Northern Germany

Neil W

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Going to do something different this June and having a trip around Northern Germany.

Going from Newcastle to Ijmuiden and then north along the Dutch coast into Germany and then on to Lubeck for a night, we intend going up to Laboe to visit the U Boat memorial and then onto Ruegen for an overnight stop with a view to visiting Prora.

Following that we are heading for Peenemunde for the day and then on towards Berlin (possibly taking in the Seelow Heights and then a couple of nights in Berlin .

After that a run over to Wolfsburg to visit the VW Museum and an overnight stop, the next day we want to have a run past the Bergen/Belsen site and then stop about halfway between there and the Dutch border.

Next day back to Ijmuiden for the ferry .

Been to Berlin a couple of times but never toured properly in Northern Germany , any hotel suggestions in the areas or other decent places worth a visit on the general route.
 
There are several pretty good German websites with lots of suggestions of routes and hotels (see sticky). Most are in 'foreign' but understandable, if you get my drift.
 
It'd be a shame not to visit the other WW2 U-boat at Bremerhaven whilst in the area if Laboe is on your itinerary :thumby:

The Sorpesee is a nice little place to stop in the Sauerland next to Sundern. As well as the Sorpe dam, the famous Mohne dam is nearby too. The Sauerland is very pretty with loads of nice, hilly twisty roads, unlike most of Northern Germany. It used to be my weekend playground when I worked in Germany.
 

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And the old Iron Curtain draped across just to the east of Lubeck. I've not been back in that part of the world since re-unification. In the first flush of enthusiasm, much was swept away. It felt spooky back then.

In Berlin, the memorial the victims of the Holocaust, the "blocks" down from the Brandenburg Gate towards where the Reichskanzlei was. Impressively moving. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe
and the Jewish Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Museum,_Berlin Very moving of course, but the building, by David Libeskind is very interesting too.

The Technical Museum on the site of the old Anhalter Bahnhof is also worth a visit. It has the Rennwagen (team support truck) from the prewar Auto Union race team amongst much other stuff.

I am usually based around Frankfurt when I visit. I have been round the Opelwerke at Russelsheim a couple of times. Very interesting, particularly for people who know nothing of how modern factories operate, like my sister. I think it was €4 for the guided tour. Timing unhurried, without having time to be bored. A couple of minutes watching the big presses, a bit longer watching the robots in body assembly, and quite a bit longer in final assembly. No machining or engine/gearbox assembly - that happens in other plants. A good 1/2 day.
 
Well just back ,we ended up travelling along the northern coast of Holland and into Germany and then onto Laboe to visit the Maritime memorial and U996, then on via Lubeck to Ruegen staying at Sillen and then visiting Prora (now being redeveloped into holiday apartments), we then visited Peenemunde staying at Anklam.
On to Berlin for a couple of nights (it changed massively between my first visit in 1986 and the second in 2008 and if anything has changed even more since) and then onto Wolfsburg and the Bergen Belsen Memorial site .

The roads weren't massively challenging but especially in the old eastern area there were miles of good quality and still almost deserted roads to play on that weren't heavily policed.

Ruegen will be pencilled in for a longer visit at a later date.

Decent reasonably priced hotels were easily available as was excellent quality food and beer at much lower prices than in southern germany.

It was helped by a lack of rain and temperatures in the mid to high 20's.

I know that massive amounts of money have been spent in the old east since reunification but in the areas we visited it seems to have been very well spent
 
They brought in a "short term" reunification Tax shortly after the Wall came down to pay for bringing the East up to western standards. And they are still paying it, which irritates many in the west, who see many of those from the east as somewhat workshy
 
laboe
 

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Sellin Pier on Ruegen, retaurant at the landward end and a diving bell at the other one
 

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Couple of pics of Prora (Hitlers Holiday camp) , now being stripped back to the bare shells and rebuilt as very expensive holiday apartments.

Must admit staff were helpful, just ride around the barriers and have a drive along the access roads so you can video the size of the place and there is no problem to take the bikes along the footpaths that run the full length of the front of the buildings through the woods !!!!
 

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Couple of shots of Peenemunde, wish I had more time to go back without the bike gear on to have a trek into the other parts of the site towards the airfield and the lakes where the crashed Lancaster can be seen
 

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Went onto Berlin via Neu Brandenburg and the Furstenburg Havel area , did the normal tourist things , the wall memorial is worth a visit , whilst standing next to the river at the rear of the Reichstag there are now memorials to those who died trying to swim to the west , one of whom died on the date of my birth (his picture is one of the many on the memorial wall .
 

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Couple of recommended hotels in Northern Germany .

Leezen (small village mid way between Hamburg and Kiel, Hotel Teegen ( www.hotel-teegen.de) small privately run hotel with an excellent restaurant and private parking and gardens to the rear

Sellin , Ruegen . Hotel Selliner Hof , (www.greenline-hotels.de) ,nice 3 star + hotel, off street car parking and 5 minutes walk from the town centre . great restaurant

Anklam , close to Peenemunde ,Hotel am Stadtwall (www.hotel-am-stadtwall.de), small slightly quirky but nice hotel with private parking, no restaurant but easy walk to the main street of the town and plenty of places to eat.

Lembuch north east of Osnabruck, Hotel Seeschloesschen (www.seeschloesschen.net), really nice hotel, secure garages with a brilliant restaurant
 


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