Germany – Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Schwerin, Rostock) Aug 24, 2019
I crossed from Poland into northern Germany just south of Szczecin at about 12:40 on August 24. I bought cheaper Polish gas (5.02 PLN/litre or €1.154/litre), stocked up on cheap Polish cigarettes and spent all my zlotych. Total kilometers driven in Poland 3,836.4.
One notices some significant changes. In the first 5kms, I saw more solar panels and wind turbines that I had in all of Poland. And every wind turbine was turning. The roads were marginally better, the fields neater. I hit a short stretch of 10kms of gravel, perfect very fine grey rock that almost felt like pavement, and not one ripple of washboard.
Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe is a transnational composite nature UNESCO World Heritage site, encompassing forests in 12 European countries.
The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians include ten separate massifs located along the 185 km (115 mi) long axis from the Rakhiv mountains and Chornohora ridge in Ukraine over the Poloniny Ridge (Slovakia) to the Vihorlat Mountains in Slovakia. The Ancient Beech Forests of Germany include five locations, cover 4,391 hectares and were added in 2011.
The Carpathian site covers a total area of 77,971.6 ha (192,672 acres), out of which only 29,278.9 ha (72,350 acres) are part of the actual preserved area, while the rest is considered a “buffer zone”. Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians cover areas of Zakarpattia and Prešov Regions. Over 70% of the site is located in Ukraine. The area includes two national parks, and some habitat controlled areas, mostly in Slovakia. Both national parks, along with a neighboring area in Poland, compose a separate biosphere reserve, the East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. Besides Havešová, Rožok, and Stužica (all of them located in Bukovské vrchy), there is a fourth component situated in Slovakia, named Kyjovský prales of Vihorlat. Ukrainian locations include Chornohora, Kuziy-Trybushany, Maramarosh, Stuzhytsia–Uzhok, Svydovets, and Uholka–Shyrikyi Luh. Only a few of the ten components are accessible to visitors. Stužica is the only one of three locations in Bukovské vrchy (Slovakia) with available hiking trails. In 2017, UNESCO extended the site, adding forests in Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain.
The last intact virgin forest in the temperate latitudes of Europe is to be found in the Carpathians. Trees can live to a hundred years old in these forests, providing an important habitat for organisms such as mushrooms, moss, lichen, insects, rare birds (e.g. capercaillie and black grouse) and mammals (e.g. bats, brown bear, wolf and lynx). Large parts of the forest in the Romanian part of the Carpathians have been lost due to deforestation. The pressure on timber as a resource may increase due to international demand and European companies may start large-scale felling in neighbouring Ukraine. Currently unprotected areas of virgin forest can be permanently preserved in the Ukrainian Carpathians by expanding and reinforcing conservation areas. In the Ukrainian Carpathians there are nine national parks and two biosphere reserves. There is a general ban on tree felling in coniferous forest areas above 1,100 metres. If park administrations are shown to work, management of larger, previously unprotected areas of virgin forest to preserve them on a permanent basis, may occur. There are roughly 100,000 additional hectares of forest which could be integrated into the existing conservation areas.
Müritz National Park. This is a national park situated roughly in the middle between Berlin and Rostock, in the south of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It extends over large portions of the Müritz lakeland in the district of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte. Müritz National Park was founded in 1990. The total area is 318 km2. Near the city of Waren visitors can get information on the national park at the Müritzeum.
The National Park is divided into two separated areas, Müritz and Serrahn. The first, larger portion extends from the eastern shore of Lake Müritz to the town of Neustrelitz. The latter, smaller part is situated east of Neustrelitz. The landscape features of the park are made up from terminal moraine, sandur and lowlands. 65% of the territory is covered with forest, 12% by lakes. The remaining area is made up of swamps or meadows.
Lake Müritz has an area of 118 km2, but only its eastern shore is part of the National Park. The towns of Waren and Neustrelitz are the closest towns. There are about 100 lakes in Müritz National Park, including Bullowsee, and many more smaller waterbodies, runs, ditches and brooks. The Havel rises in the Müritz section, close to the water divide between the Baltic and the North Sea.
Fauna and flora. Notable animals in the park include the red deer, the crane, the white-tailed eagle and the osprey. Other animals include great bittern, reed warbler, redshank, greenshank, black stork, crane, teal, garganey and little stint.
In addition to the unspoiled nature in general, a lot of open common juniper stands can be found in the national park. They were formerly used for cattle grazing.
Lowland lake and forest spanning 123miles2. Includes UNESCO listed beech forests.
Beech Trees. This is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America.
Recent classification systems of the genus recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, Engleriana and Fagus.
The Engleriana subgenus is found only in East Asia, and is notably distinct from the Fagus subgenus in that these beeches are low-branching trees, often made up of several major trunks with yellowish bark. Further differentiating characteristics include the whitish bloom on the underside of the leaves, the visible tertiary leaf veins, and a long, smooth cupule-peduncle. Fagus japonica, Fagus engleriana, and the species F. okamotoi, proposed by the botanist Chung-Fu Shen in 1992, comprise this subgenus.
The better known Fagus subgenus beeches are high-branching with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-grey bark. This group includes Fagus sylvatica, Fagus grandifolia, Fagus crenata, Fagus lucida, Fagus longipetiolata, and Fagus hayatae. The classification of the European beech, Fagus sylvatica is complex, with a variety of different names proposed for different species and subspecies within this region (for example Fagus taurica, Fagus orientalis, and Fagus moesica). Research suggests that beeches in Eurasia differentiated fairly late in evolutionary history, during the Miocene. The populations in this area represent a range of often overlapping morphotypes, though genetic analysis does not clearly support separate species.
Within its family, the Fagaceae, recent research has suggested that Fagus is the evolutionarily most basal group. The southern beeches (genus Nothofagus) previously thought closely related to beeches, are now treated as members of a separate family, the Nothofagaceae (which remains a member of the order Fagales). They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Argentina, and Chile (principally Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego).
The European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is the most commonly cultivated, although few important differences are seen between species aside from detail elements such as leaf shape. The leaves of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad. Beeches are monoecious, bearing both male and female flowers on the same plant. The small flowers are unisexual, the female flowers borne in pairs, the male flowers wind-pollinating catkins. They are produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear. The bark is smooth and light grey. The fruit is a small, sharply three–angled nut 10–15 mm long, borne singly or in pairs in soft-spined husks 1.5–2.5 cm long, known as cupules. The husk can have a variety of spine- to scale-like appendages, the character of which is, in addition to leaf shape, one of the primary ways beeches are differentiated.The nuts are edible, though bitter (though not nearly as bitter as acorns) with a high tannin content, and are called beechnuts or beechmast.
Neustrelitz. A NM “small town”. It has a large square around a round coble center and fountain. I was finally able to buy all the stuff at Lidl that I was unable to in Poland.
History. The village of Strelitz was first mentioned in 1278. It grew to a small town in the following centuries. In 1712 the castle and the town of Strelitz burnt down. After this disaster the duke and his family lived on their hunting lodge at the lake called Zierker See (Lake Zierke) to the northwest of Strelitz. Around this place the new town of Neustrelitz (New Strelitz) was constructed. It became the official capital of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1736.
When the Red Army troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front entered the town on 30 April 1945, 681 people committed suicide.
The city centre is characterised by Baroque architecture. Its heart is the Marktplatz (Market Square), with the Stadtkirche (city church), built in 1768–1778 and the opposite Rathaus (Town Hall), built in 1841. The Baroque Neustrelitz Palace was destroyed in 1945, but the palace gardens (Schloßgarten) still exist. Worth seeing are the 18th-century Orangerie (from orange), initially used as a summerhouse, the Schloßkirche (Palace Church) built in 1855–1859 in English Neo-Gothic style, the Neoclassic Hebe temple (with a replica of a statue of the goddess Hebe), and the Louise Temple, built in 1891 in the shape of a Greek temple to house the tomb of Queen Louise of Prussia, born Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
There is a small lake, Glambeck See, where one can swim in summer in a protected area and have lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake.
Slavic Village Passentin, Neubrandenburg. This open-air museum has a rough vertical log palisade. It provides a Middle Age learning and adventure experience with hunting with flint arrows, eat with bronze knives, wear sheep’s wool clothing, wear wood shoes, and sleep on straw sacks in wooden huts.
There was a middle age fortified castle here, then a church and a manor house, but that is all long gone. Now there is a log gate house, central log house and several small log buildings with crafts and experiences. Not very interesting. €3
Greifswald. A NM “small town”, it is 80 km from the Polish border. The town belongs to Western Pomerania and flanks the Baltic Sea, and is crossed by a small river, the Ryck. It is also located near Germany’s two largest islands, Rügen and Usedom, and it is close to three of Germany’s 14 national parks. Together with Stralsund, Greifswald forms one of four urban centers of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The city’s population was listed at 55,659 in 2013, including many of the 12,500 students and 5,000 employees of the University of Greifswald. Greifswald draws international attention due to the university, its surrounding BioCon Valley, the Nord Stream gas pipeline and the Wendelstein 7-X nuclear fusion projects.
STRALSUND
Located at the Southern coast of the Strelasund, a sound of the Baltic Sea separating the island of Rügen from the mainland. Stralsund was granted city rights in 1234 and was one of the most prospering members of the medieval Hanseatic League. In 1628, during the Thirty Years’ War, Stralsund came under Swedish rule and remained so until the upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars. In the 19th century it became part of Prussia and Germany. Since 2002, Stralsund’s old town with its rich heritage is honored as a UNESCO World Heritage, along with Wismar in Mecklenburg.
The main industries of Stralsund are shipyards, fishing, mechanical engineering, and, to an increasing degree, tourism, life sciences, services and high tech industries, especially information technology and biotechnology.
The historic Stralsund old town island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features many valuable remnants of the Hanseatic time, Brick Gothic, renaissance, baroque, historicist and Jugendstil buildings.
The heart of the old town is the Old Market Square (Alter Markt), with the Gothic Town Hall (13th century). Behind the town hall soars the imposing Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas’ Church), built in 1270–1360. The square is surrounded by houses from different periods, including the Gothic Wulflamhaus (a 14th-century patrician house, today a restaurant), and the Baroque Commandantenhus of 1751, the old headquarters of the Swedish military commander.
The Jakobikirche (Saint James’s Church), built in mid-14th century. It was destroyed several times, e.g. by Wallenstein and in World War II.
The Marienkirche (Saint Mary’s Church), built in 1383–1473 in Gothic style, is the largest church in Stralsund, and from 1625—1647 it was the world’s tallest structure. Its octagonal tower (104 meters high) offers a panorama view of Stralsund and the neighboring islands of Rügen and Hiddensee.
The Johanniskloster (Franciscan monastery built in 1254), is one of the oldest buildings in the town.
Stralsund is the port of registry for the former German Reichsmarine Navy Sail Training ship “Gorch Fock” 1. It is now a floating museum.
The Katharinenkloster (Monastery of Saint Catherine), mainly built in the 15th century, houses two museums today: Stralsund’s Museum of Cultural History (known for e.g. the Gold Jewellery of Hiddensee), and the German Oceanographic Museum, Germany’s largest aquarium and oceanographic collection. The ancient refectory of the monastery is one of the most spectacular Gothic interiors in Germany.
Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar. World Heritage Site
St Mary’s Church. Built on colossal piles on marshy ground in 1298, the tower toppled in 1382. The spire burnt down in 1647 after being struck by lightning. The current 104m spire was finished in 1708. The windows in the transept are the largest church windows in Europe. Climb the 366 steps in the church tower for great views of Stralsund and the islands of Rugen and Hiddensee.
Gorch Fock, In both the NM “Entertainment/Things to do” and “Ship Museums” series, Stralsund is the port of registry for the former German Reichsmarine Navy Sail Training ship “Gorch Fock” 1. It is now a floating museum.
ROSTOCK
Rostock Art Gallery. In a new building with an exterior of etched glass, there were 2 expositions. €10, 8 reduced
Rostock Botanical Garden. Run by the University of Rostock, there is nothing special to see. Free
Shipbuilding and Maritime Museum. The museum is aboard the historical ship – Type Frieden (built in 1957 in Rostock – 157m long, 20m wide, and draft 8.4m) given to the city in 1970 to convert into a Maritime Museum. Displays the maritime history of Rostock as a shipbuilding centre, many ship models, maritime history. €3, 2 reduction.
WARNEMŨNDE is the resort community on the Baltic north of Rostock.
Warnemünde Beaches. This fine white sand beach is very deep and on a hot Sunday morning, crowded already. Many “beach clubs” with umbrellas to rent.
Warnemünde Lighthouse. Built in 1898-98, this cream brick with brown bands lighthouse has two galleries. It sits in the middle of plaza, part of the “boardwalk: that backs the beach. The lighthouse has a height of 36.9 metres.
33 posts were piled 11 metres deep into the earth to act as the foundation. The lighthouse has two cellars and the part above ground is 31 metres high and built of glazed white brick and a number of bands of green brick. The tower has two galleries used as panoramic viewing platforms for visitors.
In the early years, the lighthouse lamp used petroleum and later gas to generate its light. To begin with, the rotating Fresnel lens assembly was propelled by clockwork, driven by a heavy iron weight sliding down a steel tube in the centre of the tower. Every evening, the lighthouse keeper had first to pump 90 litres of petroleum up to a tank at the top and then wind the weight up every two hours. Since 1927 it has operated electrically. The beam has an angle of over 180° and is focused by mirror reflectors on the land side. The light can be seen at a distance of about 20 nautical miles (37 km). €2, 1 reduction
Windmühle Neubukow, Neubukow. This is a lovely windmill, but unfortunately is on private property, possibly converted into a BnB and can’t be visited. Red brick on the bottom, the sides are shake and the green top shake. It is a Dutch type mill with a rotating cap moved by a vane at the back. The vanes are partly intact.
The owners have llamas.
From a post by the owners: Since so many people have addressed us, if they could not even live in our mill, we have decided to rent our windmill in Neubukow for a few weeks of the year. More than 100 years old Hollander windmill, it has elaborate composite timbers, the accuracy of the fit, the huge wooden funnels, the millstones that are still in their old place in the stone floor (second floor), the bucket elevator responsible for transporting the grain inside the mill was, the royal wave that extends from the mill cap to the roll bottom (first floor), the many different waves and gears some made of wood and much more.
There is no lack of comfort. The entire mill has been fitted with modern heating, a fully furnished new kitchen in the old style, two bedrooms with flat screen TVs and a designer bathroom in the converted threshing floor and in the roll floor.
The road from the windmill is a narrow 2-lane with speed limits of 60. This is very popular cycling/motorcycling country.
Poel Island covers an area of 36.02 km2 (13.91 sq mi) and has 2,873 citizens. Satellite pictures show that most of it is used as farmland. With its good air, clean water, fine beaches and sheltered harbours, it is also popular recreational area. At Timmendorf harbour there are a pilot’s station and facilities for yachts and local fishermen. Kirchdorf has a yachting harbour and a boatyard. Wismar Bay is cited by the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910-1911) as the finest harbor on the Baltic.
The island’s name derives from pole, the Common Slavic word for “flat land” or “field”.
GO TO Germany – Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel, Lübeck, Helgoland)
NOMAD MANIA Germany – Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Schwerin, Rostock)
World Heritage Sites
Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar
Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany
Islands
Poel
Rügen
Usedom
Borders
Germany (sea border/port/river)
Germany-Poland
XL: Ostseebad (Mecklenburg-Vorpommen)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars”|: Molli Railway
House Museums/Plantations: Anklam: Otto Lilienthal Museum
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Dömitz: Dömitz Fortress
Ludwigslust: Ludwigslust Palace
World of Nature
Jasmund
Müritz
Western-Pomeranian Boddenlandschaft (Vorpommersche Boddenslandschaft)
Festivals
Airbeat One
Fusion Festival
Greifswald: Greifswald International Students’ Festival
Lighthouses: Hiddensee: Dornbusch
Windmills: Neubukow: Windmühle Neubukow
Open-Air Museums: Neubrandenburg: Slavic Village Passentin
European Cities
ROSTOCK
Airports: Rostock (RLG)
Museums: Rostock Art Gallery
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Rostock Trams
Entertainment/Things to do: Vrieden
Botanical Gardens: Rostock Botanical Garden
Maritime/Ship Museums: Shipbuilding and Maritime Museum
Beaches: Warnemünde Beaches
Lighthouses: Warnemünde: Warnemünde Lighthouse
SCHWERIN
Tentative WHS: Residence Ensemble Schwerin – Cultural Landscape of Romantic Historicism (15/01/2015)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Schwerin Trams
Museums: Staatliches Museum Schwerin
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Schwerin Castle
Entertainment/Things to do
Flippermuseum Schwerin
Freilichtmuseum Schwerin-Mueß
Villages and Small Towns
AHRENSHOOP
Beaches: Ostseebad Ahrenshoop
GREIFSWALD
NEUSTRELITZ
BINZ
Beaches: Rügen: Binz
Railway Museums: Binz: Eisenbahn & Technik Museum Rugen
STRALSUND
World Heritage Sites: Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar Entertainment/Things to do
Gorch Fock
Skurrileum (permanently closed)
Aquariums: Ozeaneum
Maritime/Ship Museums: Gorch Fock