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Part 3:Rügen island, Binz, Stralsund
6.6: Munich -> Hamburg
7.6: Hamburg
8.6: Hamburg -> Lübeck -> Puttgarden -> Copenhagen
14.6: Copenhagen -> Malmö -> Trelleborg -> Binz (Rügen island, Germany)
15.6: Binz, Sellin (Rügen island)
16.6: Königsstuhl and Stralsund
17.6: Binz
18.6: Binz -> Stralsund -> Berlin
19.6: Berlin
20.6: Berlin -> Potsdam -> Berlin
21.6: Berlin -> Wittenberg -> Dessau -> Bayreuth -> Munich
14.6: Copenhagen ->
Malmö ->
Trelleborg -> Binz (Rügen island, Germany)
Hotel
Binzer Sterne, Binz. 99 Euro for a small flat with two bedrooms, a
toilet, a corridor and a multipurpose room consisting of a mix of
kitchen and living room. Fully furnished apartment, the multipurpose
room has a large LCD TV, fridge, microwave oven, coffee machine, water
boiler. High standard accomodation in a beaufiful setting (lot of green
areas surround the building). Free WLAN. Free parking in the hotel
garage. Small hair dryer in the toilet.
Weather: sunny, blue sky, with a few
clouds every now and then. Around 17°C in Sweden, more or less strong
wind.
The ferry from Trelleborg to Sassnitz (Rügen island, Germany) leaves on
time at 6:30pm.
On it there is the usual combination of duty free shops, restaurant,
games etc. Surprisingly on the deck it's not as cold as I was
imagining. Women getting tanned on deck chairs. Once in Sassniitz we
drive to the hotel in Binz.
15.6: Binz,
Sellin (Rügen island)
Hotel Binzer Sterne, Binz.
Weather: beautiful sunny day, blue
sky, but quite fresh (max. temperature is 20°C). We are again lucky
with the weather.
We take it easy today, sleeping long and only leaving the apartment at
1pm. We initially drive into town and find a Netto discount store
(food etc.), which is open today (from 13 to 18 hours) although it's
Sunday.
Finally decent prices again, 19 cents for a big bottle of mineral
water (compare that to the 2 Euro we used to pay in Denmark), 69 cents
for a spaghetti with sauce box and so on.
No free parking in Binz. Everywhere you need to pay something.
After the shopping we drive back to the hotel and have lunch there. At
3:10pm, while Shirley is doing some school exercise with Alissia, I
walk into town to have a look at the beach.
It's a short walk from the hotel (only 1.3km) and walking is a good
idea, because of the parking problem. The area around the hotel is
beautifully set up with stylish buildings, villas, carefully
choreographed gardens. Everything absolutely immaculate and perfectly
clean. As if everybody is competing against each other to have the
prettiest garden and villa. Very quiet and relaxing area.
The beach is long and nice. Along the beach there is the beach
promenade. Already 100 years ago Binz was a famous beach resort in the
Germany of the Kaiser, and today this place is maintaining the
tradition.
It appears that Binz is one of the places of the former East Germany
which actually developed after the reunification. Everything is busy
and tourist oriented. Lots of people on the beach, many wearing smim
gear, few swimming in the sea because of the low temperatures (water
temperature is only 17°C).
A music band and an individual artist play some music along the
promenade. We walk around a bit, then slowly walk back to the hotel,
arriving at 7pm. The weather is perfect on this Sunday evening.
Around sunset I drive to Sellin, a beach resort further along the
coast, 13km southwest from Binz. The beach here is much smaller than
the one in Binz, but the setting is nice, because you reach the beach
by walking down a staircase and at the top there is a nice view. Big
tourist house along the pier. Very long pier by the way.
I'm back in the hotel at 11pm.
16.6:
Königsstuhl and Stralsund
Hotel Binzer Sterne
Weather:
some blue sky in the morning, otherwise mostly overcast. Quite fresh,
with a maximum temperature of 20°C. In the evening the clouds disappear
and the sky opens up.
The weather today is not so good, so we sort of cancel the plan to go
to the beach, also considering the low temperatures.
Around 11am I drive into town to buy some fresh milk and other stuff,
then get back to the hotel. There we have lunch.
We leave the hotel at 2pm and drive to the Königsstuhl, a huge chalk
cliff on the Baltic sea in the Jasmund national park, about 18km north
of Binz. By car it's 26km and we arrive at 2:30pm.
Due to lack of a suitable parking, you can't drive the last two and a
half km to the Königsstuhl and instead have to park the car in a
parking 400m further down the road. Pricey parking at 1.50€/hour
(pricey
for a parking in the middle of nowhere).
From there it's either a 3km walk or a bus (3.60€ return) to the
Königsstuhl. We opt to take the bus, as the kids might get tired. The
road passes through a beautiful beech forest with old and tall trees.
Once at the visitor centre, it seems that there is a fee of 7.50€ to
get into the compound, which includes also a museum and another
exhibition. But as we find out later, there is no need to get into the
compound. It's sufficient to walk down the path to have a nice view of
the chalk cliffs.
So we walk down to the beach, stopping at a few view points along the
way. The path walks down to the beach which lies 100m lower. It's a
stones beach, which runs along the chalk cliffs.
A group of swans is swimming and apparently eating something
in the sea. I've never seen that, always thought that swans only stay
in freshwater.
We walk a bit along the beach, then walk back to the parking. It's now
almost 5pm and we decide to drive back to the hotel. Brief stop along
the way at a Netto store to buy some food.
In the evening, after the Germany-Portugal World cup match, I drive to
Stralsund because there are no more clouds in the sky. From Binz to
Stralsund it's a 38km drive, mostly along an intercity road, with only
a small piece of motorway near Stralsund. The island of Rügen is
connected by a bridge to the mainland.
Stralsund is an old Hanseatic town, which together with Wismar is a
UNESCO world heritage site. The old town core is on a small island next
to the coast (or let's say a piece of land surrounded by a large moat).
The main attraction is the Alter Markt (Old Market) square on which the
town hall and the Nikolai church are located.
There are several old brick houses, all of them in a good shape, i.e.
most likely restored. However there are also many, many modern
buildings mixed with the old houses. Only a small fraction of the old
town is still original, which is disappointing. Probably a good deal of
the old city was destroyed in world war II and not reconstructed during
the Communist period.
I'm in Stralsund until well after the sunset (until 11:20pm), because
the blue hour lasts so long on this June evening and I take several
shots of the town. Then I drive back and reach the hotel shortly after
midnight.
17.6: Binz
Hotel Binzer Sterne, Binz
Weather: sunny, blue sky the whole
day. Windy, quite fresh, actually cold in the shadow.
Day spent relaxing in Binz. We leave the hotel after 3pm, and fetch the
public bus to the beach. We discover that the beach in Binz north of
the pier is smelly, because it is full of rotting seaweed. So we walk
to the southern side.
Not too many foreign tourists in Binz and no Asian tourists.
We are on the beach until 5:40pm, then buy some groceries and take the
bus back to the hotel.
18.6: Binz ->
Stralsund ->
Berlin
Smarthostel Berlin. 103 Euro for a
small apartment consisting of a bedroom, livingroom/kitchen/studio
combo with two beds, bathroom with shower and corridor. Centrally
located about 5km from the Brandenburger Tor. Decently furnished, LCD
TV, phone, small hair dryer in the toilet. WLAN in the room not free
(apparently 5€ per day and device).
Weather: sunny, blue sky the whole
day, cold (max. 22°C). Very thin clouds layer high up in the sky.
We
check out of the hotel at 12:40pm and initially drive to a Netto shop
where we return the empty bottles and buy some food. Then we
drive to Stralsund, arriving there at 2:20pm.
We have a lunch in a Chinese restaurant, then shortly after 3pm I drop
Shirley and the kids off at the Ozeanum acquarium/museum (many
exhibitions and acquariums), and drive to St Mary's church
(Marienkirche).
The interesting thing about this church is the tower, which offers a
great view of Stralsund from a height of 100m. 4€ entry ticket, lots of
steps (no lift).
I reach the top at 10 to 4pm and spend 15 minutes there. The view is
simply great on this June day.
Then I walk down, get back to the car, drive to another spot close to
the Old Market (Nicolai church) and leave the car in a parking at
4:30pm.
I'll spend the next hour exploring Stralsund. It's a very cute, very
photogenic city, at least the old historic core. This is a mix of old
and new buildings, but all very nicely set up.
Finally around 5:45pm I join again Shirley and the kids. We drive to a
petrol station where we refuel the car. Then we continue to Berlin.
The motorway is most of the time empty. Only close to Berlin there is
some traffic.
We reach the hotel at 8:20pm. In the evening I drive to the
Brandenburger gate for some blue hour shots. No luck today, as the
entire gate is wrapped up in a Hyundai promotion and there is a big
public viewing screen. So I walk to the Reichstag.
I must say that the distances in Berlin are huge. Buildings are big and
far from each other. We'll need the car tomorrow with the kids, to
avoid walking too much.
Copyright
2014
Alfred
Molon
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