Former Hansa towns - City Countryside Sea - Germany 2022 - 6
Stage 6 - Former Hansa towns
A last time the great breakfast buffet in the hotel and then we drive off, this time via Puttgarden and not via Bergen. Nice landscape, even if Rügen is so big that somehow no island feeling comes up.
The day's destination is Schwerin and if we would drive directly there, it would take us 2.5 hours. But we want to take a look at the Hansa towns up here.
First, we stop in Stralsund [↗] and park a little outside the city center. Since we don't want to walk along the main roads, we walk in a parallel street. So we come to a lake with a beautiful view of the old city center and soon reach the historic center. The churches are only viewed from the outside, it is church service time. What slows us down a bit more is a city run near the harbor. So we often end up at a barrier and eventually give up.
Our next destination is Wismar [↗]. Also here we enjoy the atmosphere. Wismar is only slightly smaller than Stralsund but somehow cozier. Perhaps this is also related to the fact that Stralsund is the gateway to Rügen and therefore attracts more day tourists.
From our parking lot, we walk crisscross through the old town and finally end up at the harbor, where even a larger cruise ship is anchored. Somehow we didn't notice the crowds of people that usually pour through the city from such a ship.
Here at the old harbor are also a few old sailboats at anchor. Whether for sailing or only for receptions and parties is not quite clear. The only thing you don't want to do here is falling into the water because it is anything but clear. Only jellyfish feel comfortable in it.
Our hotel in Schwerin [↗] is a bit outside and since we don't want to leave again later, we go to the city center first.
We park at the periphery of the center and walk through the pedestrian zone in the direction of the castle. Since it is Sunday, there is little going on in the pedestrian zone, but even more at the castle. In the castle, the State Parliament is housed and we could have visited a part that is prepared as a museum. But somehow we're not in the mood for it. Instead, we go to the Protestant cathedral [↗]. This is quite nice, although a bit plain. By the way, this is not due to the GDR, but to a renovation in 1815.
But now we want to go to the hotel. This is located away from the city on a lake and really nice. The rooms are distributed over many small individual buildings scattered in the park. Here we could imagine staying longer than one night. The menu contains only a few dishes, but they taste all the better for it.
