Lubeck Germany is a great medieval town with a nice mix of old and new (by new I mean around before 1920s).

Our stop was actually in Travemunde but we took the excursion to Lubeck and never made it into Travemunde which is a beach resort town.

The excursion was a walking tour through town and then cake at the supposedly best marzipan company with a little free time to wander on our own.

The bus dropped us off on the edge of town and we made our way to the center. It was Saturday morning but the town was eerily quite, no one was out and about for the first part of our tour. As with other towns the buildings had elaborate facades most of them added several feet of height to the building.

The city also had these strange alleys that were originally led to the gardens of the main house. The house owner had to cut access through the front of the house and then allow workers to have space to live in the gardens. Eventually the spaces turned into little apartments which are still lived in today.

One of the odd little things our guide pointed out was all the cat and dog prints on the bricks. Everything in town including the churches and the fortress wall were made by brick(typical in eastern Germany where no other material was available.) Our guide explained that it took over a year for the bricks to cure and they laid them out in fields to dry and animals just walked all over them. You couldn’t see the prints in most of the bricks because they only laid them with the top out in the strange little alley walls.

The only place we went into was a old medical facility. It was a slash between a church, hospital and retirement home which a new portion in the back is still used for. To stay in the home you pretty much have to agree to live like a monk so in that not much has changed. Anyway the “cells” of the original faculty were tiny little things that barely held what I estimate was about half of twin bed and one tiny little table.
The best news was that they hold. Christmas market in the building with a booth in each of the small rooms. Hopefully at some point I can come back and shop here.

After seeing the outside of the town’ cathedral we headed to neiderregger’s for a taste of their famous marzipan cake. Not expecting to like it I was pleasantly surprised. It was only marzipan icing which was not at all like the gummy crap we usually get in marzipan decorations. Regardless of how tasty the cake was the staff not so friendly. We could have tea or coffee with our cake not water and I am sure I offended her with the request. Then I went to the bathroom while they were serving and she wouldn’t leave my tea with Margaret again offended that Margaret even asked. I am sure they don’t like the tour groups coming through but our free time followed so no one stayed around long. Margaret and I of course were the first to leave.

Our first stop was the pretzel place down the street. The pretzels in my opinion were much better than the cake and super cheap. Less than 3€ for the pretzel and water. After our snack we wandered around a bit but it soon started to rain and we headed to cover. It was a good thing we did because this was no light summer rain. It got as cold as any day we had last winter. The wind was whipping around and even if you had an umbrella you were getting soaked. everyone’s umbrellas were flipping inside out as they ran for cover. Most of us were huddling under the church walkway looking like drowned rats. It was the last day I went out without my rain coat. One man in our group was wearing a plastic bag on his head. I am disappointed that I didn’t get a better picture of him.

As a group we decided to skip the rest of the walking tour and head back to the bus. We should have just waited because no sooner than we drove a few blocks the rain stopped. We decided to chance it and stopped at the fortress gate. The wall is no longer standing but the gate though leaning badly was still there. We all traipsed across the street for photos and walked through to return to the bus from the other side. Seeing a street artist I was tempted to stop and buy but didn’t have enough euros to make a fast transaction. Worried about getting behind I passed it up. Margaret surprised I did gave me her last euros so I could go back and get it. Even though we didn’t have a “convenience stop” on this tour the guide did not encourage shopping. I had to dart down the stairs and then still got caught by the light. It was the longest light I have ever waited through. I knew they wouldn’t leave me but I still had this awful panicky feeling. The light finally changed and I ran to the bus. All for no reason because another women didn’t stroll over for about five more minutes with no issues for making everyone wait.

Since we hadn’t finished the walking tour we had time to drive the road that circled the town. The lake also circled the town which made for a beautiful drive. As we drove out of the area the houses outside what once was the wall looked like what would be the oldest houses in our city centers.

Lubeck was a great and I would really like to go back especially for the Christmas market.