During its peak the Hanseatic League included nearly 100 cities. Besides their mercantile interests, towns like Tallin, Riga, Lubeck and Wismar shared an interesting architectural style – interesting if you like unassuming, geometrically shaped, pastel buildings on a cold and rainy day, that is.
Salt Warehouses
Lubeck and Wismar on Germany’s Baltic coast resemble Tallin, Estonia. Lubeck, the more prosperous, is on the FDR or West German side of the old Cold War border. In its heyday, Lubeck traded in herring then switched to salt. Neglecting the walking tour from the info center map, we wandered willy-nilly through the cobbled streets, just gawking, until the rain forced us into Café Niederegger and its “museum of marzipan.” Mixing metaphors, marzipan isn’t my cup of tea but judging from the crowd inside, I am in the minority.
Everything you wanted to know about marzipan
Wismar sits in the former DDR, East Germany. And it shows. While many of its Hanseatic buildings are pristinely restored there remains a feeling of seedy communist neglect that even 25 years of democracy hasn’t erased. And Wismar still shows some influence from its Swedish past, especially around the harbor.
Schwein Brucke or "Pig Bridge"
We lucked into a cozy little pension on a wooded lakeside with a superb restaurant, a very pleasant surprise and one of the best meals I have had in Germany; venison stew, red cabbage and potato dumplings. What’s not to love?
