Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• Return to the big road (continuing in direction: Marstal), pass through
Olde, pedal past FAF (the local wheat farmers' co-op facility), and head to-
ward Store Rise (STOH-reh REE-zuh), the next church spire in the distance.
Think of medieval travelers using spires as navigational aids.
Store Rise Prehistoric Tomb, Church, and Brewery:
Thirty yards after
the Stokkeby turnoff, follow the rough, tree-lined path on the right to the
Langdysse (Long Dolmen) Tingstedet, just behind the church spire. This is a
6,000-year-old
dolmen,
an early Neolithic burial place. Though Ærø once had
more than 200 of these prehistoric tombs, only 13 survive. The site is a raised
mound the shape and length (about 100 feet) of a Viking ship, and archaeolo-
gists have found evidence that indicates a Viking ship may indeed have been
burned and buried here.
Ting
means assembly spot. Imagine a thousand years ago: Viking chiefs
representing the island's various communities gathering here around their an-
cestors' tombs. For 6,000 years, this has been a holy spot. The stones were
considered fertility stones. For centuries, locals in need of virility chipped off
bits and took them home (the nicks in the rock nearest the information post
are mine).
Tuck away your chip and carry on down the lane to the Store Rise
church.
Inside you'll find little ships hanging in the nave, a fine 12th-century al-
tarpiece, a stick with offering bag and a ting-a-ling bell to wake those nodding
