On the absolute hottest weekend of summer I went to the Baltic sea. I hoped the sea breeze would make things a bit more bearable than in the city. At the same time everyone was hiding inside, I went on a hike over the Poel island and strolled through this Hanseatic town.
Wismar’s heyday was in the late Middle Ages, when it was part of the Hanseatic League along with cities such as Lübeck and Rostock. With the money that was earned trading things like beer and wool, the city built grand buildings, mostly made of brick. Many of these buildings can still be seen spread out through the old town. Because they’re not all together, you come across surprising and interesting architecture in perhaps unexpected moments. The style is called brick gothic. Since there are no nearby quarries for sandstone or other natural stone, this was the easiest way to build. They built entire churches, like St. Nicholas church. When there is no service taking place, you can see a bunch of art inside, alongside the historic altars.
Nearby is the Schweinsbrücke, or pig bridge, which has 4 little piggies on the corners. In the old days farmers would walk their pigs across this bridge to arrive at the central market. The four statues have very fun, playful poses, which might not truly represent how the market pigs were treated, but it’s a cute addition to town. Although it was late June, the market square was surprisingly quiet. Sure, people came out to sit on the terraces of the cafés and restaurants, but it didn’t feel crowded. It didn’t feel crowded anywhere in town. Perhaps it was due to the heat. One way to escape it, was in the world heritage house. Although some rooms were little saunas, the centerpiece of the free museum was an air-conditioned heaven. It’s got a fragile, old wallpaper that displays a scene from Greek mythology. I learned about it while listening to a story in which the wallpaper itself was the protagonist. I learned how it was stolen in 1995, but found again by the police. After a lot of renovation works, this 19th century piece of art can now be visited in this small museum.
Being on the coast, it was also nice to stroll through Wismar’s harbor area. It looks like it’s been renovated quite recently and new apartment blocks with shops on the ground floor lined the water. There is space for a cruise ship, but there were mainly small tourist boats. And of course there were boats selling Fischbrötchen! I’m not the most adventurous, but I loved the Backfisch on a bun. You just have shield it from all the seagulls flying around. Another day I went for lunch at a sit down fish place near the harbour. I don’t remember the type of fish, but it was delicious, with a side of crispy potatoes and bacon pieces. In general I ate well, because one night I had a delicious, hearty Ukrainian beef roll. I didn’t even care it was above 35 degrees. I’ll have that any day!
It was easy enough to get around by local bus, so on the hottest day I made it out to the island Poel. It would have been nice to take the boat there, but that was so much more expensive that I opted for the bus. Besides, now I had more flexibility about where to get off. I chose Am Schwarzen Busch. There was a line to pay for the spa tax to use the beach as the machine was very old school and wasn’t very straightforward, but with the tax paid I set off on a trail towards Timmendorf. Most people headed straight for the beach and the water, but there were a few other foolish people that were out walking.
The trail went away from the crowds and past some beautiful wildflowers. Part of it was in the forest and at times there was a little trail to a beach. As I got closer to the town I figured I should head towards one and have a swim. Whereas the town beaches are pretty crowded and filled with wicker beach chairs, in between it’s quieter and there are no facilities. The water turned out to be very shallow and I didn’t find out just how far you’d have to walk to get into the deep water. I just dunked myself under water and floated in the shallows. After drying up and getting hot again very quickly, I wanted to go another time. However, pretty much instantly I saw just how many tiny jellyfish were floating around. I can’t believe I didn’t see, or feel, that earlier. But once I’ve spotted a few, it pretty much crushes my desire to bathe. So I kept my feet in for a while and then made my way back. There was still some walking to finish.
In Timmendorf a Fischbrötchen was waiting for me. It was absolutely delicious. There was also a little trail along the cliff coast ahead. I checked it out and then wanted to take the bus back. But… since it was Sunday there was no bus at this hour. I didn’t want to wait 1,5 hours, so I walked onto the bike & hike trail next to the main road, on the way to the main town of the island: Kirchdorf. Most of the way was in the bright sun at what was probably the hottest time of the day. The only bench in the shade was occupied. I started to feel a bit weak, but in the end ended up walking all the way to town, rather than waiting for the bus to pass by. Turned out there wasn’t too much to see in Kirchdorf, so I bought 1,5L of watermelon water in the supermarket and found the bus stop to get off the island.
All in all it was a great long weekend away. The only tough part was the 3 hour train ride back. Although direct, the air-conditioning was not working well and it was very crowded. Getting off in the Berlin city heat actually felt like a relief!
