Eckernförde sits on a bay that curves into the Baltic like a cupped hand, and its old harbour is where a day in the northern lowlands comes to rest. The town is known above all for smoked fish, and in particular for the Kieler Sprotten, small, golden-brown sprats that are named after Kiel but are traditionally made here, in smokehouses along the water. They are eaten whole, by hand, with a bit of bread, and they taste of oak smoke and salt. If you eat one thing in Eckernförde, make it that. A fish roll with fried herring or plaice is the safer alternative, and plenty of harbour kiosks sell them.
The town has also had a short, unlikely moment of military glory. In April 1849, during the first war between Denmark and the German states over Schleswig-Holstein, the Danish warship Christian the Eighth and a frigate entered the bay and were shelled from shore batteries until the larger ship caught fire and blew up. It remains one of the few successful artillery duels between land and sea in that era, and the town marks it with a monument. Today a naval base occupies part of the shoreline, and grey warships and submarines come and go.
The old town is a compact one, with narrow lanes, half-timbered houses and a Gothic church, and a promenade that runs along the water to a long pier and a beach. In summer the beach fills with families, and the water is shallow and warm, but even in cooler weather the walk along the front is pleasant. The old pier and the sailing boats are a favourite subject for painters and photographers, and the sea light here is clear and bright.
The ride in from Kiel or Schleswig is mostly on quiet country roads across the Schwansen and Dänischer Wohld peninsulas, a gently rolling farmland of Knicks, brick villages and wide views. Surfaces are generally good, and the corners are open. For services the town has about twenty-three thousand people, so fuel stations, supermarkets and bakeries are all easy to find, and there is no shortage of places to sit down and eat. Parking is easiest at the edge of the old town, with a short walk to the harbour. A lunch of sprats, a pot of coffee and a bench by the water is hard to beat.