Greetsiel

Greetsiel sits behind a siel, a sluice in the dike that lets inland water out at low tide and keeps the sea out at high, which is what the name means. Its harbour holds one of the last working shrimp fleets on the German North Sea coast, boats that go out for North Sea brown shrimp and land them at the quay. Two windmills stand side by side at the edge of the village, one still grinding and open to visitors. The brick houses along the harbour and the narrow lanes behind are largely eighteenth and nineteenth century. Beyond the dike lies the Wadden Sea national park.

History

Greetsiel is first mentioned in letters of 1388, when Hamburg ships lay at anchor in its port and paid tolls. It was founded by the lordship of Appingen under the Cirksena chiefs, and as Appingen declined Greetsiel became their seat; Count Edzard the Great, under whom East Frisia stretched from the Weser to Groningen, was born at the Cirksenaburg in 1462, and the scholar Ubbo Emmius was born here in 1547. On old Dutch maps the town appears as Grietjezijl, and since 1972 it has been part of the municipality of Krummhörn (Wikipedia, Greetsiel).

What you'll find

• The shrimp fleet - working boats landing North Sea brown shrimp.
• The twin windmills - two mills side by side, one still working.
• The siel - the dike sluice that gives the village its name.
• The brick harbour houses - eighteenth and nineteenth-century fronts.

When to go

April to October; the village is very busy with day visitors in summer. Shrimp boats land through the year. Winter is quiet with many places closed.

Things to know

The village is small and crowded in season with limited parking. Much of what is sold is aimed at day visitors. Boat landings are on their own schedule.

Nearby

Emden lies southeast; the East Frisian islands are offshore.

Key facts