SPRING has already arrived on the Danish island of Bornholm, as the warm evening light begins to linger later into the day, stretching across the rocky coastline. Once, this tiny island of 40,000 inhabitants – about the same as the population of the Hebrides – was an independent kingdom.
Later, it became an important stop-off and trading post for Vikings making their way between the Baltics and Western Europe. Colourful merchant residences and the chimneys of old herring smokehouses are lined up along the shore, a reminder of the island’s long-standing dependence on the sea.
