Lübeck, Hansestadt

Out of Hamburg today, exploring other nearby cities. First up on our list was the city of Lübeck, a World Heritage site of course! Caught the train north-east out of town for about an hour, and arrived in the centre of Lübeck. This city was historically very important to the Hanseatic League, a trading league from the middle ages and early Renaissance that was very important to the Baltic and North Seas.

We walked over into the centre of town and set to exploring. First impressive stop was the heavily fortified gate, complete with a serious lean! Apparently the original city gate was much larger, this still-impressive remainder is just the inner-most of three gates.

Nearby were some old warehouses, where goods (mostly salt) were stored before being shipped in or out. The buildings are all red brick and done in a Gothic style which looks very characteristic - reminiscent of Bruges.

Crossing the river into the old town, we headed next for the town hall which looked great, but sadly was difficult to film as they were setting up for the Christmas markets in the square fronting it. Managed to do a bit to camera but it's not going to be a classic highlight I don't think!

Checked out the last few sights here, including an enormous brick Gothic cathedral - the largest in the world - and a very early hospital as well, dating from the 13th century. Grabbed a quick lunch of currywurst (sausage with curry sauce and fries), then spent another hour or so just looking around. Nice little city!

Back to the station by early afternoon where we got the train back to Hamburg, and home by around 3pm. Settled in for the evening, only venturing out later to grab kebabs for dinner!Read more