Rather than going to Berlin, we decided to visit Wismar, a small Hanseatic city, that I saw was a UNESCO heritage city. As we had been to all the other places that appealed and wanted to do something more than just Rostock, we booked on the second day. It was not a major mistake, but more research and I may not have bothered.

Our guide was Kati and she told us the greeting in this area is ‘moin’ (as guten morgon etc are far too long). A chatterbox may even say ‘moin moin’. I do like these quirky facts.

She spent some time telling us about the Hanseatic League. We knew quite a bit already after our time in Bremen but it still was a good memory jog. It was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in North-western and Central Europe. The league came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for three centuries along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and declined slowly after 1450.  She also said that is why local cars have the number plate HRO being the Hanseatic city of Rostock. She filled us in a bit about Rostock as well, reminding us that it had been basically destroyed in the war as it was a centre for aeroplane construction – it contained the main Heinkel factory. St Marys, the largest church, did survive but was badly damaged.

The whole State has agriculture as its largest sector, followed by tourism, as the Baltic Coast is also popular with other Germans. It is also a popular retirement area.

Our time in Wismar started with a walking tour. 1229 is the first recorded mention of Wismar, so it is older than that. At one stage it was under Swedish rule and there are still parts where the Swedish heritage is seen, and there are special celebrations each year. The town area is full of red brick which is the traditional building material. Some buildings are built like this and then plastered over, but many stayed as red brick.  Hanseatic architecture is known for its Brick Gothic monuments.

Our guide talked about the water house memorial. It was built to honour the people who provided the town with water. Although it is higher than the surrounding area, water was fed to the canals and hence to the town. Only one of the canals still exists but all the wider streets had then run through the middle. Sometimes the mayor would send the message not to ‘piss or pooh’ in the canal on Monday or Tuesday because beer was going to be brewed on Wednesday.

In the early days the street names were descriptive rather than prescribed. We were shown on a map the Coffinmakers street (near the church and graveyard), ABC street (with 26 homes) and the actual sign for tittstasterstrasse (‘tit touching’ or ‘tit tasting’ street) . This is now painted on the wall as the sign itself had been stolen so often. There were a few theories about the name. The politest is that it was narrow and people brushed each other when passing. Another was that it was the area men would choose wet nurses and the fuller the breasts, the more milk. There was also a third. Nearby was the street with the public bathrooms which were often used as much as once a month!! Kati said in those days’ people stank.

We saw St Mary’s from the outside. Many of the Hanseatic towns had a St Mary’s which was the largest of the churches in the towns we were told. Part is still intact but the rest was destroyed in WW2. The decision has been made to not restore it but rebuild walls enough to block out the cars in the nearby streets. It took 6 million bricks to build St Mary, all made by hand by monks. We saw a brick being made as part of a demonstration, but with the comment that the monks made 800 in a shift. They would take between 2 weeks and 2 months to dry.

The former residence of the Duke of Mecklenburg (the one whose main residence is Schwerin castle) was lovely. It was then used as a courtroom. On the next church we saw, the holes in the walls were pointed out. These were for the scaffolding used to construct the church. We were told that the roses in the street grow well when the city is prosperous because the mice are well fed in churches and so don’t attack the roots of the roses.

Part of this tour was a visit to a brewery, with a large bread pretzel each, and three beers to taste. I did taste mine (Pilsner, dark and red) but no more than a taste. The German brewer did suggest we could not leave if the beer was not finished, but I took that as a joke.

He said beer had been brewed on the site 502 years ago. The oldest law in Germany is the Purity Law which says that beer can only be made with water, malt, hops and yeast. He ran through the brewing process, and reminded us that there is a display on the ground floor. We were invited to the next brewing – at 4am Tuesday. 

The history of the town is very strongly linked to brewing. At its peak there were 183 breweries in a town of 7000 people, with most being exported. 107L/year is the average consumption per person now, having been 350L/year in the past. Brewing used to be done in winter as you need the cold temperatures but refrigeration changed that into an all year activity. This brewery always makes pilsner and dark and then one other. In Spring it is wheat beer, summer something else etc. and they also make a special Christmas beer. A tray of different malts was passed around so we could see the range of colours. When under Swedish rule, the taxes were high and many breweries closed. This one reopened in 1995 and makes between 1000L and 1500L each brew, and they brew three times a week.

We found a couple of caches that took us to points of interest in our free time here. One was at the Water Gate. It was built in the middle of the 15th Century and it was the only gate of the city wall at the seaside. The city wall was 3100m long, up to 4m high and 1m thick in the base. It had five major gates of which only the great Watergate is preserved. The old name, Helleporte (Hells Gate), was used until 1680.

A coupl e of people were upset that the shops were closed – well it was Sunday. They may have cheered up as there were some open after our brewery trip, although they sold mainly souvenirs and food. We did buy an ice-cream, and had a brief chat to a local and his son, who smiled at us a lot as he ate chips.

]Back at the ship we went to the Lido for lunch then I took the free shuttle into Rostock while John relaxed. The thought of seeing a(nother - JB) church and town hall did not appeal to him. It was perhaps a shame, as I found Rostock to be a pretty place, although almost all rebuilt after the war. There were quite a few people in the various squares and cafes and down by the shore enjoying the summer’s day.

I was most interested in seeing the 15th century astronomical clock, although my timing was out so I did not see the Apostles going around.  It is the only one of its kind still in working condition and tells daily time, the moon phases, the zodiac and calendar, valid until 2150.

I then went to the Town Hall which is noted for its snake or eel design. The original building was built in the 15^th century but in 1729 a Baroque porch was built in front of the Gothic wall, with its seven towers.

I wandered through the squares then down to the shore before heading for the bus to get the 4.30pm one back to the port. It was already there but not full so I found a seat and sent John a message. I was later back than expected because the bus did not leave at 4.30pm but 4.45pm and stopped on the way. Grr… My cocktail by the pool was very welcome.

We met Teresa from Seattle in the pool and then opted for a short time in the hot pool which was not too hot, so nice. She had had a bad day so we agreed to meet her and her husband Jack for dinner just before 8pm. It was a nice way to end the day.