Grenen 5.32

Grenen is a long sandbar at Skagen Odde (the headland of Jutland), north of the town of Skagen.Grenen is often considered the northernmost land area of Denmark proper (excluding the Faroe Islands and Greenland), but the actual northernmost point is 2.5 km northwest of Grenen on the beach of Nordstrand and is 700 m further north, to be precise.OverviewGrenen was named for its shape like a tree-branch, reaching out from the mainland. The beach of Grenen appears in many of the works of the Skagen Painters, a community that gathered there every summer between 1875 and the end of the 19th century. The area is also home to the Skagen Odde Nature Centre, designed by Jørn Utzon.Near the tip of the peninsula are two small museums: Skagen Bunker Museum and Grenens Kunstmuseum. Danish national road 40 passes through Grenen, and it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, with more than a million visitors each year.NatureGrenen marks the junction between the strait of Skagerrak (part of the North Sea) and the Kattegat sea, and the turbulent colliding seas have created a 4-km long curved sandbar above and below the waves stretching east. The reef is still active and has grown about 1 km northeast towards Sweden over the last century, resulting in a mean annual growth rate of about 10 m. Because of the very strong currents, swimming there can be fatal and is prohibited in the waters around Grenen.