Beachcombing at Møns Klint

This is the Danish word for island: ø. Denmark has 406 of them.

At the eastern end of Møn—one of those islands—stands a scenic stretch of magnificent chalk cliffs called Møns Klint towering 470 feet above the Baltic Sea. It was created after countless millions of shellfish laid down their lives (and calcium) in a very thick seabed layer that was subsequently compacted into hills by Ice Age glaciers. And ever since the climate warmed and the ice receded, the sea has been eroding the chalk deposits in a grand reclamation of its mineral resources.

As the surf, wind, rain, and frost perform their work, large chunks flake off the cliffs and tumble into the sea. The soft chalk dissolves and dissipates in the currents, while its embedded dark bands of harder flintstone crumble and litter the beach.

The view from the top is magnificent, but the trip to the bottom of the cliffs is worth descending (and later ascending!) the several hundred wooden steps traversing the steep coastal terrain. Beachcombing there can result in fossil finds of sea urchins, mussels, and cuttlefish; as well as the petrified resin known as “northern gold,” amber, which washes up with seaweed and other flotsam from the Danish archipelago.