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Ostseeküste 2014 |
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Sometimes it’s the trips that seem least spectacular on the outset that will suprise you most. For me it was certainly this "long weekend up north" that would lead me from Hamburg via Eckernförde to beautiful Lübeck, a town so ludicrously picturesque, I just have to give it its due on this website. But we're not there yet! The first stop was Hamburg, once upon a time the town I cherished most in the world when I went up there to see "Cats" more times than I care to mention. My interest in musicals, especially the overpriced bland productions of Stage Entertainment in Germany, has since flagged and I hadn't been to Hamburg for some years. But now the discussions about "Rocky - the Musical" (on Broadway, ironically) had piqued my interest enough to plan this stop-over and see the German version once the annual summer discounts became available. While it wasn't terrible, it wasn't very good either and it reminded me why "weekend trips" in Germany just for a musical aren't worth the bother anymore.
We had chosen a hotel directly next to the Operettenhaus where "Rocky" is playing, so next morning after breakfast we went for a walk down to the port, mostly to look at the Speicherstadt (the old "docklands" where the Hamburg merchants stored their shipped goods outside the customs area to avoid paying import duty on stuff that would be sold on and which have been lovingly restored in recent years) and the HafenCity next-door, an architectural wasteland full of overpriced lofts and apartments aimed at rich hipsters. I liked the mix of the old sailing ship Rickmer Rickmers in the foreground and the Elbphilharmonie in the background, Hamburg's multi-billion Euro disaster (and some-day concert hall whenever it finally opens). And since we had both heard good stuff about the "Miniature Wonderland" in the Speicherstadt, that once started as a big model train installation, we decided to take a look:
And a "Wonderland" it was indeed, filled with so many gorgeous little details, it truly made the mind boggle. Here are just a few impressions - a medieval castle with a jousting tourney going on, a Bavarian beergarden at the foot of Neuschwanstein, a modern "public viewing" area where fans congregate to watch football together and below an open air concert (including portaloos!) and a Scandinavian winter wonderland. I wish we had had more time to study more details and some day I will be back when they have completed the planned extensions of Italy, France and England.
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But for now we had to leave Hamburg behind and head for Eckernförde at the Baltic Sea Coast where our ex-neighbours are now living. Basically I just said hello to them, had coffee in their lovely garden (and a dip in their pool), then we went into the actual city to the beach and for ice cream in the main shopping drag. After the rain and wind in Hamburg the weather was surprisingly wonderful at the coast and the beach and city were very busy. But then it was also school vacation time and thus the busiest time of the year at the German coast.
I left my mother behind to attend the wedding of the neighbours' son and hopped on a train from Eckernförde to Lübeck to visit a friend there and see this town which is rather famous for being beautiful (and a World Heritage Site).
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The train station of Lübeck is outside the Old Town which is basically an island embraced by two arms of the Trave river and completely free of garish modern buildings - making Lübeck, once a filthy rich merchant town, the German equivalent of Belgium's Bruges, another town so picturesque, I had to dedicate a page here to it. When you reach Lübeck by train you also immediately pass by its most famous sight, the Holstentor, which is basically the last remaining gate of the old city wall. Since it was evening by then we just opted for dinner and catching up in my friend's flat, leaving everything else for the next day.
With the weather being as good as it was, we decided to not stay in the city though but bike out to the coast and spend a few hours on the beach at Timmendorfer Strand, one of the posh seaside resorts of the Lübecker Bucht (Bay of Lübeck). The seaside towns of Schleswig-Holstein suffered big time after German reunion, when the seaside towns in former East Germany became accessible (and were cheaper) but they have since recovered - a little. The whole German coast - with a few exceptions - suffers from being rather stuffy and square, aimed primarily at pensioners and young families who rent cheap apartments and completely lacks the vibrant holiday vibe of "fun in the sun". Sure, there's preciously little sun to be had in Northern Germany, but Scheveningen in the Netherlands sure shows how to create a great holiday spirit. While it was okay for me to spend a few hours in Timmendorfer Strand (and even hop into the frigid Baltic Sea), I know I'd never spend a proper "holiday" in this area, surrounded by German pensioners, dealing with Northern German weather. But enough of that! The weather WAS fine and we had some good hours there before returning to Lübeck for the proper sightseeing tour. Here goes:
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Some details of the Town Hall above and below, witness to the city's glorious past as one of the richest towns in Europe during the heydays of the Hanse (the "trade union" that ruled the Baltic Sea trade for centuries). Lübeck's other claim to fame is marzipan and the famous Niederegger marzipan shop/museum/cafe was right next door, so my friend insisted we stop here and I try the marzipan cake (it was yummy indeed!)
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Thus fortified, we walked on and passed the Buddenbrookhaus, the house where the famous authors Thomas and Heinrich Mann lived for a while. It now houses two permanent exhibitions, one for the writers and their family and one dedicated to the Buddenbrooks,Thomas Mann's famous novel that charts four generations of a traditional merchant's family and their ups and downs (mostly downs). While I did enjoy the book (probably because I read it when I wanted to and it wasn't forced down my throat in school) I didn't feel much desire to enter and so we wandered on, passing some of the famous "Gänge", once upon a time small alleys and backyards where the poor were stuffed together in terrible conditions, now picturesque and much sought-after living areas (even though they get tourist parties trample around every day!).
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Above is one of Lübeck's beautiful medieval streets and the second town gate still in existance, the Burgtor. Below are the remaining medieval storage houses for the goods ferried in from all across the Baltic as well as one of the many picturesque views across the river to the Old Town.
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Finally we wandered along the Trave (which some people seem to treat like their own backyard - putting up laundry, reading the paper in a sunlounger or even swimming in the river!) and finally ended the tour at the Mühlenteich, which offers a perfect reflection of Lübeck's cathedral. One last dinner and sleep, then my mother would pick me up next morning to start on the long journey back home.
Overall a trip that should really only have been about seeing friends and a musical, but turned into a wonderful stay with time on the beach and discovering one of Germany's gems - making me think once more, I should really travel more in my own country instead of jaunting about the world, buuuuut… I hear the world calling again :)
