Rostock

Travel times from Osnabrück:
Train – 4 hour, 15 mins.
Car – 3 hour, 10 mins.

Travel northeast to the coast and beautiful Rostock, one of Germany’s most beautiful Hanseatic cities, where the Baltic Sea laps the shores of Mecklenburg/Western Pomerania, and the air tastes slightly salty, where old-fashioned sailboats provoke nostalgic longings, and where brick gables reach into the sky.

Eight hundred years of history have shaped this “Gateway to the North.” Rostock has preserved much of the charm that it once possessed as one of the most important members of the Hanseatic League. The gabled houses dominating the skyline attest to this, as well as the imposing brick warehouses, massive gates and fortifications, and awe-inspiring churches. They all bear eloquent witness to the wealth of the city’s medieval merchants. Rostock has kept its importance as a trade center to this day, as well as its status as a college town. Its university, founded in 1419, is the oldest in Northern Europe.

Important examples of medieval and Renaissance architecture abound in Rostock’s Old Town. There’s the 1490 Hausbaumhaus, one of the few wooden structures remaining in the city. The Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church), from the same period, continues to cast a dramatic shadow, although the 355-foot steeple of the Petrikirche tops the skyline (climb the 196 steps or take the half-minute elevator ride). Adjacent to the Marienkirche stands the 13th-century Rathaus, with its 18th-century baroque makeover. Traditional gabled patrician houses line Wokrenterstrasse.

Some of the original city wall still remains, especially along the park-like Wallstrasse. Beyond the wall, villas and residences were built in the 1850s for an expanding middle class. The lively Kröpelinerstrasse in the pedestrian zone is usually bustling with window-shoppers and friends chatting at sidewalk cafes. At its mid-way point, the Universitätsplatz (with its Fountain of Happiness) is a magnet for students, children and other young people. Fine restaurants abound.

Plan on a trip to nearby Warnemünde while in the neighborhood. Although Warnemünde has been part of Rostock since 1323, the two cities are different. Rostock is all business, just as it was as a Hanseatic city. Warnemünde is just plain fun. This fishing village has lost little of its charm, despite its rise to seaside resort. Of course, Rostock is well worth a visit—perhaps for several days.

Water is the best route from Rostock to Warnemünde, a town so tied to the sea. The boat follows the Warnow to its wide mouth at the Baltic. It takes barely three minutes to walk from the boat landing, under the railway station, to the town center. On the near side of the Alter Strom, fishing boats lie tied to cleats as their crews sell from tables heaped with fish. Cross the footbridge over the Alter Strom, and walk through narrow alleys lined with centuries-old gabled fishermen’s houses. There’s no glitz here, just genuine charm.

For some visitors, the beach - as wide as a football field is long - is the prime attraction. Many visitors also come to Warnemünde resorts for their spa offerings. Guests interested in historic dining locations also have several options.

Where the old and new channels meet, the 92-foot-high Warnemünde Lighthouse has spread its protective beacon since 1897. In more recent years, it has become a tourist attraction as well, offering one of the best views of the sea, harbor and town. Past the lighthouse, the Westmole, a 1,600-foot breakwater topped with a wide cement walkway, extends into the Baltic and provides the best vantage point for watching ships make their way to sea.

Despite the considerable beach and spa activity in Warnemünde, the first German beach resorts lie just to the west in Kühlungsborn and Heiligendamm. Both, combined with the charming town of Bad Doberan are worth a day-trip or more.

Kühlungsborn became a major seaside resort more than 100 years ago when its first hotel was built. Many other hotels soon followed, and today they form a mile-long stretch of elegant structures centered along five miles of beach. A wide strip of trees runs between the hotels and the beach, creating a quieting buffer between relaxing guests and more energetic groups strolling the rebuilt promenade. Woodlands starting behind the hotels give an even greater sense of peace and solitude.

If the beaches are too crowded (unlikely), there’s always a 20-minute ride east in the narrow-gauge railway “Molli” to Heiligendamm, Germany’s first seaside resort. In 1793, Duke Friedrich Franz I chose the site “for its healing powers.” By 1816, a large spa building had been built, with swimming pools, ballrooms and a casino. Over the next 80 years, more structures were added, creating a double crescent of white classical buildings facing the sea. By the early 1900s, Heiligendamm was well established as the elegant summer spot for nobility and high society. Developers are restoring the buildings’ interiors in their original styles but with modern conveniences, and Heiligendamm is now a 21st-century resort with a Grand Hotel, shops, condos and golf courses.

To the east of Rostock, it’s about 45 minutes by car or an hour by train and bus to the Fischland-Darss-Zingst peninsula. Bounded by the Baltic to the north and the Bodden (a series of calm bays, harbors and inlets) to the south, it’s the setting for active farming communities and fishing villages as well as a rich variety of salt marshes, lagoons, chalk cliffs, and pine and beech forests.

Much of the peninsula falls under the protection of the Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft, which also contains a 33-mile network of cycle and foot paths, some ending with dramatic views of the coast. The primary destination within the park is the 107-foot-high Darsser Ort Lighthouse, with its 360-degree view of the Darss forest to the south and the rugged Weststrand coastline to the north and west. To the east, reed-filled salt flats fade into yellow-sand dunes, their height and width varying with the weather, currents and erosion. (Those who prefer a less strenuous trip to the lighthouse can take horse-drawn carriages from several nearby villages.)

The area’s villages have been catering to tourists since the first beach-goers started renting rooms from farmers and fishermen early last century. As in Warnemünde, there’s sailing, windsurfing, boating and endless beaches. Visitors can also take trips in Zeesenboote, a traditional wind-driven fishing boat, or on ferries that ply the Bodden. Unlike Warnemünde, however, the villages have few hotels and little commercialism.

Most villages have changed little since 1900. Ahrenshoop, for example, has been an artists’ colony for nearly a century, inspiring countless painters, sculptors and writers with the isolated, idyllic landscape. Today, the latest generation of artists lives in these well-tended homes, often opening their studios to passersby.

The winding roads (more often muddy paths) and houses are typical for the area. The older homes, built by local fishermen, have clay walls topped with thick thatched roofs. Captains and sailors showed their relative wealth by building brick houses with hard, gabled roofs. The captains’ homes were larger and painted white, the sailors’ painted blue. Many seamen carved and painted colorful doors while at sea, and they can be seen on many homes.

This is just a sampling of sights and cities in the Historic Highlights of Germany. For planning assistance, contact your travel professional. 

Parts of this text originally appeared in Gemütlichkeit, the Travel Letter for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, www.gemut.com.