timbered houses and two medieval churches. The maritime tradition is the through-line: the naval academy trains here, traditional ships are maintained and sailed from here, and the town is the practical base for exploring the South Funen Archipelago. Bertolt Brecht lived nearby in the 1930s and the connection is marked in the town.

History

Archaeological finds suggest Svendborg was founded in the first half of the 12th century or earlier, at the head of a bay whose natural harbour favoured seafaring and trade, and it is first recorded in 1229 as Swinæburgh, probably "pig fortification". The Greyfriars founded a monastery here in 1236 that lasted until the Reformation, King Christopher I granted market town privileges in 1253, and in the Middle Ages the town was walled and moated and its seafarers made it one of the most important trading centres in Scandinavia. During the Reformation and the Count's Feud of the 1530s its citizens sided with the king. A brief period as Funen's main port followed, but for some 250 years plague, a great fire and the Swedish wars, in which its ships were destroyed, held it back. Prosperity returned in the early 19th century with industry, railways to Odense, Faaborg and Nyborg and a new harbour, and the population grew from 1,942 in 1801 to more than 11,500 in 1901 (Wikipedia, Svendborg).

Highlights

• Restored wooden ships - a working fleet moored along the quays.
• Working shipyards - the harbour still building and repairing.
• The old town slope - half-timbered lanes above the water.
• Archipelago ferries - departures to Aero, Tasinge and the small islands.

When to go

May to September for the harbour and the sailing season. Half a day in the town, longer as a base. The wooden ship gathering in summer fills the quays. Winter is quiet but the town functions.

Practical notes

It is a working town rather than a picturesque one, and parts of the harbour are industrial. The old town is small. Ferry timetables are seasonal and need checking. Accommodation is limited in the sailing season.

Nearby

Valdemars Castle is on Tasinge across the bridge; Aeroskobing is by ferry.

Key facts