TRAVEL IMPRESSIONS OF AN ART AND HISTORY LOVER
and my experiences as a teacher in China
UMGEBUNGSENTDECKER
Baltic coast
from Lübeck to the Curonian Spit
Starting from Lübeck, the former capital of the Hanseatic League, and the largest city of the Middle Ages in Northern Europe, it should go along the Baltic Sea coast to Memel, today's Klaipeda, in Lithuania.
We only had to bypass the part of the East Prussian coast that is now part of Russia, as a visa is required for this. But that wasn't too bad, I would have been very interested in Konigsberg, but so was the Masurian part of East Prussia, through which we then drove. In addition, because of the detour, it was about the Russian part of East Prussia through Lithuania and its capital Vilnius and the former capital Trakai, both of which are not located on the sea, but in southern Lithuania. Our trip should end on the Curonian Spit and then we should take the ferry back from Klaipeda to Kiel.
That sounds exotic and far away, and that's how it should be.
It was a journey on the trail of a great deal of history.
However, Eastern Europe is also the site of many tragic events in World War II. Since then, Eastern European Jewry has been swept away, as has the German eastern territories .
It takes a little courage to go there. It is not a journey that only focuses on beauty, but rather that often makes you think and mourn. Nevertheless, the cities and landscapes are beautiful and it was particularly important to me to look for traces of these two cultures that have disappeared.
But it was also a trip in the footsteps of the Hanseatic League, but that's part of a trip to the ports of the Baltic Sea coast anyway.
Lübeck
I don't have to write much about Lübeck here, I have already written a lot about that on the Hanseatic cities page.
But there are still a few pictures.
Stralsund
Stralsund is a World Heritage Site because of its significant historical buildings. Particularly noteworthy is the town hall on the old market with the wind holes in the decorative facade, which you can see in the picture below, behind it, seen from the market, the Nikolaikirche, also on the market is the commandant's house, in the gable of which a coat of arms is attached to the Time remembered when Stralsund belonged to Swedish Pomerania, between the Thirty Years War and the Congress of Vienna. In addition, there is the Wulflamhaus, one of the best-preserved brick Gothic houses in northern Germany, and the Artushof, a building that was used as a meeting place for the upper classes at the time of the Hanseatic League. There were Arthurian courts in a number of Hanseatic cities.
Das Stralsunder Rathaus, besonders markant sind die Windlöcher in den Ziergiebeln.
Hinter dem Rathaus ragen die mächtigen Türme der Nikolaikirche hervor.
Vom Markt aus gesehen, liegt hinter dem Rathaus die Nikolaikirche. An der Ostseite des Markts befindet sich das Kommandantenhaus, in dessen Giebel ein Wappen angebracht ist, das an die Zeit erinnert, als Stralsund zwischen dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg und dem Wiener Kongress zu Schwedisch-Pommern gehörte. Darüberhinaus gibt es noch das Wulflamhaus an der Nordseite des Markts, eines der am besten erhaltenen backsteingotischen Wohnhäuser des norddeutschen Raums, errichtet 1358 durch die Bürgermeisterfamilie Wulflam. Schräg gegenüber vom Wulflamhaus, an der Westseite des Platzes liegt der Artushof, der seit 2010 wieder als Gaststätte genutzt wird. Artushöfe gibt es in Hansestädten häufiger, auch in Danzig werde ich später noch einen besonders schönen sehen. Sie waren eine Art Gesellschaftshaus und Treffpunkt der gesellschaftlichen Oberschicht zur Zeit der Hanse, eine Art Repräsentationsort der Stadt, in der Empfänge stattfanden oder in denen bedeutende Gäste untergebracht wurden. Außerdem gab es in Artushöfen immer eine Gastwirtschaft, vergleichbar mit Ratskellern, die man früher traditionell in den Rathäusern aller Städte fand. Der Artushof in Stralsund ist aber kein mittelalterliches Gebäude. Dies brannte im 17. Jahrhhundert ab und wurde später durch den Bau der schwedischen Stadtwache ersetzt, bis 1911 das heutige Gebäude, ein ehemaliges Hotel, nach Abriss der schwedischen Wache errichtet wurde.
Die Nordseite des Alten Markts. Hinter den Sonnenschirmen ragt die Fassade des Wulflamhauses heraus. Am linken Bildrand sieht man eine Fensterachse des Artushofs.
Polish Baltic Sea, Pomerania
The border between Germany and Poland runs on the island of Usedom, which separates the Szczecin Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. Swinoujscie is the first Polish city. You are in the estuary of the Oder.
I was wondering if I should use German or Polish names on this page? I decided on the German names because this is my first language and the names also exist in German. I also write about 'Florence' and not about 'Firenze'. In addition, I am at an age where the German names were still familiar and I suspect that readers find it difficult to find their way around when hearing the Polish names, because which German already knows where Szczecin is if he does not live in eastern Germany? However, nobody knows where Szczecin is anymore. You are dealing with names that are forgotten. While reading, one could stumble across the strange-looking spelling of Polish names. Kolobrzeg, Bydgoszcz, Szczecin. So I'll stick to the German names: Kolberg, Bromberg, Stettin.
Our first stay in Poland was in Rewal, between Usedom and Kolberg. We discovered that the Polish Baltic coast is a popular vacation destination for Poles. Accordingly, there is a lot going on there. Many families spend their holidays here and everything is offered that you need for it. The mood is good and one is amazed how many children there are in Poland. The food is good and reasonably priced and we have our fun, etc on the beach. This is how my holidays were when I was a child - not spectacular, yet unforgettable.
The next day we continued towards Leba, which is just before Kashubia. We made a short stopover in Kolberg, but unfortunately we didn't see much apart from the brick town hall on the market, where we wanted to eat.
In Leba we met the first large shifting dune on the Baltic Sea, the Lotzkedüne.
On the beach there is the Hotel Neptun, formerly the Kurhaus Leba, in which a film adaptation of Effi Briest was shot by Gustav Gründgens with Marianne Hoppe, a name that probably hardly anyone knows anymore.
Theodor Fontane is said to have been inspired to write the novel Effi Briest in the dunes of Swinoujscie.
Das Hotel Neptun am Strand von Leba
The Baltic Sea has pretty white beaches, sometimes deserted, sometimes crowded and happy near seaside resorts.
Here, too, you get the feeling of being in a different time. Every now and then you can see fishermen standing by the sea by the campfire in the evening at dusk. A romantic picture like something out of a novel or film.
You can hear the soft splashing of the small waves and think of "The Tin Drum" by Günther Grass.
"The Baltic Sea licked the beach wide and lazily," it says, and "the summer showed what it can do."
Gdansk
Eastern Prussia
Lithuania
Curonian Spit
