The Islands of Christiansø and Frederiksø

One of the yellow-painted houses dotting the island of Frederiksø. Photograph by Stephen Manzi

Continuing to Lithuania, our next port of call, we anchored for a couple hours off the Danish island of Christiansø. Originally a seventeenth-century military fortress, Christiansø—together with its smaller sister island, Frederiksø (a very narrow footbridge connects the two)—today has a population of merely one hundred people. Amid the islands' stark, craggy rock outcroppings stand the remains of the fortress's towers, bright yellow-painted homes, and stunning gardens.