Chasing Summer –

After a week of seeing every sight in Hamburg (or at least it felt like we’d seen everything), we headed out of town to the town of Lubeck. It is a 45-minute train ride from Hamburg’s central train station, and trains depart every 30 minutes.

Again, we purchased a group day rail ticket. Lubeck is an UNESCO site. There is also a website that has several free walking guides to see all the sites. Individual City Walks (visit-luebeck.com)

From the train station and after the first bridge is the Holsten Gate. It is the most photographed and easily recognized building in the entire town. Looking at it, its tilt is obvious.

Right beside the gate is the old salt warehouses. In the 1300s, salt was a big money maker, and shipping and storing salt was big business.

After crossing the second bridge, we wandered around the inner island that makes up the old city towards the cathedral.

The Cathedral is the oldest building in Lubeck. Henry the Lion initiated construction in 1160, and there is a statue of a lion in front of the building.

The Triumphal Cross is from 1477, and the baptismal dates back to 1455. Some seriously old stuff is in here.

There are several other churches in the heart of the old city, including Giles Church, St. Katherine’s Church, St. Mary’s Church, St. Jacob’s, and St. Peter’s Church.

The Hospital of the Holy Spirit is a church hospital turned old folks home. It was built in 1286 and was a fully functioning old folk home until 1970.

The Town Hall of is an impressive building dating to 1225.

There were other interesting buildings and bridges as we walked around the center. We even came across some live music playing.

Lumbeck has a small core which makes it ideal for walking around in an afternoon. Of course you could spend the night and explore it even more. There was a museum night going on with different events, but I am not interested in any more musuems, so I didn’t want to stay.