A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 17 January 2023 - T for Denmark and palm trees

 Hello lovely ladies, (and the occasional gent),

Days are flying by and it is Monday night already. Today's postcard is from a location that I myself have visited:

Stevns Klint, known as the Cliffs of Stevns in English, is a white chalk cliff located some 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Store Heddinge on the Danish island of Zealand. Stretching 17 km (11 mi) along the coast, it is of geological importance as one of the best exposed Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundaries in the world.

The lower strata from the cliff are from the Cretaceous and are composed of soft chalk, indicating a relatively deep marine depositional environment. The dark layer of fiskeler, mainly five to ten centimeters thick, clearly marks the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. The fiskeler is enriched in iridium, a fact used as an argument for the Alvarez hypothesis that the worldwide Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction was caused by the impact of an asteroid. Following the boundary is a layer of darker clay and chalk between 10 and 30 cm thick, corresponding to a period of low biological diversity on the sea floor immediately after the K-Pg Boundary. The layers can also be seen deep in the tunnels of Stevnsfortet, a cold-war fortress constructed in 1953. 

The upper layers of the cliff consist of bryozoa chalk and were deposited during the early Paleogene. The bryozoa chalkin the cliff is highly shock resistant to both conventional and nuclear weapons.

 Subject to frequent erosion, the cliff rises to a height of up to 40 m (130 ft). Because of its exceptional fossil record, Stevens Klint was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014.

In 2008 Cold War Museum Stevns Fortress opened to the public. It features a large exhibition of military equipment and a 1.5-hour guided tour in the large underground system of the fortress. 

Stevnsfort was a secret part of the defense of Denmark and NATO. The peninsula of Stevns would have been on the absolute frontline if war had broken out between the East and the West. This is why Stevnsfort was built, and for 40 years, the staff here was ready for war around the clock.

The underground system of the fortress features 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) of tunnels, living quarters and command centers, including a hospital and a chapel. There are also two ammunition depots for its two 15 centimetres (5.9 in) cannons. 

The tunnels are 18–20 metres (59–66 ft) below the surface, dug deep into the chalk of Stevns. The top-secret fortress was built in 1953 and remained operational until 2000.

It was really interesting to visit the Cold War Museum as my husband used to be in the military during the Cold War. He recognised weapons he had worked with.

Nearby is the Højerup old church. The church was built in Romanesque style in the year 1250.

The church was built by a sailor in distress who promised to build a chapel if he was saved.

The church is located on the 30 m. high cliff. It was consecrated in 1357 , but the sea undermined the cliff. In the 1600s the cliff started to chip away at the cemetery with the macabre result coffins and skeletons started sticking out of the cliff. In 1910 they gave up to use the church, it would take another 18 years before fate caught up to the building.

On 16 March 1928 at five o'clock in the morning there was a cliff collapses at Højerup. It took the choir from Højerup old Church into the fall.

  Quite soon after the crash, it was decided to reinforce the church against further slides. Today the towering church stands proudly at the extreme edge of the cliff, and it vanished choir has been replaced by an observation deck that provides a great view of the cliff and sea.

I was going to show you our photos from when we were there but I can't find them so all the photos here are from the Internet.

The stamp is very pretty. It is from a series of stamps about astronomy in Denmark.

As today is T for Tuesday, hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard, I shall add a photo of a drink. So here is my glass of white wine that I had the other day when I cooked a slice of salmon.

The following photos I took specially for Elizabeth, because she likes palm trees. This is my sisters garden from the first floor:

I was standing on the terrace outside my room.

The garden is being maintained by a gardener and my sister doesn’t know the names of the shrubs and trees that grow there.

But I think her garden is beautiful and mature.

She even has a hammock, but it was not warm enough to lie in it.

I think this remarkable round splaying shrub is also a palm tree, but a short one.

That is it from me today. Sorry if it was rather long. We’ll done if you got this far.

Bye for now,

Happy T-Day,

Hugs,

Lisca