Lübeck Sunday and the battle of the Burgertor

Lübecker weekend

Sunday

It was a nice morning so up early, packed and breakfast finished, out of the hotel by 08:45. We found a nice parking space right beside the Holsten Tor, there wasn’t many tourists about, with the exception of some Swedes being shepherded by a tour guide. Took the obligatory pics of the Holsten Tor (it has got a serious lean on it).

 Then passing the old salt warehouses (salzspeicher), some under renovation.

These were where the salt was stored, that had been brought by barge from Lüneburg.  Prior to the completion of the Streknitz canal in 1398, the salt was carried on the backs of mules or loaded into oxen carts along the old salt road. The salt was required in the capital of the Hansiatic confederation, Lübeck, for the salting of the Baltic herring or for distribution to the other Hansiatic cities. Salt was a very expensive commodity all over the world in the Middle Ages as it was the main conservation agent for fish and meat.

The brickwork Salzspeicher  that are on the site today where built between the 16^th  and 18^th Centuries replacing earlier buildings, most probably made out of wood,  that had stored salt and Herrings in previous centuries.

We then went along Holstein strasse turning into Schüsselbuden , one can only imagine that this was the place one went when in need of new bowls and the like, as schüssel literally means bowl.We arrived back at the opposite side of the Church of St Mary where we had finished last night. We had been hoping to have a good look around inside, but Sunday Mass was in full swing and touristy visitors where kindly requested to come back after 12:00.

Adjacent to the Church is the old Workhouse, this is a magnificent building, if having a feeling of  ill-boding about it. (bit of Oliver Twist about it)

We next headed through the church yard via the vaulted passage



and onto Breite Strasse, turning left, passing the Church of St. Jacob (Jakobi) the patron saint of seafarers (Jacobs ladder, the flexible rope ladder used to gain access to a ship while at sea is named after this chap).

Turning  right we hit the Heiligen-Geist (Holy Ghost or Spirit) Hospital (also a church of course), this was once a Hospice for the poor and needy and even today the left hand part is a Hospice for the old in the form of an old peoples home.

We then headed straight down the Groß Burgerstr. to the other main gate into the city the Burgertor, a really magnificent piece of brickwork architecture , just before you reach the gate proper is the sozialamt (social services department), showing with a little thought that even todays  local needs can fit into the buildings of the past.

The gateway was used to get the wares and goods into the city and as this had to be taxed (something’s never change), there is of course a Zollhaus (revenue house) to collect the duties to be paid on the goods.

The Battle of Lübeck 1806

It was in front of this gate (and all of the other ones as well) that the great Prussian General, Blücher confronted Bonaparte on the 06 November 1806, he had arrived in this precarious position because he and his army where retreating from the combined French armies, they had chased him and the remnants of the Prussian army after the battles of Jena and Auerstedt. He had headed to Lübeck via Brandenburg in the hope of obtaining ships (by fair means or foul) for passage either to Prussia or England (it not mattering one jot that the Hansa cities were neutral, some things change little in war). But alas the fleeing Swedes, who had been stationed in that area as a buffer, they belonged to the Hanoverian kings army and thus an Ally of the English. (It was thought they would stand and fight alongside the Prussians, wrong they turned tail and fled) had reached Lübeck first and commandeered all available ships, they had even went to Travemunde and also got every sail in sight, so when Blücher arrived they were already homeward bound.

Enough to say the 21,000 Prussians got a wuppin’ and fled in the direction of Bad Schwartau, Blücher, his troops by this time down to 8000 men, tired, no food or ammunition, seeing the pointlessness of his position and the uselessness of further killing, sued for peace and signed the document of capitulation on the 07 November in a small town called Ratekau . He lived to fight another day and was to come to the aid of Wellington, in his time of need 9 years later at the battle of Waterloo 18 June 1815.

Sorry for getting carried away, but I do like a bit of military history, so where was I, ah yes the Burgertor and the last remaining parts of Lübecks walls, now repaired and looking grand. We retraced our footsteps and ended up at the Schiffergesellschaft  were we had eaten that smashing meal prior to Turandot. It was alas not quite 11:00 so it wasn’t quite open, we crossed the street and had a coffee in a Bavarian place (I ask you, and that in Schleswig-Holstein).

We wandered down the side streets and arrived at Beckergrube (bakers ditch) and the last remaining old bakers shop in Lübeck.

Turning along the Untertrave (the quayside) we popped into the Niederegger opponants the Marzipan Warehouse, here is a display of sweetness to turn every diabetic into a deadly shade of pale.

We also passed the Irish Pub, well they say there is a one in every town in Germany! They do tend to get everywere, don't they? hee, hee!

We returned to Holsten Tor and the car, by now all parking spaces full and the tourists like ants around a sugar lump, I had wanted to go across the border (Fictitious now) and along the invisible border, that replaced the not so invisible one about 20 years ago. We went through the once border town (part of Lübeck) of Schlutup into Mecklenburg Vorpommern, this would have been a no go area and full with Border guards, mines and fences, now it is a place of serene tranquillity a nature reserve,We reached Dassow a sleepy little town that is just awaking from its forced exclusion from the outside world. Turned North along the Dessower lake and then onto Priwal an isthmus that was once a thorn in the eye of the old DDR, it being on their side of the Trave. This is and was the home of the Merchant Navy marine training school and also the place that is home to the Passat, besides a museum to German partition the only thing of note is an very large old peoples home and the ferry back across the Trave.
We took the ferry and luckily found a parking space right on the quayside, we decided to walk along to the fishing boats selling their catches, I bought a couple of still flapping plaice, that was until the old fisherman with an expert cut and twist decapitated them (I don't think Linda enjoyed that part of eating fish.

My old Scouse mucker who has just recently returned to the UK after 25 years of luckcherry, took his money and ran. He is looking for a job and also a boat, I think I have found just the one for him, bit flash for a scousers cruiser, but he can afford it!

A Scousers dream come true

We walked a bit further and then decide on, guess what? Fish for lunch!

Linda had Rotbarsch (catch of the day) and I had three fried fresh herring both served with bratkartofflen . While eating, we had an old seadog serenade us with sea shanties on the accordion, was a fitting end to a nice weekend by the sea.

Well not quite the traffic back to NRW was horrendous and what should have been a 3 hour trip turned into a six hour one, but hell you can’t have everything, alas!  

Oh! yes the plaice, I had been thinking all day yesterday how I was going to cook them, Finkenwerder (speck and onions), with brown shrimps or with fried potatoes, in the end I just seasoned them in flour, salt pepper and celery salt, fried in a mixture of butter and olive oil, sometimes the simple things are the best.

 A couple of very tasty plaice