We woke up and found that we were
docked Warnemünde, Germany, a port city and seaside resort on the Baltic Sea
near Rostock. Known for its beaches, marinas, and as a major cruise ship stop
on the Baltic, Warnemünde’s economy has shifted from fishing and shipping to
mainly tourism.
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| Kröpeliner Straẞe |
After WWII, Warnemünde and neighboring Rostock fell under control
of the Soviet Union as part of the East Germany’s German Democratic Republic
(GDR). Today, there approximately 8,400 inhabitants in the city.
For our shore excursion, we had
the choice of going to Berlin or doing a walking tour in neighboring Rostock. The
Berlin excursion involved a 3-hour train ride there and back, and 6 hours of
self-exploration of the city. On our previous trip to Germany we rather
extensively explored Bavaria and the southern part of the country, and had talked
about coming back some day and doing northern Germany, including Berlin.
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| Rostock University |
Since
Berlin has so much to see, we decided to visit Rostock, because we would
probably never (one should never say never!) get back to this coastal region
again.
So Rostock it was.
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| Porn Fountain |
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| Main Street |
We disembarked,
met our group on the pier, and boarded a bus for a 20-minute ride to Rostock. As
we boarded our bus, our antennae started to spark and twitch when we heard our student
tour guide state that he had never used the vox headphone sets before. This became
more obvious when he placed the microphone too close to his mouth, causing his
voice distort and breakup.
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| Another main street shot |
When a couple of passengers said they were having
trouble understanding him and suggested he move the microphone further from his
mouth, he just said: ‘I can’t hear myself.’ Yeah, but we can. Listen to
the old people and they’ll help get you through this. So we were starting to
have our doubts.
Rostock is at the mouth of the
Warnow River in the state of Meklenburg-Vorpommern. Shipping and ship building were
important economic drivers in the 19th century, but aircraft manufacturing
became the lead industry in the 20th. The world’s first airworthy
jet plane prototype was tested here; and the 1930’s and WWII boosted Rostock’s industrial
importance. Like Warnemünde, Rostock was part of the GDR after the war. Today,
Rostock has a population of just over 200,000.
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| St. Mary's Church |
It was granted a Lübek law city
charter in 1218 (everyplace in Europe is old!), and became a member of the
Hanseatic league in 1251. Rostock purchased the city of Warnemünde in 1323 to
assure the city’s access to the Baltic.
Starting in downtown Rostock we viewed
one of the city’s gates, Kröpeliner Straẞe, and walked to our first stop—The
University of Rostock. Established in 1491, the curriculum provides study in a
number of different areas.
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| Interior of St. Mary's |
Our guide announced that he was pursuing a master’s degree in electrical engineering. That was when the dumb passenger question of
the week surfaced when a lady asked: ‘What was your undergraduate degree in?’
(Hmmm, probably dance!). Adjacent to the university’s student union was a park
and a large fountain with bronze figures engaged in various sexual positions. He
gave the German name of the fountain, but told us all the students just call it
the ‘Porn Fountain.’
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| The library |
Our next stop was St. Mary’s
Church next to Goat Square where goats were once traded. This Brick Gothic
church was designated in 1265, and since the1531 Protestant Reformation it’s
been the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg. Our guide gave us a lot of
information about the church, but we could understand little. He had trouble
constructing his sentences and would start a sentence, and then point to us to
finish it.
hhHe knew the
material, but couldn’t communicate it, and we could probably communicate it for
him, if we knew the material.
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| Town Hall |
We did learn that the church houses an
astronomical clock built by Hans Düringer in 1472, and we were able to get a
glimpse inside the church. When we emerged; our guide gave everyone 30 minutes
of free time to explore on our own. Regathering, our last stop was a
large square bordered by government and private buildings. Our guide gave us
the history of this square which contained the town hall.
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| Buildings on the square |
We rendezvoused with
our bus and headed back to Warnemünde. The city is home of the annual Hanse
Sail festival which brings in tall sailing ships, even some museum pieces, and draws 1.5 million
visitors. We watched these ships sail past our ship and finished the night with
dinner and a musical show.
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| Tall ship with Hanse Sail |
Our next Baltic port of call, Gdańsk,
Poland, was another midday arrival. As we were docking, we viewed the Westerplatte,
next to the cruise terminal, a memorial marking the first invasion of WWII. We finished
our lunch and got our things ready for our afternoon walking tour.
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| Westerplatte |
Gdańsk is Poland’s principal
seaport and the center of the country’s fourth largest metropolitan area with
just over 1 million persons, while being the sixth largest city with 460,000. Throughout
its history the city has been ruled through varying periods by Poles, Prussians,
Germans, and Russians.
It was an important seaport and shipbuilding town in the
14
th and 15
th
century, and one of the most prosperous cities in the Hanseatic League.
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| Green Gate |
Later
in the 1980’s, Gdańsk would become the birthplace of the Solidarity movement,
which played a major role in ending Communist rule in Poland, the collapse of
the Eastern Bloc, the fall of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet
Union. Today the city’s economy is dominated by shipbuilding, petrochemicals
and chemicals, and food processing.
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| The Motlawa River |
Amber processing is also an important contributor
to the economy, as the majority of the world’s amber deposits lay along the
Baltic coast. Finally, tourism is also an important economic contributor.
We met our tour group on the pier
when it was time for our tour, and boarded a bus that would take us on a
20-minute ride to Gdańsk’s Old Town.
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| Booze with gold in it! |
We were relieved that our tour guide could
communicate effectively, even if he did seem to spew out a little too much
information. Our first stop was the landmark Green Gate. Spanning Long Market and Long
Streets, it was built between 1568-1571 as a formal residence for Poland’s
monarchs. Passing through the Green Gate, we were confronted by St. Dominic’s
Fair, a street festival that has occurred annually since 1260.
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| The Zuma Crane |
Hundreds of
vendors line the streets with almost every imaginable food or item available
for sale. Following the Motlawa River, we passed several amber shops and the
famed Goldwasser Restaurant where the popular Goldwasser drink was invented.
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| Human hamster wheel lifts crane |
Continuing
on we came upon Zuraw, the medieval port crane. This crane was first reported
in 1367, and after burning down was rebuilt in 1442-1444. Capable of lifting 5
tons to a height of 30 ft., the crane was powered by men walking inside two
large 15 ft. diameter wheels.
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| Town Hall |
The crane was used to lift cargo and ship masts until
the mid-19
th century.
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| Street view |
Re-entering the Zuraw gate, we followed our guide down Long
Lane, lined with picturesque tenements, to Long Market Street. At the end of
Long Lane is another Gdańsk landmark, The Town Hall, which towers over Old Town
with its lofty clock tower.The building was finished in 1346. Long Market is
bordered by restaurants, vendors, beer gardens, and prominent businesses and
establishments. Walking down Long Market from the Green Gate, we encountered
Artus Court which was built to serve as a meeting place for merchants and host other
ceremonies and processions. Today Artus Court houses the Gdańsk Historical
Museum. Outside of Artus Court we viewed
Neptune’s
Fountain, a fountain that was built over a natural spring.This 1500 lb. bronze fountain was cast in 1562.
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| Neptune's Fountain |
Our last historic landmark was St. Mary’s Church. With construction
beginning in1343 and completed in 1502, the church is one of the three largest
brick churches in the world. With a length of 346 ft. and a nave width
of 217 ft, St. Mary’s has room for 25,000 people.
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| St. Mary's Church |
Although having a Roman
Catholic affiliation, the church was used simultaneously for Roman Catholic and
Lutheran services after the Reformation, and solely for Lutheran services
during the German occupation. We observed that the exterior of the church is
undergoing extensive maintenance. We thought Gdansk may have been the best port of call so far, and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
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| Besautiful Artus Court |
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