The Baltic Sea coast and the landscape
further inland are beautiful in a way different from the mountains of
the Harz and Meissner or along the Weser; places I've frequently blogged
about. But I love the northern part of Germany and the sea very much.
Hiddensee island, the coast of the Baltic Sea
Offshore of Stralsund are two islands, Rügen and the smaller Hiddensee.
Fortunately, one day turned out to be sunny, and I decided to take a
ship over to Hiddensee and do some hiking in the dunes, juniper heath
and beech forests of this lovely island.
Hiddensee, the lagoon side seen from the lighthouse
There are no cars on Hiddensee (except for an ambulance and a small
school bus) so you have to use your feet, a bicycle, or a horse coach to
get around. I'd read about Hiddensee in a children's book many years
ago and was devastated when my parents told me it was in the GDR and we
could not go there. Well, there's no longer a GDR and now I could go
there.
Riparian forest at the river Wakenitz
The Wakenitz is a river which springs from the Ratzeburg Lake and
confluences into the Trave near Lübeck. The river had been the border
between West-and East-Germany and therefore remained a wilderness with
riparian forests framing its shores. There's a ship tour from the
Ratzeburg Lake to Lübeck which turned out to be one of the most
beautiful ones I ever did.
The bay of Wismar, seen from the cog Wissemara
Another fun ship tour I did was an afternoon out at sea on the reconstruced cog
Wissemara.
It is modeled after a wreck dating to 1560 which had been found near
the Poel peninsula in 1999. When I was in Wismar in 2004, I came across
the construction site of the cog, so being able to sail with her now was
a special experience.
One of several Neolithic burials near Grevesmühlen
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is rich in tombs from the Neolithic Funnelbeaker
culture (3,500 - 3,200 BC). We got the simple dolmen type, the great
dolmen, the passage grave, and the long barrow. The boulders used to
erect them are glacial erratics. There are several burial sites in the
Everstorf Forest near Grevesmühlen.
The dolmen called Devil's Oven
Those giant stone structures led to local legends. The dolmen above is
called Devil's Oven and the matching long barrow stone setting is the
devil's bed. Often, the extended dolmen are refered to as giant's tombs
with the usual legend about how someone tricked the giant and killed
him.
Open air museum Gross-Raden, the gate of the settlement
Another interesting place was the open air museum in Gross-Raden, a
reconstructed Slavic settlement with ringwall castle from the 10th
century, which has been built on the original site. Excavations had
taken place 1973-80 and the reconstruction started a few years later;
the museum opened in 1987.
Gross-Raden, the ringwall fortress
Like in
Haithabu,
not all the houses have been reoconstructed, but Gross-Raden has more
buildings, including a temple. The most interesting feature is the
ringwall fortress - an earthen rampart crowned by a timber palisade -
with its impressive tunnel door.
Humboldt penguin in the Ozeaneum Stralsund
The
Ozeaneum in Stralsund shows the underwater world of the
Baltic Sea and the North Sea, plus some time-limited themed exhibitions
in a series of aquariums and other displays. It was an interesting way
to spend a rainy evening. The Humboldt penguins don't belong in the
north, of course, but they're a cute addition.
Another view of the bay of Wismar seen from the cog
Finally another shot taken from the stern of the cog. The sun had
decided to come out after a very wet morning and give me some nice blue
water and sky.
