The cobbled street of Sønderportsgade running south from Torvet is the architectural showcase of medieval Ribe — a row of leaning half-timbered houses, some of them dating from the 1500s, all painted in soft yellows, ochres and greys. The whole stretch is listed and protected, which is why the town centre has the deeply un-Danish density of original sixteenth- and seventeenth-century buildings that is its main visual draw.
The street leads down to the Skibbroen, the old quay on the river Ribe, where coastal traders used to unload right into the centre of town. Along the way, look for the flood column (Stormflodssøjlen) just past the river bridge — a wooden post painted with the high-water marks of every major North Sea flood since 1634.